Dive Brief:
- The Trade Desk is angling for a stronger foothold in the connected TV landscape with the unveiling of Ventura Ecosystem, an industry collaboration meant to foster a more transparent marketplace for CTV advertising, according to a press release.
- The Ventura Ecosystem is an offshoot of Ventura, a smart TV operating system from The Trade Desk that is content-agnostic. Through the Ventura Ecosystem, partners can use Ventura’s monetization tool set to drive programmatic demand and lower CPMs.
- The first Ventura Ecosystem collaborators include TV operating system V and ad-tech platform Nexxen. The Trade Desk recently released its fiscal year 2025 financial results, reporting continued growth but at a slower pace.
Dive Insight:
The Trade Desk is continuing its push to tackle CTV’s walled-garden problem with the Ventura Ecosystem. The collaborative program looks to bring together global TV operating systems and streaming platforms for a more transparent and revenue-optimized marketplace.
The Ventura Ecosystem relies on The Trade Desk’s Ventura platform, which debuted in November 2024 and aims to differentiate in a market dominated by players like Roku and Amazon Fire TV by being content-agnostic.
“While media consolidation may receive the attention, streaming’s future depends on something else: a healthy ecosystem with fair platforms and advertising that works,” said Matthew Henick, The Trade Desk’s senior vice president of consumer products, in a statement. “Most TV operating systems today are owned by companies that are focused on their own agendas, rather than strengthening the broader marketplace and creating winning opportunities for everyone.”
Ventura Ecosystem contributors can expect increased programmatic demand, improved CPMs and stronger fill rates with the use of The Trade Desk’s OpenPath, Unified ID 2.0/EUID, OpenAds and OpenPass — ad-tech solutions that are focused on simplified connections between ad buyers and sellers, holistic targeting and measurement, fairness in the supply chain and personalization. Participating operating systems will maintain control of their brand, system and user experience, per release details.
The first Ventura Ecosystem collaborators include V, the TV operating system previously known as VIDAA, and Nexxen. For Nexxen, the move builds on a multiyear partnership with V to allow advertisers to programmatically activate premium, native and smart TV advertising across several original equipment manufacturers, including Hisense and Toshiba televisions. Through the deal, programmatic access to that CTV inventory is also available through Nexxen and eventually will be powered by the Ventura Ecosystem.
The Trade Desk reported Q4 revenue of $847 million, an increase of 14% year over year, representing a slower pace of growth compared to 22% YoY in Q4 2024. For the fiscal year 2025, the company reported $2.9 billion in revenue, up 18% YoY but down from 26% in 2024. During a call discussing the earnings, CEO Jeff Green attributed the slowed growth to sustained weakness in CPG and automotive — verticals that represent over a quarter of The Trade Desk’s business.
CTV continues to be a major focus for The Trade Desk, with the sector growing at a faster rate than the overall business throughout 2025, per the earnings call. The firm’s video segment, which includes CTV, represented about 50% of business in Q4. The Trade Desk in its earnings release highlighted premium inventory offered for advertisers for live events in 2026, including NBCU’s 2026 Winter Olympics and Paralympic Games.
