It’s hard to compete against Google.
But Google is under pressure around the world – and anytime a regulator starts investigating Google in a given market, The Trade Desk claims to see an uptick in agency business.
The Trade Desk is particularly bullish on growth in connected TV, a rare market that Google doesn’t overwhelmingly dominate.
But The Trade Desk has always been careful not to cast itself as Google’s victim. During The Trade Desk’s Q2 earnings call this week, CEO Jeff Green told investors he’s “concerned about what Google has done” to make it hard for smaller companies to compete on the open web.
On this week’s episode, we get into Green’s deep ties with Microsoft. (He worked there between 2007 and 2009 after AdECN – the DSP he founded before The Trade Desk – was acquired by Microsoft.) We also dissect why The Trade Desk is so pleased that Microsoft (and not Google) will be the gatekeeper for Netflix’s ad supply.
And the team talks about the ongoing tension with Google – which has been brewing for a lot longer than just this quarter.
AppLovin – or no love lost
Did someone say tension?
Elon Musk is the king of M&A drama for backing out of his Twitter deal. But AppLovin’s bid to acquire Unity – with the caveat that Unity calls off its deal with ironSource – puts Unity and ironSource in an uncomfortable position.
There’s no guarantee Unity will accept AppLovin’s takeover.
But AppLovin might have a point in not wanting ironSource. IronSource’s tech overlaps strongly with AppLovin’s stack, and AppLovin has already been restructuring to simplify its offerings. Not to mention that ironSource has a checkered past, mainly because the industry perceives it as being slow to shut down a piece of its tech that was widely abused by purveyors of malware.
But if AppLovin’s $20 billion acquisition bid for Unity goes through, the mobile ad ecosystem will be even smaller, populated by just a few massive mobile app holding companies and a handful of behemoths, including Microsoft, Google, Meta and Apple.
