Comparing The Trade Desk and Magnite: Which Ad-Tech Stock Reigns Supreme?

The Trade Desk and Magnite are leading players in the digital advertising technology market. The Trade Desk operates a demand-side platform, while Magnite is a supply-side platform. Both companies have significant exposure to the booming connected TV and retail media trends. The global digital advertising market is expected to witness a CAGR of 15.4% from 2025 to 2030. The Trade Desk has expanded its partnerships with major media players, while Magnite has strengthened its position in the CTV market.

The digital advertising technology market is experiencing robust growth, with The Trade Desk, Inc. (TTD) and Magnite, Inc. (MGNI) emerging as key players. Both companies are heavily invested in the booming connected TV (CTV) and retail media trends, making them attractive investment options. This article provides a comparative analysis of these two leading platforms, focusing on their strengths, weaknesses, and investment potential.

The Trade Desk: A Leading Demand-Side Platform

The Trade Desk operates a leading demand-side platform (DSP), which aids advertisers in focusing on data-driven advertising. In the second quarter of 2025, CTV and retail media accounted for a significant portion of The Trade Desk’s growth. The company’s decision-based programmatic approach has strengthened its position in the CTV market, with programmatic CTV delivering the “most effective and highest return on ad spend.” The Trade Desk has expanded its partnerships with major media players such as Disney, NBCU, Netflix, Roku, and Walmart, further solidifying its market presence The Trade Desk vs. Magnite: Which Ad-Tech Stock is the Better Buy Now?^[1].

The Trade Desk’s latest platform upgrade, Kokai, has seen over 70% of clients adopting it, with full client adoption expected by the end of 2025. The integration of Koa AI tools has been highlighted as a “game changer” for the Kokai platform, offering significant gains in campaign precision, efficiency, and outcomes. OpenPath and Sincera’s acquisition enhance supply chain transparency, making data available to the ecosystem for free. Despite these advancements, The Trade Desk remains sensitive to macroeconomic conditions and stiff competition in the ad tech space. The company expects revenues of at least $717 million for the third quarter, indicating 14% year-over-year growth, with an adjusted EBITDA of around $277 million The Trade Desk vs. Magnite: Which Ad-Tech Stock is the Better Buy Now?^[1].

Magnite: A Leading Supply-Side Platform

Magnite, on the other hand, operates a supply-side platform (SSP) that helps publishers manage and sell their ad inventory across various formats. The company has witnessed robust growth in CTV, with contributions excluding Traffic Acquisition Costs (ex-TAC) from CTV increasing 14% year over year for the second quarter of 2025. Magnite has strengthened its CTV business through partnerships with Roku, Paramount, Netflix, LG, and Warner Bros. The acquisition of streamr.ai offers AI tools to make CTV advertising accessible to small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). The company expects an antitrust ruling against Google to boost its DV+ business, with each 1% share shift potentially adding $50 million of incremental contribution ex-TAC annually The Trade Desk vs. Magnite: Which Ad-Tech Stock is the Better Buy Now?^[1].

Magnite’s DV+ business is also witnessing momentum, with contributions ex-TAC up 8% from the last reported quarter. The company’s unified platform, SpringServe, offers competitive advantages and internal efficiency gains, supporting both share capture and margin expansion. Magnite is one of three platforms approved for Amazon DSP spend, indicating its role in generating demand in the CTV ecosystem. The company’s forward 12-month price/earnings ratio is 21.99X, slightly lower than The Trade Desk’s 23.11X The Trade Desk vs. Magnite: Which Ad-Tech Stock is the Better Buy Now?^[1].

Investment Comparison

In terms of share performance over the past three months, MGNI has gained 13.2%, while TTD has declined 32.9%. Valuation-wise, both companies are overvalued, with TTD having a Value Score of D and MGNI having a Value Score of C. Analysts have made marginal downward revisions for TTD’s bottom line for the current year, while there is an upward revision of 7.32% for MGNI. Zacks Investment Research ranks MGNI as a “Buy” (Zacks Rank #2), while TTD is ranked as a “Hold” (Zacks Rank #3) The Trade Desk vs. Magnite: Which Ad-Tech Stock is the Better Buy Now?^[1].

Conclusion

Both The Trade Desk and Magnite are well-positioned in the digital advertising market, with significant exposure to CTV and retail media trends. While The Trade Desk has shown strong growth and innovation, Magnite’s robust CTV business and potential share shift from Google make it an attractive investment pick. However, investors should consider the potential impact of macroeconomic conditions and stiff competition in the ad tech space when evaluating these companies.

References

The Trade Desk vs. Magnite: Which Ad-Tech Stock is the Better Buy Now?^[1] https://finance.yahoo.com/news/trade-desk-vs-magnite-ad-131100419.html