2022 is proving to be a difficult year for many tech companies. One of the most prominent issues many of them are facing is slowing growth in the face of tough year-ago comparisons.
Even some of the biggest names in tech are facing challenges. Alphabet's growth has slowed significantly; Meta Platforms paused hiring as top-line growth turned negative; and Microsoft laid off employees. But somehow, The Trade Desk's (TTD -4.34%) second-quarter revenue soared.
The data-driven ad-buying platform company's management team guided for strong growth in Q3, too. Not only is this better performance than many other tech companies this year, but it also comes as most digital-advertising companies are faring far worse.
This begs the question: What are the primary driving forces behind The Trade Desk's recent market-share gains? While there are many reasons for The Trade Desk's strong growth, three catalysts are particularly powerful and are worth highlighting: The Trade Desk's objectivity, its data-driven focus, and the company's strong position in the fast-growing connected TV space. Let's take a look at each of these catalysts.
1. Objectivity
First and foremost, The Trade Desk is structurally advantaged as the largest-scaled independent and objective ad-buying platform. Unlike Google and Meta Platforms, for instance, The Trade Desk doesn't own any of the content it's monetizing with ad space.
Further, the company only makes money from ad buyers. This means marketers and advertising agencies using The Trade Desk's platform to buy ads can trust that the company is working to identify the best advertising opportunities across the open internet.
"This is our biggest advantage in the market," said The Trade Desk Chief Revenue Officer Tim Sims during the company's investor-day presentation earlier this month.
2. Data-driven results
Another driver of The Trade Desk's growth -- one that's particularly effective during uncertain macroeconomic environments -- is the data-driven focus of The Trade Desk's platform. As companies face uncertainty, it becomes more important than ever for them to ensure every dollar of ad spend goes as far as possible. This leads to an accelerated shift of ad budgets toward the most objective, data-driven platforms like The Trade Desk, as companies search for the highest-return possible on ad spend.
3. Connected TV
Finally, The Trade Desk is well-positioned to benefit from one of the biggest catalysts in digital advertising to date: the migration of advertising budgets away from traditional TV to connected TV (CTV). As a result, CTV is becoming "a must buy," and in some cases, the most important part of marketers' digital-media plans, The Trade Desk CEO Jeff Green explained in the company's second-quarter earnings call.
Green has often said that CTV is one of the company's most important catalysts because, unlike search and social media advertising channels, the CTV advertising market is highly fragmented. This means The Trade Desk has more scale across CTV ad opportunities than any advertiser, unlike its small position in search and social media, compared to Alphabet and Meta Platforms, respectively.
It would be difficult to overstate the impact CTV is having on The Trade Desk's business. CFO Blake Grayson said in the company's most recent earnings call that CTV was the company's fastest-growing advertising channel "by a wide margin" during the period.
Looking to Q3, management said it expected more rapid growth. Specifically, the company forecast third-quarter revenue of $385 million -- translating to 28% year-over-year growth. Investors will get to see whether or not The Trade Desk's strong business drivers continued to drive enough growth to offset the problems associated with a challenging macroeconomic environment when the company reports earnings early next month.
