"Ad Whisperer 🎯 Trusted Advisor to Agencies, CMOs & Brands on #ConnectedTV, #RetailMedia, #AttentionMetrics, #adtech and the Future of Marketing 🚀 | Editor-in-Chief @ ADOTAT | AdTech | Marketing | Proud Chicano Jew ✡️"
The Trade Desk (TTD) is on a mission to rewrite the rules of the game, and they’re doing it with a poker face worthy of a championship. While they keep denying any intentions of launching their own TV OS, insiders like Erez Levin, Media Futurist, suggest that TTD has been secretly working on "Project Bridgewater" since 2019. They're reportedly collaborating with Sonos, Inc., known for its sleek speakers, to craft a smart TV OS. But why would Sonos leap into TV? As Levin notes, building a smart TV OS isn’t just tricky—it’s an Olympic-level challenge requiring not just technical prowess but serious negotiation skills with the likes of Netflix and Disney+. Matthew Keys and Julian Savitch-Lee 🔜 Videoweek and Dmexco, experts in CTV and programmatic advertising, weigh in on TTD's strategy, likening their denials to a reality TV star's apology tour—everyone knows what's really going on. While most TV makers play it safe by licensing established platforms from Google, Amazon, or Roku, Sonos is betting on TTD's fresh take to carve out a distinctive identity. Why settle for being another cog in the machine when you can have a direct line to the juicy data TTD is offering through its Unified ID 2.0? Lynne d Johnson of AdMonsters argues that TTD’s data ambitions, like creating a "unified consumer profile," make them the ultimate data gatekeeper in a world where privacy is tightening and cookies are going the way of the dodo. But what's the endgame? TTD seems to be setting up a whole new ecosystem that echoes Google's playbook with DoubleClick, but for Connected TV (CTV). Imagine controlling everything from content to data to ad delivery. Lynne d Johnson sums it up best that TTD wants to be the new sheriff in town. By reducing the middlemen, controlling inventory, and creating new revenue streams from data like Automatic Content Recognition (ACR), TTD aims to dominate the CTV landscape. W hat’s your take on TTD's ambitions? Are they building a new walled garden, or just giving the old guard a run for their money? Let’s hear your thoughts in the comments! Jeff Green
John Bennewith
2mo
Sonos, Inc. Can’t even get their speakers to connect properly 😳
Dustin Wish
2mo
The core issue with this is the experience needed to understand the chipsets and the dirty secret of certified apps like Netflix. I honestly got an AMAZING crash course at all of this while I was at Vewd (Now Xperi). It SOUNDS easy to just build a TV, but it is FAR from it. The margins are thin, vendors don't want to add new SKUs, and it costs many millions to get into the game. Not that Trade Desk can't do it, but why? In theory, vertical expansion and ownership of a platform is a good idea until you really peek under the curtains... I'm open for consulting if someone wants to do... LOL.. I've done it.
Scott B. Morin
2mo
Very interesting, something to watch. Worth pointing out that Google is in the midst of a very big antitrust trial for their ecosystem/playbook involving DoubleClick so maybe an inauspicious comparison. Digital platforms often have a primary purpose then visions of growth in “non-core” directions, typically with the idea that “if we could just get everyone on board think of the data we’d have and how we could use that to flywheel back into….” If it actually improves CTV UX somehow, that’s great and interesting. If it’s just a path to working outside of the big OS gatekeepers that makes sense. As with anything, have to have differentiators.
Judy Shapiro
2mo
Important read -- worth a few minutes - especially anyone (everyone???) interest in video advertising. "TTD has been secretly crafting their own smart TV OS since 2019, calling it "Project Bridgewater," and teaming up with none other than Sonos to make this dream a reality...But let's talk about what TTD really wants—data. Not just any data, but all the data. We're talking digital black gold. According to Lynne Johnson of AdMonsters, “A unified consumer profile is the holy grail of targeting,” and TTD is on a crusade to snatch that holy grail right out from under the industry’s nose."
Dustin Wish
2mo
As a guy that licensed a TVOS and worked with all the others in the business, why in the world would you want to join the pain. The market is SO small for OEMs and the profits so thin for them (outside of ad rev) why spend the money? It just seems.... Why? At this point, giving TVs like the guys at Telly seems a better option.
Don Marti
2mo
Yes, Unified ID 2.0 has the encryption and key management to have a better privacy and compliance story than other smart TV platforms, and TTD isn't a retailer that competes with TV advertisers.
Garrett McGrath
2mo
I keep seeing references to them allegedly denying building an OS. All I saw was Jeff deny they were trying to compete with Roku.
FWIW, while I don't necessarily disagree with these views attributed to me, I think the only POV I've shared (publicly or privately) on this topic was in this LinkedIn comment, which I believe are quite a bit more nuanced and specifically in response to a post that positioned this as some sort of evil scheme by TTD to cement their vertical integration on CTV like Google did with display, which I believe is not so easily replicable for a few fundamental reasons: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7240133405013614592?commentUrn=urn%3Ali%3Acomment%3A%28activity%3A7240133405013614592%2C7240316821680140289%29&dashCommentUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afsd_comment%3A%287240316821680140289%2Curn%3Ali%3Aactivity%3A7240133405013614592%29