Trade Desk Unveils Ventura Ecosystem to Elevate CTV Advertising

The Trade Desk, Inc. TTD has expanded its push to reshape connected TV (CTV) advertising with the launch of the Ventura Ecosystem, an industry-wide collaboration built to foster greater transparency, fairness and revenue efficiency in streaming. Trade Desk’s Ventura is a streaming platform built to create a more transparent and equitable ecosystem for OEMs, advertisers and publishers. It enables OEMs to unlock new revenue opportunities, helps brands maximize advertising performance and supports premium content creation.

The Ventura Ecosystem brings together global TV operating systems and streaming platforms to build a more open and sustainable advertising marketplace. By tapping into Ventura Ecosystem’s monetization tools, ecosystem participants can drive stronger programmatic demand, enhance CPMs and improve fill rates, while retaining control over their brand, operating system and user experience.

Early participants in the Ventura Ecosystem include VIDAA, now operating as V and powering more than 50 million connected devices globally, and Nexxen, a unified ad tech platform specializing in data-driven advanced TV solutions.

The ecosystem also provides seamless access to The Trade Desk’s broader ad tech infrastructure, including OpenPath for direct buyer-seller connectivity, Unified ID 2.0 and EUID for privacy-conscious identity solutions, OpenAds to enhance supply-chain transparency, and OpenPass for single sign-on and personalized advertising experiences.

Trade Desk continues to see CTV as its largest and fastest-growing channel. In third-quarter 2025, the company’s revenues increased 18% year over year to $739 million, driven primarily by the exceptional strength of CTV. On the last earnings call, management noted that the transition toward biddable CTV is gaining rapid momentum and it expects decision CTV to become the default buying model in the future. The benefits of decision-based buying (like greater flexibility, control and performance) compared with traditional programmatic guaranteed or insertion-order models are rendering it the logical choice for advertisers.

The company is scheduled to report fourth-quarter 2025 results on Feb. 25, after market close. For the quarter, it anticipates revenues of at least $840 million. Adjusted EBITDA is projected to be around $375 million.

For 2026, Trade Desk expects to expand its share of the global advertising TAM while sustaining strong profitability and cash flow generation. The company is positioned to benefit from major industry tailwinds, including the ongoing transformation of CTV, the accelerating adoption of AI-driven capabilities, the expansion of retail media and the continued global growth of programmatic advertising.

However, the company is facing rising operating costs due to continued investments in AI capabilities and platform enhancements, while macro-driven caution around advertising budgets remains a significant concern. The company also faces stiff competition from other companies such as Magnite MGNI and PubMatic PUBM.

Taking a Look at MGNI & PUBM’s Efforts to Drive Growth

Magnite is a supply-side platform that helps publishers manage and sell their ad inventory across various formats like streaming, online video, display and audio. In the third quarter of 2025, the company generated revenues of $179.5 million, marking an 11% year-over-year increase and surpassing overall expectations. Performance was driven by continued strength in CTV, where revenue grew 18% year over year, or 25% excluding political spend.
Growth was supported by robust contributions from top publisher partners and healthy engagement from agencies and DSPs. Within CTV, ClearLine, buyer marketplaces and live sports continue to be key areas of strength. MGNI highlighted SpringServe (CTV ad serving and SSP platform) as a critical differentiator, as it plays a key role as the "mediation layer for publishers." MGNI is scheduled to report fourth-quarter 2025 results on Feb. 25, 2026, after market close.

PubMatic delivered strong CTV performance in the third quarter of 2025, with revenues from CTV (excluding political) rising nearly 50% year over year. Growth was driven by higher premium supply, the scaling of agency marketplaces, increased participation from small and mid-market advertisers and expanding live sports opportunities. The company also introduced new programmatic guaranteed deals tied to marquee events such as the U.S. Open and Monday Night Football, while expanding its CTV publisher footprint. The company is further deepening CTV integration within Activate, its direct-to-supply buying platform, and recently launched pause ads for CTV in collaboration with Dentsu through Activate. PUBM is scheduled to report fourth-quarter 2025 results on Feb. 26, after market close.

TTD Price Performance, Valuation & Estimates

Shares of TTD have lost 65.5% in the past year against the Zacks Internet – Services industry’s growth of 69.8%.

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In terms of forward price/earnings, TTD’s shares are trading at 19.1X compared with the Internet Services industry’s 25.94X.

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The Zacks Consensus Estimate for TTD’s earnings for 2025 has remained unchanged over the past 60 days.

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TTD currently carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).

You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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