Main revenue comes from a take rate on programmatic ad spend across channels: CTV (largest), online video, mobile, display, and audio. Additional revenue from retail media activations and data marketplace fees (e.g., Audience Unlimited). Platform innovations (OpenPath/OpenAds/Deal Desk) improve supply-path efficiency but monetize primarily via spend on the DSP and data fees. AI contributes materially: Kokai/Agentic AI, distributed AI models, and AI-driven deal forecasting directly power bidding, targeting, forecasting, and SPO—boosting performance and wallet share—though not sold as standalone AI products.
To this end, AI is accelerating the improved effectiveness of the open Internet. Of course, every significant AI innovation and AI product needs quality data.
Quotes from the-trade-desk Executives About Artificial Intelligence and Generative AI
AI is fast-tracking progress for companies that are eager to put their data to work and can leverage automation intelligently.
- Jeffrey Green
AI is accelerating the path to the open Internet having vastly superior price discovery and fungibility.
- Jeffrey Green
It cannot be overstated how much AI has changed and will change our business and the open Internet.
- Jeffrey Green
We have used the industry's most advanced AI to enhance our system with an architecture we call distributed AI.
- Jeffrey Green
The injection of AI into our supply path optimization is finding better paths to publishers with double-digit percentages of efficiency.
- Jeffrey Green
By this standard, Kokai is the best upgrade we have ever made to our product relative to all previous versions and certainly relative to Solimar.
- Jeffrey Green
Campaigns that have switched to Kokai are seeing impressive results.
- Jeffrey Green
This new feature will accelerate the adoption of Agentic AI in our platform.
- Jeffrey Green
Our early focus on AI and machine learning has positioned us to upgrade our platform as the rise of AI tools has made upgrading our platform easier than any other DSP.