Roku and The Trade Desk Partnership Unveiled as 2024 NewFronts Begin

Google announced at the NewFronts pitch that it has formed tie-ups with major streaming providers like Disney, Paramount, NBCUniversal, and Warner Bros. Discovery. These providers will make their ad inventory available through Google's Display & Video 360 platform. This platform allows advertisers to manage and buy display and video advertising across the web.

Roku's CEO, Anthony Wood, discussed the company's aim to make it easier for advertisers to purchase its ad inventory programmatically. This involves expanding and deepening relationships with third-party platforms, as programmatic advertising represents a growing share of spend on Roku's platform. With Roku's platform advantages, including first-party relationships and a large user base, they aim to accelerate platform revenue growth in 2025 and beyond.

The partnership between Roku and The Trade Desk, the ad industry’s largest independent demand-side platform (DSP), is significant as it underlines the trend of digital platforms integrating with key ad tech partners. This closer integration is expected to enhance Roku's capabilities in programmatic advertising and may potentially open up access to Roku's ad inventory and user data for The Trade Desk.

Roku may consider sunsetting its OneView ad stack, which it acquired through the purchase of DataXu for $150 million, as it looks to deepen relationships with third-party platforms for programmatic advertising. While OneView is Roku's own ad stack, the company's strategy seems to be shifting towards broader integration with other industry players, which could make the proprietary system less central to its operations.

Roku is scheduled to make its 2024 NewFronts presentation at 4:30 p.m. ET on April 30.