VENTURA, Calif.—Programmatic ad giant The Trade Desk is pushing into the streaming technology business with a new operating system called Ventura.
“We’re at a point in the evolution of streaming TV where we must ensure the supply chain of streaming TV advertising is competitive and transparent, so advertisers can maximize campaign performance, publishers can fund this new golden age of TV, and consumers have a better streaming TV ad experience,” Trade Desk Founder and CEO Jeff Green said. “This innovation has to come in the OS, and it has to come from a company that brings the objectivity of not owning any streaming TV content. At The Trade Desk, all we want is a fair marketplace, where supply chain costs are minimized, and advertiser trust can thrive.”
The launch, which will face stiff competition from operating systems from Google, Ruku and others that are already in hundreds of millions of smart TVs, highlights the growing importance of operating systems in the connected TV business.
In launching Ventura, The Trade Desk is hoping to leverage its position as the largest independent demand-side programmatic ad platform and a major provider of ad technologies to improve the streaming technologies used by CTVs and streaming media players in ways that would streamline and boost the CTV ad business.
The Trade Desk said it will partner with smart-TV original equipment manufacturers and other aggregators to deploy Ventura. And while Ventura will face significant competition, executives from four major streaming companies—Disney, Paramount, Sonos and Fox’s Tubi—expressed interest and support for the OS.
In announcing the product, The Trade Desk said Ventura represents a major advance in streaming TV operating systems because it solves key complaints about existing systems including frustrating user experiences, inefficient advertising supply chains and content conflicts of interest.
It described the major benefits of Ventura as follows:
- A more intuitive, engaging user experience, including cross-platform content discovery, personalization, subscription management and ultimately fewer (more relevant) ads.
- A much cleaner supply chain for streaming TV advertising, minimizing supply chain hops and costs—ensuring maximum ROI for every advertising dollar and optimized yield for publishers.
- Incorporating advances such as OpenPath and Unified ID 2.0 (UID2), Ventura will enable advertisers to value and price ad impressions across all streaming platforms more accurately, while finding relevant audiences with greater precision.
Ventura comes as more consumers use streaming platforms than traditional cable TV and as almost every major media company has launched an ad-supported streaming option for viewers.
“Everyone from OEMs to airlines and hotel chains are now in the streaming TV aggregation business, and they’re all trying to figure out the advertising business model while improving the viewer experience,” Matthew Henick, senior vice president of Ventura at The Trade Desk, said. “With our content objectivity and our scaled streaming TV advertising demand, The Trade Desk is uniquely positioned to drive innovation at this key moment.”
The Trade Desk reported that it expects that Ventura will be deployed by OEMs and other streaming TV aggregators as early as 2025.
It also noted that Ventura is already generating industry support and provided quotes from executives at four major streaming media players. Tose included:
- Jamie Power, senior vice president of addressable advertising sales, Disney Advertising: “As the streaming TV landscape rapidly evolves, we are entering a new paradigm for TV advertising. These trends are driven not only by consumer adoption but also by the innovation in the marketplace. We look forward to seeing The Trade Desk continue to drive innovation that will create more efficiency and a more enjoyable TV experience.”
- John Halley, president, Paramount Advertising: “The Trade Desk has been a great partner and real innovator in the programmatic space, and we are excited to see them bring their approach to the OS marketplace. Both broadcasters and consumers will undoubtedly benefit.”
- Paul Cheesbrough, CEO, Tubi Media Group: “As viewers shift to streaming, it’s imperative that advertisers can find their audiences with precision and put as much of their campaign spend to work as possible. We look forward to building upon our existing partnership with The Trade Desk to bring this vision of a better CTV supply chain to life across our portfolio alongside other industry leaders.”
- Patrick Spence, CEO, Sonos: “At Sonos, we are committed to providing our customers with the very best home entertainment experience. We are excited to explore the integration of premium audio and video with The Trade Desk and the Ventura OS.”
