The Biggest Questions After The Trade Desk's OS Announcement

Is getting into smart TV OS a smart move for The Trade Desk? Today, ad tech platform The Trade Desk announced that it has developed Ventura, a new streaming TV operating system (OS). Additionally, it will partner with smart TV original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and other streaming TV aggregators to launch the OS as early as 2025. According to The Trade Desk, the offering will help mitigate "frustrating user experiences, inefficient advertising supply chains, and content conflicts of interest." Axios reports The Trade Desk had been quietly working on the OS for three years, but the official announcement raises some major questions. Why is The Trade Desk doing this? According to the company, the Trade Desk is looking to create an "intuitive, engaging user experience," a "cleaner supply chain for streaming TV advertising," and "enable advertisers to value and price ad impressions across all streaming platforms more accurately" thanks to its SPO product OpenPath and its alternative identifier Unified ID 2.0. "The Trade Desk's foray into the TV OS market highlights the growing importance of operating systems in shaping viewer experiences and seamlessly integrating advertising. This move positions them to influence content consumption and ad delivery directly," said LG Ad Solutions CMO Tony Marlow. The Trade Desk is also potentially sitting on a CTV gold mine. "Nearly half of The Trade Desk’s revenues come from CTV, and if Ventura takes off, it stands to make even more from one of the largest and fastest-growing sectors in digital advertising," according to eMarketer analyst Daniel Konstantinovic. And advertisers are already on board. What do publishers think? The Trade Desk made its Ventura announcement while already dredging up ad industry support, with the likes of partners such as Disney, Paramount, and Tubi weighing in. Jamie Power, svp of addressable advertising sales, Disney Advertising, noted the company is looking forward to seeing The Trade Desk "create more efficiency and a more enjoyable TV experience." Meanwhile, John Halley, president, Paramount Advertising, said that "both broadcasters and consumers will undoubtedly benefit" as The Trade Desk brings its OS vision to life. However, making that vision a reality may be easier said than done. What about distribution? With a new OS, The Trade Desk takes on an already crowded industry, with established players including Roku and Amazon’s Fire TV. So adoption is a major question as The Trade Desk looks to launch Ventura, especially with those competitors having little incentive to use different OS. "The most likely path for Ventura is for TTD to partner with a number of manufacturers with smaller market share like Sonos, Panasonic, Haier, etc., to build an install base and give those manufacturers a way to enter the ad business via an established demand-side platform (DSP) operator," Konstantinovic said. For its part, Sonos released a statement about The Trade Desk's announcement, with CEO Patrick Spence saying, "We are excited to explore the integration of premium audio and video with The Trade Desk and the Ventura OS.” But distribution isn't the only obstacle. What are the other big challenges? According to Mo Allibhai, a senior analyst at Forrester, the Trade Desk's announcement moves the company into "uncharted territory for a DSP," helping it increase the footprint for UID 2.0. However, if it truly wants to compete, monetization is front and center. "Whether they’re trying to drive higher CPMs on their own streaming services, or collect revenue share from endemic partners for content suggestions on the home screen, [if] Ventura OS doesn’t offer sellers more yield, it is a non-starter," Allibhai said. In addition, the company will need to offer better insights into consumer habits and a smoother, less convoluted user experience than what's on the market today. However, when it comes to how the company will actually overcome things like distribution and UX, LG Ads Solutions' Marlow noted only time will tell. "These are big questions that remain to be answered," Marlow said.

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The Biggest Questions After The Trade Desk's OS Announcement

The Trade Desk's move into smart TV operating systems raises questions for industry experts

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