The Trade Desk posts Q1 revenues of $86m with CTV cited as 'the most exciting thing in media'
Amid a whirlwind of headlines chronicling trepidation among the adtech sector, The Trade Desk beat earlier analyst expectations posting revenues of $85.7m for the first quarter of the year, an increase of 61% year-over-year.
42% of The Trade Desk's revenues were generated on mobile during the quarter / Pepi Stojanovski via Unsplash
The performance beat expectations by $12.7m, with the company’s share price rising 22.1% ahead of the company’s subsequent earnings call, with The Trade Desk additionally forecasting revenues of $103m for the second quarter and $443m for the year.
Performance was driven by continued omnichannel growth with The Trade Desk leadership claiming that a host of product launches in the connected TV (CTV) space helped generate this growth. Key platform statistics revealed in the filing include that 42% of overall revenue was driven by mobile, with mobile video up nearly 160% year-over-year.
On the company’s subsequent earnings call, Jeff Green, The Trade Desk, chief executives officer, described the quarter as one when “nearly everything went right”, adding that there has been a shift in mindset among advertisers over the last year, with digital now at the core of their branding efforts, instead of a peripheral channel for direct response.
He further went on to point out that while CTV is currently a small proportion of its revenue, it grew '21X' compared to 12 months beforehand, adding that this sector of the media industry was "in the first inning".
"This was way in excess of what we expected," said Green. "The number of ad-funded [CTV] opportunities just continues to go up," said Green. "I do believe that connected TV is the most exciting thing in the US and also Asia."
Green further went on to address issues around user privacy, specifically distance his company from the Cambridge Analytica scandal, by highlighting that The Trade Desk doesn't need personally identifiable information (PII) to create relevant ads for brands across the internet.
Facebook's problems were not caused by third parties bringing data, rather the problems was caused by third parties hacking the system and illicitly harvesting PII, Green told financial analysts.