The Trade Desk is “overhauling how it pays identity partners” for its Identity Alliance, reports Digiday. According to the report, instead of paying data providers based on overall usage (volume), the alliance will shift to payments based on “incrementality,” or the measurable lift a partner’s data delivers to a campaign.
As is the case with seemingly everything involving TTD lately, the Digiday report has raised eyebrows. Some see a potential conflict. Others see it as a way to generate more in fees. Only time will tell how the updates are received.
For its part, TTD largely confirmed the report and told Digiday in a statement: “These changes relate only to how partners are compensated and do not impact how clients use the platform.”
Why This Matters:
The Identity Alliance was launched a few years ago and is described by TTD as a “coalition of the industry’s leading identity graph solutions”—including LiveRamp, ID5, and others—that combines their data (people, device IDs, households, etc.) into a single graph. That graph is integrated into TTD’s platform for planning, activation, and measurement.
So, what do we make of the changes? At a high level, they should push the ecosystem toward higher-quality signals. Paying for incrementality—rather than volume—rewards identity partners for data that actually drives outcomes. In theory, that means less noise, less waste, and better alignment with marketer performance.
IThe move seems to align with TTD’s broader messaging. The focus is shifting from data quantity to data quality. Zooming out, it also tracks with their push around supply path optimization, moving away from the “wild west” of the open web, often driven by sheer tonnage.
Experts React:
There’s a wide range of opinions here. Here’s what some are saying about the changes:
Marketing expert Sarah Caputo, for example, says that “TTD appears to be prioritizing operational (OpEx) savings on the back end — reducing what it pays data partners — while holding fees stable on the front end.” Essentially, it could expand TTD’s margins while putting pressure on data providers’ economics.
Marketecture’s Sam Khoury was a bit more upbeat, noting the change seems to “reward those who truly make the graph smarter,” which appears to be the goal.
Meanwhile, Seth Ulinski, an adtech industry analyst, says, “I like the idea of rewarding value. However, this move makes TTD the arbiter of identity value, rather than advertisers, agencies, or independent measurement vendors.”
Our Take:
As is often the case in adtech, the reality is probably somewhere in the middle. TTD’s rationale holds up, but so do the concerns. You will be shocked to learn that, in adtech, consensus is hard to find. There is only complexity.
