The Trade Desk’s Jeff Green Explains Why the Adtech Giant Doesn’t Make Big M&A Moves

Advertising tech company The Trade Desk isn’t interested in snapping up companies—despite its recent rare acquisition of data firm Sincera.

The Trade Desk is the largest independent adtech firm, competing primarily against Google and Amazon for programmatic ad dollars. But the giant is notably not a buyer of companies. Besides Sincera, The Trade Desk’s only other acquisition to date was its 2017 acquisition of Adbrain.

While speaking at the Interactive Advertising Bureau’s Annual Leadership Meeting, Green quickly shut down speculation that its recent acquisition could signal a shift in The Trade Desk’s mergers and acquisitions strategy.

“Sincera isn’t a big team,” Green said, emphasizing The Trade Desk’s focus on developing its own tech rather than integrating new businesses. Financial terms of the Sincera acquisition were not disclosed at the time of the annoucement.

While Green acknowledged that acquisitions sometimes make sense, he said they’re often distractions. Instead, Green is betting on growth of The Trade Desk’s core business, particularly as the company strengthens its role as a trusted partner for publishers.

Even so, Green acknowledged that the adoption of programmatic advertising has not grown as quickly as he had hoped—presenting a challenge as the company continues pushing for a more open and competitive digital ad ecosystem.

Green also broken down four adtech trends to watch out for in 2025.

Adtech companies and publishers could win if Google loses

Green has long been a critic of Google, which is both a competitor and partner to The Trade Desk.

Google is currently waiting for a ruling in the federal case accusing that its programmatic ad business is a monopoly.

Green believes Google will first negotiate with the government before it is forced to breakup its ad exchange business. If that split comes to pass, Green sees it benefiting the open internet, supply-side platforms, and publishers who’ve long been under Google’s thumb.

“Google’s success has not been good for SSPs and publishers,” he said, adding that it makes strategic sense for Google to focus more on YouTube rather than the open internet—something that its demand-side platform, DV360, already prioritizes. “It’s where all their privacy and antitrust risks come from, but it’s not where all the money comes from.”

Green framed a potential spinoff as a “chess move” for Google’s board and CEO Sundar Pichai—not just a regulatory aftershock. A breakup could spark much-needed competition and finally allow SSPs to deliver real yield management for publishers, Green said.

Spotify will embrace programmatic advertising

Green sees Spotify’s full embrace of the open internet as a pivotal moment for audio advertising.

Thanks to generative AI’s ability to streamline ad creation, creating audio ads will accelerate.

“Audio might be the most on-sale part of the open internet,” he said. He expects to see a huge uptick in programmatic audio as Spotify opens up more inventory.

Streaming will go more programmatic

Green expects streaming TV to continue growing as content owners push for more profitability and ad loads increase. He sees a greater role for programmatic and biddable inventory in streaming, especially for high-value categories like sports, where auction-based pricing could drive higher ad prices.

“There’s still lots of room for us to grow to make things biddable,” he said. “That will have a huge impact on some of the most expensive content in CTV, which is sports, where biddable is really suited to improve the entire sports experience.”

The Trade Desk is also building a smart TV operating system called Ventura.

Streaming makes up half of The Trade Desk’s business, but Green also sees opportunities in retail media and display advertising—even as display faces challenges.

“Honestly, it’s not that important to me,” Green said when asked if the company’s mix would remain 50-50. “We want to go where there are growth opportunities and where there’s efficacy.”

Identity remains a priority

Despite Google’s inconsistent approach to cookies and identifiers, Green said that The Trade Desk remains committed to its privacy product called Unified ID 2.0. He blasted Google for inserting itself between consumers and publishers in the name of privacy, while cementing a new form of market dominance.

“By creating an ID that sits outside of that—one that appends to the most benign piece of what we’ve formally called PII, an email address—you make it possible for consumers to take their preferences with them,” he said.