Inside The Trade Desk’s journey through programmatic advertising technology

The Trade Desk was founded in 2009 by Jeff Green and Dave Pickles to build technology for advertisers buying digital media programmatically.

How The Trade Desk developed

The company developed a demand-side platform that lets agencies and brands purchase and measure advertising across websites, mobile apps, connected television and other channels. It listed publicly in 2016 and benefited as automated media buying expanded beyond desktop display advertising.

The Trade Desk in 2026

By 2026, The Trade Desk remained an independent advertising-technology platform focused on the buy side of digital media.

Its history is closely tied to the rise of programmatic advertising and to advertisers’ demand for an alternative to buying media entirely inside the closed ecosystems of the largest consumer internet platforms.

Information was checked against public company material, regulatory filings and reputable independent reporting where available, using sources accessible on 18 September 2026.