The Trade Desk’s Matthew Henick Talks Ventura, the OS Looking to Change the Smart TV Game

TV buyers will soon have yet another option when weighing what smart TV to purchase.

Digital advertising giant The Trade Desk has been developing a new operating system, known as Ventura, which is set to launch in the near future and is being positioned as a game-changer for the connected TV space.

According to TTD’s SVP of Ventura, Matthew Henick, the aim of the OS is to “bring objectivity as a core principle and to improve how the money flows” between content publishers, advertisers, manufacturers and even retailers.

“Objectivity has been an important part of The Trade Desk since our founding, so we intend to bring that to the CTV space,” said Henick on the latest episode of the Variety podcast “Strictly Business.” “And we think that has benefits for every participant along the way.”

Among those benefits: TTD is offering TV manufacturers (aka original equipment manufacturers, or OEMs) an intriguing deal in which the OEMs get more control over the ad inventory, and therefore reap much of the revenue, from Ventura, rather than the OS’ owners taking a significant cut of both, as is typical.

“This means that every dollar that an advertiser wants to spend will get directly to the publisher and not be taxed by multiple parties in between that perhaps aren’t contributing as much value as they should be,” Henick explained.

It’s a lofty goal, to be sure, but Ventura will be entering a crowded space with high competition and low margins, not to mention uncharted territory for its parent company. But Henick believes that, if TTD succeeds in its ambitions, it will be a “rising tide lifts all boats” situation for the challenged CTV business.

“We’re not doing this as a philanthropic exercise,” he said. “We’re doing it because we believe that more transparency in the CTV ecosystem will benefit our core business. And if it benefits our core business, that allows us to make advertisers more effective in their campaigns, and, frankly, bring more dollars back to the media companies that are investing in this amazing content.”

“Strictly Business” is Variety’s weekly podcast featuring conversations with industry leaders about the business of media and entertainment. (Please click here to subscribe to our free newsletter.) New episodes debut every week and can be downloaded at Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Spotify, Google Play, SoundCloud and more.