The Trade Desk, Inc. (stylized as theTradeDesk) is a US-based multinational tech company that focuses on real-time programmatic marketing automation, offering products and services aimed at personalizing digital content delivery to users.

The Trade Desk is based in Ventura, California. It is the world’s largest independent demand-side platform, competing with DoubleClick by Google, Facebook Ads, and others. Unlike traditional marketing, programmatic marketing relies on real-time, split-second decisions based on user identity, device data, and other information. It allows for highly personalized consumer experiences and enhances return on investment for companies and advertisers. Demand-side platforms like The Trade Desk collaborate with ad exchanges to provide such tailored digital experiences.

The company has grown consistently since its founding in 2009. By 2021, it provides a self-service publishing platform for brands and advertisers, a data management platform for advanced analytics and segmentation, and enterprise APIs that support advanced integrations. It has more than 225 partners worldwide and is responsible for delivering personalized content on Spotify and other platforms.

The Trade Desk has been recognized for its omnichannel approach to programmatic marketing automation, with robust data analytics capabilities, quick response times, and support for various connected devices, online platforms, and media formats. In 2020, it reported a 95% customer retention rate for 27 consecutive quarters and an annual revenue of US$836 million.

The firm currently employs about 3,500 people across 25 office locations worldwide. Fortune ranked it among the 100 Best Medium Workplaces in 2018 and it has been listed there ever since.

History

Early years

Jeff Green and David Pickles co-founded The Trade Desk in 2009. They first met at Microsoft following the acquisition of Green's real-time digital advertising auction company, AdECN, in 2007. By 2012, The Trade Desk became an alpha partner in Facebook’s launch of the real-time bidding (RTB) advertising platform, Facebook Exchange.

In 2015, The Trade Desk was named one of America’s Top 10 Most Promising Companies by Forbes. Additionally, founders Green and Pickles received the Ernst & Young Entrepreneurs of the Year award for the Greater Los Angeles area.

Initial public offering

On September 21, 2016, The Trade Desk went public with an offering price of $18. The company's opening day was seen as a "vote of confidence for the demand-side platform, whose S1 filing revealed healthy financials: Triple-digit revenue growth and profitability — rare in a sector that is seeing much of its growth chomped away by the duopoly Google and Facebook." The company kept growing rapidly and hit a market value of US$40 billion by 2021.

Post-IPO growth

In 2017, The Trade Desk integrated connected TV buying and measurement directly into its platform. It also acquired the marketing insights company AdBrain and teamed up with fraud prevention firm White Ops to prevent fraudulent ad traffic before purchases. Additionally, the company improved transparency in programmatic buying by enabling buyers to view all involved selling or reselling parties in a bid request.

In 2018, the company made significant investments in the Asia-Pacific region, launching its programmatic ad buying platform in China. This platform enabled access to major Chinese media companies such as Alibaba, Tencent, and Baidu Exchange Services. Additionally, it introduced new AI tools, including an AI forecasting engine called Koa, a redesigned user interface, strategy mapping tools known as The Trade Desk Planner, and a proprietary global user identity resolution tool called Unified ID.

In 2019, Amazon introduced connected TV (CTV) apps that integrate with Amazon Publisher Services, enabling third-party TV content providers such as The Trade Desk to purchase ad inventory via Amazon Fire TV devices.

In September 2019, The Trade Desk launched an advertising campaign, "Media for Humankind," to position itself as a "more transparent digital advertising" alternative to Google and Facebook.

In mid-2020, Unified ID 2.0 (UID 2.0) was introduced as an innovative approach to support a post-cookie internet era. It relies on encrypted email addresses and phone numbers to establish a secure identity standard.

Leading companies like Disney, Paramount, Procter & Gamble, and Unilever quickly adopted this identity resolution platform. Subsequently, in early 2022, The Trade Desk launched OpenPath, providing advertisers with direct access to premium digital advertising inventory. Notable publishers such as Conde Nast, Reuters, and The Washington Post are among its users.

In March 2024, NBCUniversal revealed that, through a partnership with The Trade Desk, its broadcast content for the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics would be accessible to online automated programmatic marketers for the first time.

The company has consistently secured positions on yearly rankings by different organizations, such as Fortune magazine, and was also included in the Forbes Global 2000 in 2022.

In May 2024, Netflix announced its first expansion of advertising partnerships to include The Trade Desk, Magnite, and Google DV360.

S&P 500

On July 14, 2025, shares of The Trade Desk, a leader in digital advertising, jumped nearly 14% after hours following news of its upcoming inclusion in the prestigious S&P 500 Index. S&P Global announced the milestone, marking a major achievement for the company, which will replace Ansys in the widely observed benchmark. This change occurs as Ansys prepares to leave the S&P 500 due to its $35 billion acquisition by Synopsys, originally announced in 2024. Synopsys recently confirmed that it has gained all required regulatory approvals and expects the deal to close by Thursday, resulting in Ansys’ removal from the index on July 18.

Financials

In March 2010, the Trade Desk raised $2.5 million in venture capital funding. The investment came from venture capital firms Founder Collective and IA Ventures, as well as angel investors Jerry Neumann and Josh Stylman.

The Trade Desk launched its IPO on September 21, 2016, with an opening price of $18.00, and its closing market price increased to $30.10 per share.

Revenue increased by 52 percent, reaching $308 million in 2017, and then grew to $477 million in 2018. In 2019, third-quarter revenue was reported at $164 million, driven by the expansion of connected TV advertising.

On June 17, 2021, the company completed its 10-for-1 stock split, with shares trading at $68.

The Trade Desk finished 2022 with a record $7.8 billion in total spending on the platform and an annual revenue of over $1.5 billion.