What do they actually do?
The Trade Desk as a marketplace where brands buy ads across the internet.
Old world: Ford wanted TV ads → call a network → negotiate → slow, inefficient.
New world: Ford’s agency logs into TTD, uploads the ad, picks the audience (“men 25–40 who like trucks”), and presses go.
Within milliseconds, TTD’s system bids on ad slots across:
Connected TV (Disney+, Hulu, etc.)
Spotify, podcasts
Websites (NYT, ESPN, etc.)
What they don’t do: they don’t buy ads inside Google Search or Meta (Facebook/Instagram). Those are closed ecosystems where outsiders can’t bid freely.
They take a small fee on every ad dollar that flows through their platform.
The moat
Google both owns a lot of the ad inventory (like YouTube) and runs one of the tools used to buy ads. That’s like the referee also owning one of the teams. Even if they try to be fair, the incentives are messy.
TTD is different:
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not financial advice. I am not a financial advisor. I may buy or sell these stocks at any time. You must do your own research before investing
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