Copyright Adweek
The numbers $739 million: Revenue for Q3 2025, up 18% year-over-year (vs. $628 million in Q3 2024). 20%: YoY revenue growth for the first nine months of 2025. Growth was 27% during the same period last year. 85%: The number of The Trade Desk clients using its core platform Kokai, with the bulk of spend running through it. In Q2, three-quarters of its clients were on Kokai. Watercooler talk It seems as if clients are finally listening to the Trade Desk’s messaging around its Kokai user interface. After a great deal of friction, 85% of clients are now using it. CEO Jeff Green continued to tout the benefits during the call, claiming it drove a 26% improvement in cost per acquisition, 58% better cost per unique reach, and a 94% higher click-through rate. Despite the win on Kokai, Wall Street analysts continue to monitor growing competition with Amazon, viewing its growing ad business as a potential headwind for The Trade Desk. Green, however, downplayed the threat. “We’re playing in a very different sandbox,” he said. According to Green, the bulk of Amazon’s roughly $70 billion ad business — more than 90% — comes from sponsored listings, which primarily compete with Google Search and emerging AI search, not a DSP. Its secondary ad revenue source, Prime Video, accounts for only a small fraction of total advertising and competes with streaming platforms like Netflix and Disney, he said. Joint business plans (JBPs) now account for roughly half of The Trade Desk’s business. Last quarter, the company executed 180 JBPs with some of its largest clients and added 80 more in the pipeline, collectively worth billions, Green said. The CEO also shrugged off the rise of AI-driven search, saying it has minimal impact on the open internet, and that it will create more search inventory which will lead to more advertising opportunities “that will have efficacy.” Green also highlighted features that will increase the use of agentic AI on the Trade Desk platform, including “trading modes,” which let buyers choose how they interact with the system. In a notable leadership shift, The Trade Desk appointed Anders Mortensen as chief revenue officer on Nov. 4, succeeding Jed Dederick, who departs after nearly 14 years with the company. For Q4, The Trade Desk forecasts at least $840 million in revenue, surpassing analyst expectations of $831 million. Key quote “Amazon’s DSP is mostly about buying Prime Video, and very little is buying the open Internet. Our estimates are that low single digits are in their DSP, and a small percentage of that is pointed at decisioning the open internet,” said Green.
