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  3. The Trade Desk
Logo of The Trade Desk

The Trade Desk

byThe Trade Desk
in
4.6
2025
Market Presence: Ad Tech Platforms, Programmatic Segment-Based Advertising

Overview

Product Information on The Trade Desk

Updated 9th June 2025

What is The Trade Desk?

The Trade Desk's demand-side platform enables programmatic segment-based advertising by aggregating data from multiple sources to create detailed audience segments, then using real-time bidding algorithms to automatically purchase ad inventory when users matching those segments become available across various exchanges and platforms. The platform leverages Unified ID 2.0 for cross-device tracking, allowing consistent targeting as users move between phones, tablets, and desktops, while machine learning continuously optimizes campaigns by analyzing segment performance and adjusting bidding strategies to focus budget on the highest-converting audiences. This approach enables advertisers to reach precise audience segments at scale while The Trade Desk handles the complex technical infrastructure of real-time bidding, data integration, and cross-platform execution.

The Trade Desk Pricing

The Trade Desk platform fee is calculated monthly on a percentage of the total cost run through the platform, which includes any media spend, data spend, and fees for any additional features selected. Pricing for all available features can be found within the platform, making it easy for our clients to select options that best suit their needs and understand their total spend each month.

The Trade Desk Product Images

Programmatic Table
Programmatic Table

Overall experience with The Trade Desk

Senior Programmatic Trader
<50M USD, Healthcare and Biotech
FAVORABLE

“TTD Platform Offers Robust Tools but Faces Challenges With Updated Kokai Functionality”

4.0
Sep 17, 2025
My overall experience working with TTD has been extremely positive. Their customer service team stands out as one of the best in the industry - always responsive, proactive, and committed to solving challenges quickly. They don't just provide answers; they take the time to ensure we fully understand the tools and strategies available to us.
Operations Associate
1B - 3B USD, Services (non-Government)
CRITICAL

“Keeping it simple ”

3.0
Jul 30, 2025
Sometimes it feels like too much and certifications only tell half the picture. I think more hands on real examples of pre, during, and post activations

Badges

Gartner Peer Insights recognizes vendors who meet or exceed both the market average Overall Experience and the market average User Interest and Adoption score through a Customers’ Choice distinction.
2025
For Market:
Ad Tech Platforms

About Company

Company Description

Updated 11th September 2024

The company's primary focus is providing a media buying platform geared towards the open internet. It aims to facilitate marketers in reaching a larger audience by offering enhanced transparency and choice throughout all stages, from planning to pricing to performance. The company's primary business problem that it solves is creating an accessible, unbiased marketplace on the internet for ideas, content and commerce. By prioritizing the idea of the open internet, the organization is dedicated to maintaining the internet landscape's inclusivity and openness.

Company Details

Updated 26th February 2025
Company type
Public
Year Founded
2009
Head office location
Ventura, United States
Number of employees
1001 - 5000
Website
http://www.thetradedesk.com

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Key Insights

A Snapshot of What Matters - Based on Validated User Reviews

User Sentiment About The Trade Desk
Reviewer Insights for: The Trade Desk
Deciding Factors: The Trade Desk Vs. Market Average
Performance of The Trade Desk Across Market Features

The Trade Desk Likes & Dislikes

Like

The ability to create templates for different channels and use them to set up new campaigns. This is a huge time saver. Their audience AI (or Koa audience) tool. This tactic often outperforms others, and sometimes even retargeting. Their omnichannel optimization tool. This tool allows us to prioritize serving ads from multiple channels to the same users for a true omnichannel experience.

Like

They support many branches of business

Like

I like the support service the most. They are highly knowledgeable and reliable, and rarely seem to be 'selling' new features. They only bring new features to our attention when it is relevant to a client's use case.

Dislike

While overall Kokai is an enhancement to the platform, its functionality has its downfalls in comparison to Solimar (the previous UI). I find it easier to revert to the old platform when I need a glimpse at a campaign's performance - especially if the campaign is not currently live. Losing the ability to manually set up PMPs and contract groups in Kokai is a big downfall for me as well. Their fees are also higher than other DSPs.

Dislike

1) Too many settings 2) Not dummy proof 3) All that data and still not enough insights to gather

Dislike

I wish that features would show that they come with a tech fee, and what that tech fee is. For example, the prism feature I believe comes with a tech fee, but is auto-enabled and needs to be manually turned off.

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Peer Discussions

The Trade Desk Reviews and Ratings

4.6

(310 Ratings)

Rating Distribution

5 Star
65%
4 Star
34%
3 Star
1%
2 Star
0%
1 Star
0%
Why ratings and reviews count differ?

Customer Experience

Evaluation & Contracting

4.5

Planning & Transition

4.7

Delivery & Execution

4.7

Integration & Deployment

4.6

Service & Support

4.8

Product Capabilities

4.6

Filter Reviews
Sort By:
Most helpful
Last 12 Months
Star Rating
Reviewer Type
Reviewer's Company Size
Reviewer's Industry
Reviewer's Region
Reviewer's Job Function
  • Senior Programmatic Trader
    <50M USD
    Healthcare and Biotech
    Review Source

    TTD Platform Offers Robust Tools but Faces Challenges With Updated Kokai Functionality

    4.0
    Sep 17, 2025
    My overall experience working with TTD has been extremely positive. Their customer service team stands out as one of the best in the industry - always responsive, proactive, and committed to solving challenges quickly. They don't just provide answers; they take the time to ensure we fully understand the tools and strategies available to us.
  • Programmatic Buyer/Planner
    <50M USD
    Media
    Review Source

    Small Media Teams Gain Data Access, But Feature Fees Can Be Unclear While Building.

    5.0
    Sep 15, 2025
    The product creates a level playing field for small media teams like mine to access and target top tier data and inventory.
  • Regional Director
    50M-1B USD
    Services (non-Government)
    Review Source

    Collaborative Partnership With TTD APAC Noted for Consistent Service and Care

    5.0
    Sep 4, 2025
    Working with TTD has been one of the smoothest and most collaborative partnerships I have ever experienced as a regional lead. The servicing and tech folks at TTD APAC are true partners. They ask to understand and are always willing to go beyond. In my previous role in Malaysia, they were already my go-to DSP and when we would launch campaigns for a brand in a challenging category, they were very hands-on and thorough in their recommendations. Fast forward to today, even though I am on a different account and company, the service and care is consistent! They are always ready to lean in and that is what I love about the partnership. Regardless of the size of the brief and the pace of the timelines, they make it work. One such example was a region-wide learning day we were organizing as an agency. The team helped create an engaging workshop to drive a better understanding of programmatic and its benefits. That was one of the most well received sessions based on feedback from the attendees. Really really thankful that TTD is a partner that cares and delivers!
  • Associate Digital Director
    1B-10B USD
    Services (non-Government)
    Review Source

    Exceptional Service and Proactive Account Management Stand Out in Ad Tech Industry

    5.0
    Sep 10, 2025
    The account managers at TTD are extremely responsive, helpful and proactive. In a world dominated by a few select companies, that usually translates to lack of help and disinterest from the major players, something that is a stark contrast to what TTD offers.
  • Senior Programmatic Specialist
    1B-10B USD
    Media
    Review Source

    Platform Offers hugely diverse inventory with great retargeting potential.

    5.0
    Sep 30, 2025
    Overall, the product is really useful to use. It allows us to access many different types of inventory from all over the globe including Display, Video, OLV, Audio, CTV & DOOH!
...
Showing Result 1-5 of 312

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