Digital advertising firm The Trade Desk has been quietly developing its own streaming TV operating system to compete against Roku and Amazon’s Fire TV, according to a report by Lowpass. The newsletter said this week the development of the Trade Desk’s smart TV OS began during the COVID-19 pandemic; employees have concealed their hiring by the firm on LinkedIn and elsewhere in order to keep the project a secret.
Lowpass says The Trade Desk — which is not associated with The Desk — is hoping to lure smart TV manufacturers with bigger revenue opportunities for digital advertisements, compared to what Roku and Amazon offer with their operating system. No TV manufacturers are known to have signed on to the project yet, but The Trade Desk has already had conversations with numerous potential TV partners.
The backbone of The Trade Desk’s smart TV OS is Android, which also powers Amazon’s Fire TV. In choosing Android, The Trade Desk’s streaming platform should be compatible with most streaming video apps, including Netflix, Prime Video and Disney+.
In addition to Roku and Amazon, The Trade Desk will have to compete with an increasingly-crowded market of smart TV operating systems, including those offered natively by Hisense (VIDAA), Samsung (Tizen OS), LG (webOS), Vizio (SmartCast) and upstarts like Xumo and Titan OS.
Why would The Trade Desk want to venture into this lane? Connected TV advertising is already a big part of its business, accounting for a “high-40s percentage share,” one executive recently revealed. The company is hoping to grow that share by having direct control of the streaming TV experience, with promises to cut video providers and TV manufacturers in on the action.
