Maybe The Trade Desk’s rough Q4 earnings were a smoke signal as several other adtech companies have also reported challenging results this week:
Zeta Global announced $315 million in Q4 revenue, a 50% year-over-year increase, but issued a more cautious Q1 outlook of $253–$255 million. The stock has dropped nearly 30% this week, falling from around $21 to just under $17.
Magnite reported $194 million in Q4 revenue, up 4% year-over-year, and expects Q1 2025 revenue between $140–$144 million. The stock is down a little over 11% this week.
PubMatic posted $85.5 million in Q4 revenue, a 1% year-over-year increase. The company projects Q1 revenue between $61–$63 million. The stock is down over 6% this week.
DoubleVerify reported $190.6 million in Q4 revenue, an 11% year-over-year increase. The company projects Q1 revenue between $151–$155 million, a 9% increase. The stock fell around 14% in after-hours trading.
Why This Matters:
For a moment, it felt like we were riding high entering 2025. And that could still be the case, despite the more muted growth outlooks in some of these earnings. Still, it’s been a tougher week for the industry.
But could this be temporary? During their earnings calls, both Magnite and DoubleVerify cited political ad spend crowding out traditional advertiser spend as a challenge in Q4—a factor that should subside now that the election is over. However, broader macroeconomic uncertainties, including tariffs and other non-adtech shenanigans, could complicate the picture. We’ll see how these dynamics play out and what the long-term impact is moving forward.
Couple this with The Trade Desk’s earnings from a few weeks ago and the short attacks on AppLovin, and it feels like everyone is eager to see the calendar flip to March.
Experts React:
Here’s what executives from each company had to say about their Q4 earnings and outlook:
Michael Barrett, President, CEO, and Director, Magnite:
“We have a very exciting 2025 ahead of us that I feel very good about. The Magnite team is performing at a very high level, and I love our resilience—even when the market throws challenges like in Q4—and our ability to bounce back quickly.”
Chris Greiner, CFO, Zeta Global:
“We’re obviously very aware of the macro environment. We’re aware of the inflationary backdrop, tariffs, and other factors, but we feel like we’ve put appropriate conservatism into our guidance to account for that.”
Rajeev Goel, co-founder and CEO, PubMatic:
“We grew through this impact in 2024, and we expect to do the same in 2025. We will lap this change in just a few months and emerge with a larger share of our business coming from key secular growth drivers. We are confident in our ability to execute what is within our control and deliver on our growth strategy.”
Mark Zagorski, CEO, DoubleVerify:
“2024 was a year of meaningful progress in the face of significant business and market challenges… These challenges… have sharpened our strategy and fueled our drive for diversified growth and product innovation.”
Our Take:
Onward and upward as we head into March. Public adtech is facing a bit of a rough patch, but hopefully not a long-term one. We can assume political ad spend distortions will fade, and while macroeconomic uncertainty abounds, these companies articulated clear growth strategies to navigate the turbulence. We might also see a continued spike in M&A as the public companies seek opportunities for innovation and growth to strengthen their positions.
