AI at The Trade Desk: The Double-Edged Sword 🚀

Kokai is picking up steam. About two-thirds of The Trade Desk clients have already jumped onto the platform heading into 2025. Everyone should be onboard by year-end. Marketers aren’t getting replaced. Instead, Kokai works beside them—like a copilot handling the complex stuff humans just can’t do as well 🔥

It’s kind of impressive. The system processes over 13 million ad impressions every second. Real-time. Thousands of signals. Koa Audiences shifts audience segments on the fly based on what’s actually working. Their measurement tools—TV Quality Index, Retail Sales Index—they’re finally shining light into those dark corners of CTV and retail media 📊

On the creative side, there’s Rembrand. Neat tool. It places products virtually into videos. Looks natural. They’re also hooking up with Spaceback and Bunny Studio for automated creative across formats and languages. Seems like they’re pushing beyond just buying media 🎨

But AI brings problems too. Google’s AI Overviews, Microsoft Copilot—they’re changing how we find information. People aren’t clicking through anymore. They just read the AI summary and bounce. Traffic numbers are scary. CNN down about 30% year-over-year. Business Insider and HuffPost? Even worse. Down 40% 📉

When those AI summaries pop up in Google search, click-through rates crash to 8%. That’s half what they used to be. Not great for The Trade Desk. Fewer clicks means fewer ad impressions across the open web. Supply shrinks. Competition for good spots intensifies 🌐

And now AI platforms themselves want to show ads. Microsoft’s testing ads in Copilot. Google plans the same with AI Overviews. If everyone’s attention shifts to these AI systems, advertisers might follow. Bad news for independent players like The Trade Desk 🧱

They’re not sitting still though. The Trade Desk is focusing on areas AI search can’t easily wreck. Their “Sellers and Publishers 500+” list prioritizes premium inventory that should hold value regardless of search patterns ✅

They’re also going big on CTV and retail media. Growing fast. Don’t rely on search traffic. Smart move 📺

For investors? It’s complicated. Kokai makes The Trade Desk stronger, builds deeper client relationships. But AI search might squeeze open web inventory and push budgets toward the very walled gardens The Trade Desk competes against 🔄

Long-term, it’s not entirely clear how things will shake out. The Trade Desk needs to nail execution in areas where AI disruption hits less hard. If they pull it off, maybe AI becomes more friend than foe 🌕