What’s going on with The Trade Desk’s rumored smart TV OS? Is this real or not?
Well, it’s complicated.
To recap: a recent report suggested The Trade Desk is developing an operating system for smart TVs, putting them in the position to potentially compete with players like Google (no love loss between the two) and Roku (a Trade Desk partner). However, this week, CEO Jeff Green denied the rumor onstage at a conference, as reported by Digiday.
Despite the denial, Janko Roettgers, who initially broke the OS news, has a new scoop that doubles down on the rumor. In his latest, published today, he says that The Trade Desk’s TV ambitions continue and they will partner with Sonos on a smart TV, powered by a Trade Desk OS.
Why partner? Well, Sonos will handle the hardware while The Trade Desk, according to Roettgers, can support on media and content deals. Roettgers writes that “The Trade Desk has secured agreements with a number of major streaming services to participate on its platform,” though a final app lineup is still TBD.
Why This Matters:
Again, what’s real and what’s not here? Is The Trade Desk’s disavowal of the OS rumor a way to save face with partners like Roku? It’s not quite clear.
What is clear, though, is that developing a smart TV – new hardware and a new OS – is obviously a major challenge with lots of barriers along the way. If The Trade Desk can pull it off, they would get greater control of the CTV environment, benefiting them on ad performance, identity, and data.
Experts React:
According to Trey Titone, in a must-read piece on The Trade Desk’s rationale for launching a smart TV OS, “The Trade Desk would want to develop a smart TV operating system for various reasons. Most of these motivations stem from fear of current operating system owners exerting too much control and implementing strategies counter to TTD’s goals.”
Our Take:
There will be many questions if this project is eventually confirmed. If, for example, The Trade Desk has a smart TV OS powered by its own content deals, how does that ensure partner inventory is targeted and measured independently? Will content partners have to integrate UID? More broadly, though, will the OS be good? Consumers, ultimately, have to want to use this and hardware lives and dies off of its software. More to come.
