The Trade Desk Tries to Hold at 20%

Welcome to The TV Room. Your weekly digest of television, streaming, and digital media insights that matter.

This week we're covering:

• 🥇 TTD Tries to Hang On at the Top

• 💥 Ex-FCC Execs Blast Back

• 🎥 Creative Spotlight: The New Yorker “Everything, Covered”

• 🍟 Britain’s Ban on Junk Food Ads: Is It Enough?

Can The Trade Desk Keep Its 20% Cut?

The Trade Desk's (TTD) take rate, the percentage it keeps from ad spending on its platform, has been a hot topic for years.

Since 2017, it has consistently hovered around 20%, a figure the company reaffirmed it has no plans to change. Founder Jeff Green predicted years ago it would stay in the 15%-20% range, and he's been correct so far, even as fees elsewhere in the ad tech supply chain have shrunk.

Why the sudden focus?

TTD recently reported its first significant earnings fumble since its IPO, opening a window for competitors. Simultaneously, the programmatic advertising landscape is shifting, especially with the growth of CTV, and rivals are stepping up.

CTV advertising often involves lower data processing costs compared to cookie-heavy display advertising. Ads target households via IP addresses, reducing the need for massive cookie-matching infrastructure.

Challengers emerge with lower fees

Competitors are seizing this moment, using lower take rates as a key selling point, particularly for CTV campaigns.

• Amazon DSP: Leverages its position as a media owner (Fire TV, Prime Video) to offer significantly reduced or even zero DSP fees on its own inventory.

• Pontiac DSP: A startup focusing almost exclusively on CTV and online video. By avoiding complex broad display infrastructure, Pontiac claims significant cost savings.

• Comcast's Universal Ads: Charges no DSP fee, aiming to bring more direct-to-consumer brands into TV advertising via its FreeWheel platform.

• Viant: Another public ad tech company, now heavily indexed towards CTV (over 40% of its business), positioning itself in this growing segment.

TTD's defense

TTD maintains its high take rate reflects the value and scale it provides. CEO Jeff Green highlighted the platform's immense processing power (handling data equivalent to daily Visa transactions every 30 seconds) as a key advantage for granular targeting, acknowledging the associated costs.

While challengers like Viant are growing (30% revenue growth in 2024), TTD remains dominant, adding $500 million in revenue last year. Still, as CTV grows, TTD faces increasing pressure to justify its premium pricing against leaner, lower-cost alternatives.

Read More:

• As CTV Blooms, It’s Knives Out For The Trade Desk’s Take Rate - AdExchanger

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TV Industry Updates

• Ousted execs fire back: Two former FCC chairs blasted Trump's FCC for "weaponizing" the agency for political retribution.

• Goodbye panels: The converged TV market is abandoning panel-only measurement as Nielsen announced it will retire its legacy offering this fall.

• GroupM gamble: WPP CEO Mark Read is banking on a GroupM turnaround, stating the media agency has been "extremely competitive" with recent wins.

• Sports ads still win: Despite economic uncertainty and potential 10% drops in overall upfront spending, sports TV ad inventory remains solid.

• WPP exile returns: AKQA founder Ajaz Ahmed introduced his rival agency called Studio.One after quitting WPP six months ago.

• Tariff talk: WPP CEO Mark Read confirmed that Trump's tariffs haven't impacted client spending yet, maintaining guidance despite first-quarter sales falling.

Stay up to date on the latest in TV advertising by joining our Slack community!

Creative Spotlight: The New Yorker: “Everything, Covered”

The New Yorker celebrated its centennial with a sweeping television campaign, "Everything, Covered," honoring a hundred years of journalism, humor, art, and storytelling.

The Details:

• The campaign featured a montage of iconic moments, from political reporting to cultural commentary, underscoring the magazine’s breadth and depth across a century.

• Narration by editor David Remnick emphasized The New Yorker’s enduring commitment to rigor, wit, and curiosity, while pointing toward a vibrant future.

• Visually, the ad blended archival covers, historic photographs, and animated illustrations, creating a rich tapestry that mirrored the magazine’s evolution.

What We Loved:
The ad masterfully captured the spirit of The New Yorker by weaving a century of history into a lively, forward-looking invitation, making both longtime readers and newcomers feel part of something enduring and alive.

Marketing Mix

• 7-Eleven hits the stage: The convenience chain teamed with Live Nation to sponsor the When We Were Young festival.

• Jim Beam goes premium: The bourbon brand appealed to affordable luxury seekers with its campaign for Jim Beam Black, a 7-year-aged budget bourbon.

• Junk food ads face new limits abroad: Starting in October, the UK will ban junk food ads on TV before 9pm and online at all times.

• BuzzFeed gets shoppable: BuzzFeed partnered with Shopsense AI to embed shoppable ad formats into its articles.

• Cookie chaos continues: Despite Google’s decision to keep third-party cookies, advertisers are being urged to fix their measurement strategies now.

• Google’s AI spotlight: Alphabet’s Q1 earnings call focused heavily on AI growth, touting 1.5 billion monthly users for its AI Overviews feature.

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