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TTD to Rollout Audience Unlimited: Monetization Tailwind Ahead?
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Key Takeaways
{\"0\":\"The Trade Desk launches Audience Unlimited to simplify third-party data adoption for advertisers.\",\"1\":\"AI ranks data segments for campaign relevance, with inclusive pricing replacing costly a la carte models.\",\"2\":\"New Koa Adaptive Trading Modes let advertisers choose between AI-driven performance or manual control.\"}
Advertisers in today’s scenario remain wary of third-party data, citing high costs and uncertainty over effectiveness. As a result, adoption is low, and those who use it often see nearly 20% of media spend drained by it. The Trade Desk ((TTD - Free Report) ) is now aiming to resolve these challenges with Audience Unlimited — a major enhancement to its marketplace for third-party data.
Audience Unlimited tackles these issues by using AI to rank third-party data segments for campaign relevance, drawing from hundreds of trusted providers. Instead of costly a la carte pricing, advertisers gain access to all relevant data at a simplified, lower inclusive rate, enabling scalable precision targeting without unpredictable costs or reconciliation hassles. To further maximize the benefits of Audience Unlimited, The Trade Desk is also launching Koa Adaptive Trading Modes, powered by agentic AI. These modes offer flexibility tailored to campaign needs, giving advertisers the choice between performance and control.
In Performance Mode, Koa functions as a co-pilot, dynamically optimizing bids, budgets and targeting choices to maximize performance. Advertisers set the strategy and guardrails, while Koa continuously uncovers and acts on opportunities for greater efficiency. This mode seamlessly integrates with Audience Unlimited, Predictive Clearing, Identity Alliance, Prism and free measurement tools. For advertisers who prefer hands-on control, Control Mode provides full flexibility. Traders can manually manage bids, budgets and targeting structures, with AI offering recommendations and insights that can be activated at the advertiser’s discretion. This mode allows advertisers to activate performance features à la carte and is ideal for campaigns requiring strict adherence to pricing models, detailed planning, or regulatory considerations.
Notably, in Performance Mode, Audience Unlimited is included at no extra cost, further lowering barriers to adoption, whereas in Control Mode, Audience Unlimited is available at tiered rates of 3.3% or 4.4% of impression costs. Audience Unlimited and Koa Adaptive Trading Modes will be rolled out to select agencies on The Trade Desk’s Kokai platform in late 2025, with general availability to all users slated for early 2026.
TTD is making strides across its platform and ecosystem. Kokai, powered by Koa AI, is driving notable performance improvements, with clients seeing more than 20-point KPI lifts and spending on Kokai growing 20% faster than non-users. OpenPath is simplifying the supply chain, boosting transparency for publishers and confidence for clients, resulting in higher revenue and efficiency. It also promotes objectivity in ad tech, providing unbiased access to premium open Internet inventory, enabling precise and cost-effective audience targeting, with live sports as a prominent use case.
How are TTD’s Rivals Driving Innovation?
Magnite ((MGNI - Free Report) ) operates as a leading supply-side platform (SSP), helping publishers manage and monetize their ad inventory across channels, including streaming, online video, display and audio. Processing billions of impressions each month, Magnite’s growth is fueled by its SpringServe ad server and streaming SSP platform. Recently, it updated ClearLine to unify inventory curation and activation across its omnichannel network. The beta will enable users to discover, package and activate inventory on a single platform, with access to unique supply, first-party data and content signals. AI tools acquired from Streamr.ai will also be integrated to streamline workflows.
MGNI has also enhanced its ad solutions with Pause Ads on platforms like DIRECTV, DISH Media and Fubo. Building on its Home Screen and Tiles formats, Pause Ads aims to boost viewer engagement and publisher value. Buyers like KERV.ai, MNTN and Yahoo DSP can now leverage this format.
Taboola.com Inc. ((TBLA - Free Report) ) is a global leader in performance advertising, helping businesses grow across the open web. Realize, Taboola’s new performance advertising platform, expands the company’s reach beyond native advertising into broader performance markets like display and social. Taboola is enhancing Realize with new Generative AI features, delivering measurable results for advertisers.
Advertisers like Homes.com, Tripadvisor and NerdWallet rely on Realize to hit performance goals. Since launch, more than 650 advertisers have tested its display and social features, seeing strong results—an aviation brand, for example, exceeded its performance target by 34%, boosting travel bookings and spend on Realize. Leveraging its advanced platform, the company projects upcoming quarterly revenues between $461 million and $469 million.
TTD’s Price Performance, Valuation and Estimates
Shares of TTD have declined 54.4% in the past year against the Zacks Internet -Services industry and S&P 500 composites’ rise of 46.1% and 20.1%, respectively.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
In terms of forward price/earnings, TTD’s shares are trading at 24.98X, higher than the Internet Services industry’s ratio of 24.15.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for TTD’s earnings for 2025 has gone south over the past 60 days.
Image: Bigstock
TTD to Rollout Audience Unlimited: Monetization Tailwind Ahead?
Key Takeaways
Advertisers in today’s scenario remain wary of third-party data, citing high costs and uncertainty over effectiveness. As a result, adoption is low, and those who use it often see nearly 20% of media spend drained by it. The Trade Desk ((TTD - Free Report) ) is now aiming to resolve these challenges with Audience Unlimited — a major enhancement to its marketplace for third-party data.
Audience Unlimited tackles these issues by using AI to rank third-party data segments for campaign relevance, drawing from hundreds of trusted providers. Instead of costly a la carte pricing, advertisers gain access to all relevant data at a simplified, lower inclusive rate, enabling scalable precision targeting without unpredictable costs or reconciliation hassles. To further maximize the benefits of Audience Unlimited, The Trade Desk is also launching Koa Adaptive Trading Modes, powered by agentic AI. These modes offer flexibility tailored to campaign needs, giving advertisers the choice between performance and control.
In Performance Mode, Koa functions as a co-pilot, dynamically optimizing bids, budgets and targeting choices to maximize performance. Advertisers set the strategy and guardrails, while Koa continuously uncovers and acts on opportunities for greater efficiency. This mode seamlessly integrates with Audience Unlimited, Predictive Clearing, Identity Alliance, Prism and free measurement tools. For advertisers who prefer hands-on control, Control Mode provides full flexibility. Traders can manually manage bids, budgets and targeting structures, with AI offering recommendations and insights that can be activated at the advertiser’s discretion. This mode allows advertisers to activate performance features à la carte and is ideal for campaigns requiring strict adherence to pricing models, detailed planning, or regulatory considerations.
Notably, in Performance Mode, Audience Unlimited is included at no extra cost, further lowering barriers to adoption, whereas in Control Mode, Audience Unlimited is available at tiered rates of 3.3% or 4.4% of impression costs. Audience Unlimited and Koa Adaptive Trading Modes will be rolled out to select agencies on The Trade Desk’s Kokai platform in late 2025, with general availability to all users slated for early 2026.
TTD is making strides across its platform and ecosystem. Kokai, powered by Koa AI, is driving notable performance improvements, with clients seeing more than 20-point KPI lifts and spending on Kokai growing 20% faster than non-users. OpenPath is simplifying the supply chain, boosting transparency for publishers and confidence for clients, resulting in higher revenue and efficiency. It also promotes objectivity in ad tech, providing unbiased access to premium open Internet inventory, enabling precise and cost-effective audience targeting, with live sports as a prominent use case.
How are TTD’s Rivals Driving Innovation?
Magnite ((MGNI - Free Report) ) operates as a leading supply-side platform (SSP), helping publishers manage and monetize their ad inventory across channels, including streaming, online video, display and audio. Processing billions of impressions each month, Magnite’s growth is fueled by its SpringServe ad server and streaming SSP platform. Recently, it updated ClearLine to unify inventory curation and activation across its omnichannel network. The beta will enable users to discover, package and activate inventory on a single platform, with access to unique supply, first-party data and content signals. AI tools acquired from Streamr.ai will also be integrated to streamline workflows.
MGNI has also enhanced its ad solutions with Pause Ads on platforms like DIRECTV, DISH Media and Fubo. Building on its Home Screen and Tiles formats, Pause Ads aims to boost viewer engagement and publisher value. Buyers like KERV.ai, MNTN and Yahoo DSP can now leverage this format.
Taboola.com Inc. ((TBLA - Free Report) ) is a global leader in performance advertising, helping businesses grow across the open web. Realize, Taboola’s new performance advertising platform, expands the company’s reach beyond native advertising into broader performance markets like display and social. Taboola is enhancing Realize with new Generative AI features, delivering measurable results for advertisers.
Advertisers like Homes.com, Tripadvisor and NerdWallet rely on Realize to hit performance goals. Since launch, more than 650 advertisers have tested its display and social features, seeing strong results—an aviation brand, for example, exceeded its performance target by 34%, boosting travel bookings and spend on Realize. Leveraging its advanced platform, the company projects upcoming quarterly revenues between $461 million and $469 million.
TTD’s Price Performance, Valuation and Estimates
Shares of TTD have declined 54.4% in the past year against the Zacks Internet -Services industry and S&P 500 composites’ rise of 46.1% and 20.1%, respectively.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
In terms of forward price/earnings, TTD’s shares are trading at 24.98X, higher than the Internet Services industry’s ratio of 24.15.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for TTD’s earnings for 2025 has gone south over the past 60 days.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
TTD currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.