The numbers:
$741 million: Q4 revenue (compared with the DSP’s own earlier guidance of $756 million), a 22% increase YoY
$2.4 billion: Full-year revenue, up 26%
26%: Amount its stock price fell per share in the minutes following the call
High-40%: The amount of company revenue coming from video
5%: The amount of the DSP’s budget it allocates to digital audio
The watercooler talk
The adtech darling’s first revenue miss in over eight years on the public market is not one that Wall Street, or CEO Jeff Green, is taking lightly. Green will reveal a 15-point action plan in its next earnings call.
Until then, we’re told that the reasons for the miss include company missteps, as well as fewer buyers than expected using Kokai, the panel that media planning teams use to execute campaigns.
Focusing on an area of opportunity, The Trade Desk will expand direct brand relationships, particularly through joint business plans (JBPs), where it works with both the agency and brand. JBPs grow about 50% faster than the rest of the business, he said.
Green trod familiar ground in terms of growth: CTV, audio, and cleaning up supply paths in the open web (thanks to its recent purchase of metadata firm Sincera). He also mentioned, again, that he expects Google to exit the open web to rid itself of its antitrust woes.
The key quote
“The reality is that we stumbled into a series of small execution missteps,” Green said. “As companies grow and become increasingly complex, they need recalibration to unlock new opportunities.”
“Many of [the missteps] involve people mistakes that aren’t appropriate to discuss publicly, especially when people are already learning from their mistakes,” he added.
