How does The Trade Desk make money?
The Trade Desk makes money by charging advertisers and agencies a platform fee, a percentage of the media they buy through its DSP, plus fees for optional data and features. It does not own media. In 2025 it reported $2.9 billion of revenue on $13.4 billion of gross spend flowing through its platform, according to its annual results.
The Trade Desk reports revenue net: it counts its fees, not the full media cost, as revenue, which is why gross spend is far larger than revenue. Dividing one by the other gives a rough implied take rate of around one-fifth. It also reported 2025 Adjusted EBITDA of $1.2 billion, and customer retention above 95%.
Its products include the Kokai AI buying platform, OpenPath direct publisher connections, the Unified ID 2.0 (Unified ID 2.0) identity framework and Ventura, a TV operating system. Its strategy relies on being an independent DSP for the open web and CTV, positioned against Google and Amazon, which sell their own media as well as ad tech.