• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, November 22, 2024

The Trade Desk’s effort to start its own smart TV operating system, Ventura, seems to puzzle some followers -- and competitors -- of the connected TV (CTV)ad business.

On the one hand is the big demand-side ad-buying platform (DSP) that offers advertising with the promise of “transparency” in everything they do.

This includes its Unified ID open-source "identifier" that can be used to build an identity graph. Similarly, its “Open Path” provides easy access to advertising inventory from multiple sources in a single place.

Extending its efforts to the sell-side of that business -- the creation of another smart TV OS system -- seems complex and confusing to some.

Mateusz Jedrocha, chief product officer at media-buying platform Adlook, says that although Ventura will offer transparency, it actually adds to the entire CTV industry pool of differentiated platforms, adding: “[It] raises concerns about the potential for further fragmentation through the creation of additional walled gardens.”

Jedrocha says that specifically, on the brand side initially, it could mean “higher costs due to increased complexity, and less clarity in how data and media dollars are managed.”

Similarly, Ashwin Navin, CEO/co-founder of Samba TV, pointed to Trade Desk saying adding to the likes of “Samsung, LG, Vizio, Google TV, Fire TV, Tivo, and Telly in the US and new entrants from Europe and Asia like Titan OS, Coocaa, and others” will be tricky.

He says: “To take a sizable share of this market, a new OS would need to be dramatically better in both user experience as well as economic value for all stakeholders — including the consumer.”

Surely, sell-side CTV competitors are nervous. But perhaps the word “dramatically” is key here. The Trade Desk does increasingly have stronger CTV ad marketplace strengths, now with inventory access and support from major publishers including Walt Disney, NBCUniversal, Paramount Global and others.

What’s missing? The Trade Desk has yet to announce any partnerships with TV or other devices manufacturers. All that will be hard -- especially considering that the major TV set makers already have their own proprietary smart TV OS systems.

What would lure those companies to make major changes by adopting Ventura? That’s where the buy-side part of the equation comes in.

Beyond the association with specific digital devices -- and its transparency and open-source tools and efforts -- brands still need scope and scale. (As a side note here, perhaps it comes with little argument that Simulmedia says Google, for one, is still a major competitor for Trade Desk.)

The overall perception here for Trade Desk is obvious: A strong move to the supply side platform (SSP) side of the business means bridging both sides of the media buying and selling process. Is that good news?