Trade Desk and PubMatic Lead adtech growth as CTV adoption soars: report

In a promising sign for the global adtech industry, leading players Trade Desk and PubMatic have posted an average year-over-year (YoY) revenue growth of 16.0% in developed markets (DM), with Trade Desk significantly outperforming at a 27.3% YoY growth rate, as per Elara Capital’s recent ‘Elara Diet Report’. These gains underscore the continued shift from linear television to connected television (CTV), which offers advertisers a better return on investment (ROI) and is driving higher ad spending.

The report further states that both companies noted strong performance in the CTV segment, reflecting the broader industry trend of advertisers reallocating budgets from traditional linear TV to streaming platforms. Trade Desk, in particular, saw its CTV segment grow at a faster pace in the first half of 2024 compared to the previous year, while PubMatic reported a 19% YoY increase in revenue from omnichannel video, which includes CTV, mobile, and desktop devices. The growth in CTV is being fueled by an increase in monetized impressions, with PubMatic nearly doubling its CTV monetized impressions YoY.

In another positive development for the adtech ecosystem, Google’s decision to abandon plans to deprecate third-party cookies is expected to have a minimal impact on data costs for companies like Trade Desk and PubMatic. Trade Desk’s Unified ID 2.0 (UID2) continues to gain traction as a key identity signal in environments requiring user logins, while PubMatic is reallocating resources to focus on performance and commerce media.

Affle India, with a 26.8% revenue exposure in developed markets, is expected to benefit from these industry trends. The company is projected to achieve an organic revenue CAGR of 21.0% between FY25E and FY27E, driven by factors such as the recovery of key verticals, increased adoption of CTV, and a shift toward programmatic advertising. Affle India’s strong presence in emerging markets (EM) could also contribute to its growth, particularly as digital ad spend continues to rise.

Overall, the stability and growth in developed markets, coupled with the increasing adoption of data-driven advertising strategies, paint a positive outlook for adtech firms in the coming years.