Jeff Green, CEO of The Trade Desk
Scott Mlyn | CNBC
Trade Desk CEO and co-founder Jeff Green says last year was a wake-up call for the advertising industry because consumers are moving away from traditional TV and rather to streaming and online videos.
“2020 was a wake-up call for the TV advertising industry,” Green said on Thursday in the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call. He said the company’s affiliate TV business, where it sells ads on streaming platforms, doubled in the fourth quarter of a year ago.
The Trade Desk, which has a growing business in the field of connected TV, has a lot to earn as advertising revenue shifts away from traditional linear television. With more people in their lounges streaming programs and movies during the pandemic, The Trade Desk saw more opportunities to show their ads on streaming platforms. Green said the pandemic has accelerated a shift in this direction and in other areas.
“We’ve talked a lot over the last twelve months about how the pandemic is accelerating trends that were already going on, but we could not predict how sharp the acceleration would be.”
The company’s shares fell about 1% in after-hours trading, even after reporting $ 319.9 million in revenue and a non-GAAP earnings of $ 3.71 per share, which raised expectations knocked. The company’s technology helps brands and agencies to reach targeted audiences within media formats and devices.
Green also quoted a recent presentation with Procter & Gamble’s trademark officer, Marc Pritchard. “He and I believe we are heading for an inevitable future where all the advertising takes place, and I quote his words: ‘digital, programmatic, data driven and automated’.”
Green agrees with Pritchard’s sentiments about the traditional TV buying process, in which advertisers usually spend a large portion of their annual TV spending on deals during the spring “pre-season”. This is when the networks hold presentations and parties to show media buyers their programming, hearing data and advertising tools. Pritchard criticized the process last September, calling for a later pre-market, along with more flexibility to buy ads closer to the announcement.