Amazon, Google challenge The Trade Desk as ad tech rivals pivot

The Trade Desk is facing mounting competitive pressure from two major players in digital advertising and cloud computing. Amazon and Google are both ramping up new competitive efforts specifically targeting TTD, even as the company's revenue growth has slowed in recent periods. Dan Salmon, media analyst for NewStreet Research, offers a nuanced view of the threat: he suggests that Amazon's DSP (demand-side platform) may not survive as a standalone product in five years, but the real threat comes from how Amazon intends to use it. According to Salmon's analysis and statements from Jeff Green, TTD's CEO, Amazon plans to integrate its DSP into other company areas like its Campaign Manager and transition low-margin ad-tech revenue to AWS, where it can be bundled with broader cloud services to achieve higher operating margins. The open exchange marketplace has historically been difficult for competitors to enter because the business operates on low gross margins—a structural barrier that bundling with higher-margin AWS services could overcome. This bundling strategy may prove particularly effective at attracting open-exchange-focused marketers who want integrated solutions. The competitive threat is sharpening in connected TV, a major growth area for The Trade Desk. Recently, AWS signed an expanded partnership with Warner Bros. Discovery to build out agentic AI-based ad technology. Nage Sethu, senior vice president of technology, converged advertising and linear systems for WBD, stated: 'Building with AWS has been critical to streamlining the buyer's experience across linear and digital powering critical layers of our data, forecasting, and next-generation agentic advertising stack.' According to Salmon, this deal is fundamentally different from AWS's other ad-tech partnerships because it creates an entirely new architecture on core AWS solutions rather than serving as a point solution. Meanwhile, Google is pursuing a separate strategy through its 'Buyer Direct' operation, which Salmon identifies as a 'new near-term risk for TTD' because it allows advertisers to buy directly from publishers and bypass DSP buying entirely. Together, these initiatives suggest that large digital-media and cloud players are shifting their competitive approach toward integrated, bundled offerings rather than competing directly in The Trade Desk's core marketplace.