The Trade Desk ‘preparing to launch its own smart TV OS’

The Trade Desk is reportedly building its own smart TV operating system (OS), according to entertainment and hardware newsletter, Lowpass. 

Rumoured to be gearing up to more directly compete with the likes of Roku, Google’s Chromecast, Apple TV and Amazon’s Fire TV, the demand side platform (DSP) is supposedly pitching its smart TV OS to several hardware makers,attempting to gain a market share by promising better revenue sharing deals compared to the competition. 

Further, per Lowpass’s article, the company is offering hardware partners more flexibility in customising the OS’s interface and already has one undisclosed partner on board – with a debut device running the OS launching as soon as next year. 

The Trade Desk has been busy throughout 2024, having already launched its new open source identity targeting solution, EUID, in Europe, partnered with Netflix as part of the streamer’s expanding investment in its advertising offerings, and even entered into a partnership with would be competitor Roku to give CTV advertisers access to it’s first-party data.

As for the smart TV market, it is already extremely competitive and set to only become more-so in the future. 

Beyond established competition Roku, Google, Apple and Amazon, technology giants Samsung, LG and Hisense are all in the process of licensing their own OS’s to third-party manufacturers. 

Vizio, currently being acquired by Walmart, is also set to enter the space. 

The Trade Desk has declined to comment on the speculation. 

This article was first published in Campaign's sister publication, Performance Marketing World.