Jeff Green on how The Trade Desk’s new OS can improve the CTV ecosystem

When Jeff Green founded The Trade Desk in 2009, the concept of streaming premium content on the internet was nascent. In fact, Netflix was still shipping DVDs in those tell-tale red envelopes direct to people’s homes. (Incidentally, the No. 1 movie that year was Avatar, a futuristic spectacle). Well, 15 years later, everything has changed. We live in an age of streaming content, with connected TV (CTV) replacing traditional ways of watching.

Since then, The Trade Desk has grown into one of the world’s leading independent digital advertising platforms, designed to help clients access and plan campaigns on the open internet. And these days, the open internet includes the very best streaming content — Hollywood movies, high-production TV shows, live sports (Jake Paul versus Mike Tyson, anyone?), as well as quality journalism and podcasts. And increasingly, much of this content is monetized by ads.

For Green, that transformation has enabled The Trade Desk to thrive as a demand-side platform that allows its clients to lean into the power of programmatic ad campaigns, especially within CTV. The aim is to serve more relevant ads to the right audience in the most efficient way. When Green started the company, his ambition was to enable true price discovery of an ad and thus to create a more efficient marketplace.

To that end, in this episode of The Current Podcast, Green explains why The Trade Desk is launching Ventura, a streaming TV operating system named after the California beach town — beloved by surfers — where the company was founded. It’s a full-circle moment, he tells the podcast, not just because of the name. “I believe we’re uniquely positioned to improve the supply chain of television, of CTV, and as a result of fixing the supply chain and the way that money flows, actually improve the TV experience to make certain that the future of television is different,” he says.

Green likes to say the arc of markets bends toward efficiency. “Really, all we’re trying to do is make it so that the supply chain is as effective as possible, and that we’re enabling price discovery so that people know what they’re buying and that the ecosystem gets better,” he says.

Challenges remain, he admits. The ad tech supply chain is complex and intimidating to some. Green offers insights into the company’s strategy to make the supply chain better for all, explaining why he believes The Trade Desk is in a good position to bend the arc in the direction of efficiency.

The Current is owned and operated by The Trade Desk Inc.