The Trade Desk launches in Indonesia to capitalise on digital ad potential

Matt Harty, SVP of Asia and Australia at The Trade Desk, told The Drum that with Zenith numbers claiming that Indonesia will be in the top 10 ad markets in the world within the next three years, it was important to establish local operations.

“It’s compelling stuff, there’s a huge growth in middle class and it’s a boat I can’t see us wanting to miss. Boston Consulting figures suggest there will be 141 million Indonesian middle class by 2020, adding 8 or 9 million consumers buy big ticket items each year. I don’t think other markets will see a demand for 9 million new bikes each year, as first time buyers. It couldn’t be more exciting as a market,” he said.

The office, which will be located in Jakarta’s central business district, will be the sixth for the ad tech company in the Asia Pacific region. The office will launch with two members of staff, with the Singapore office still acting as its regional headquarters.

The timing of the launch has been set to ensure that brands and agency planners have strategies in place ahead of Ramadan, which takes place in late May this year. Harty said that after taking a year to work out the Indonesian market last year, ahead of launch, a key learning was how important it was to plan ahead of the religious holiday.

“Last year was the first year of real scale doing business in Indonesia, but from Singapore. We were taken by surprise about key things around Indonesian planning, so now we have boots on the street and are very well prepared and we time to be in place for Ramadan,” he added.

The office marks one of the first new Asian markets for the company since it publicly floated on the stock markets last year. The company hit the headlines after its IPO was widely considered to have been a success.