Viant Technology's Q2 2025: Unpacking Key Contradictions on Tariffs, Advertisers, and Growth Strategies

Impact of tariffs on performance, advertiser pause on campaigns, ViantAI feature adoption and market growth strategy, sales team strategy and target market, ad spend and market trends are the key contradictions discussed in Viant Technology's latest 2025Q2 earnings call.



Revenue and Contribution Growth:
- Viant Technology reported revenue of $77.9 million for Q2 2025, representing an 18% increase year-over-year and a 10% increase quarter-over-quarter.
- Contribution ex-TAC totaled $48.4 million in Q2, up 16% compared to the prior year period and up 13% sequentially.
- Growth was fueled by demand for the company's unique CTV offering, increased adoption of Viant's addressability solutions, and wider use of the ViantAI product suite.

CTV and Addressability Solutions Expansion:
- Approximately 45% of total ad spend on Viant's platform was CTV in the first half of 2025, with half of that spend running through premium Direct Access publishers.
- The integration of new premium publishers like LG expanded the reach of Viant's Direct Access program, incorporating data matching and enhancing audience targeting and measurement.
- The expansion of IRIS_ID, now integrated with Wurl, significantly increased its presence across all available CTV bid requests, benefiting advertisers with contextually relevant campaigns.

ViantAI Product Suite Rollout:
- AI Bidding automates approximately 85% of ad spending on Viant's platform, with AI Planning and AI Measurement and Analysis recently launched, contributing to operational efficiency.
- The rollout of AI products is expected to drive increased adoption among major U.S. advertisers and data-driven advertisers, positioning Viant to capture market share in the expanded addressable market.
- The autonomous AI ad solution is designed to rival Meta's Advantage+ and Google's PMax, offering outcomes-based solutions across the open Internet.

Challenges and Outlook:
- The company faced a 400 basis point headwind due to a temporary political ad spend disruption and a 600 basis point impact from an outdoor entertainment company's ad spend move in Q3.
- Despite these headwinds, Viant's guidance reflects a strong pipeline with potential annualized ad spend opportunities exceeding $250 million from major U.S. advertisers for 2026.
- The company remains focused on scaling efficiently and executing strategic priorities to deliver sustainable long-term growth.