The Trade Desk integrates Bunny Studio for audio ad creation

The Trade Desk announced a new integration with creative services platform Bunny Studio, enabling advertisers to create audio ads directly within its Kokai platform. The announcement, made just one day ago on April 28, 2025, introduces functionality aimed at simplifying the audio ad creation process for digital marketers.

According to Kerianne Stiene, Director of Partnerships at The Trade Desk, the integration is designed to "make it even easier for advertisers to quickly produce high-quality audio creative and launch campaigns seamlessly through The Trade Desk." The partnership addresses a significant pain point in the digital audio advertising ecosystem, where production complexity, time constraints, and cost barriers have traditionally limited widespread adoption.

Industry experts have long acknowledged the challenges associated with audio creative production, particularly for brands without specialized audio teams or significant production budgets. The integration arrives at a critical juncture for audio advertising, as streaming music services and podcast consumption continue to claim increasing shares of consumer attention.

The implementation operates through Kokai's Creative Library (CL) tile, providing direct access to Bunny Studio's creative services platform. The integration enables advertisers to request professional audio ads "in just a few clicks," streamlining what has historically been a multi-step process involving various third-party vendors and production houses.

From a technical perspective, the system brings three critical capabilities to advertisers using the Kokai platform:

1. Direct access to professional voice actors through Bunny Studio's talent network
2. Simplified ordering and production workflow integrated within the advertising platform
3. Unified campaign management with creative production and media buying in a single environment

According to technical documentation from The Trade Desk, production time is estimated at "48 hours or less," representing a significant improvement over traditional audio production timelines that frequently span weeks.

The integration significantly reduces friction between creative production and media execution, addressing a longstanding challenge in programmatic audio advertising. Previously, advertisers needed to manage parallel workflows across creative agencies and media platforms, often leading to delays and coordination challenges.

Global capabilities and voice talent network

A particularly noteworthy aspect of the partnership involves access to Bunny Studio's international voice actor talent network. According to company materials, Bunny Studio works with "the world's top 4% of specialized professionals, to deliver voice overs, writing, video, and design services in more than 100 languages and accents."

This capability addresses the growing demand for localized audio creative as digital audio platforms expand globally. Advertisers can now produce region-specific audio creative with authentic accents and cultural nuances, an increasingly important consideration for multinational brands.

Bunny Studio, founded in 2019 (though company documents also reference a founding date of 2021), positions itself as "a creative fulfillment platform powered by technology and by humans." The company maintains an extensive database of over 13,000 pre-vetted professionals and offers a risk-free policy with 24/7 support.

The partnership arrives amid growing interest in audio advertising as a complement to visual formats. Audio advertising offers unique advantages in environments where visual media cannot reach consumers, such as during commutes, exercise, and household activities.

Industry analysts have frequently cited creative production as a limiting factor in audio advertising growth, with brands often repurposing television audio tracks rather than developing format-specific creative. The integration potentially addresses this limitation by reducing production barriers.

The Trade Desk's investment in audio creative capabilities signals growing demand for the format among their client base. For performance-oriented marketers, audio has historically presented challenges in measurement and attribution compared to display and video formats. However, improvements in cross-device measurement and audio-specific performance metrics have increased advertiser confidence in the medium.

This development carries several significant implications for digital marketers:

First, the integration substantially lowers the barrier to entry for brands new to audio advertising. Previously, creative production complexities deterred many marketers from exploring the channel, despite growing audience engagement with streaming audio platforms.

Second, the partnership potentially accelerates campaign deployment timelines. The promised 48-hour production turnaround enables more responsive advertising approaches, allowing brands to capitalize on timely marketing opportunities that would previously have been impossible given traditional audio production schedules.

Third, the global voice talent network facilitates international campaign execution, enabling brands to maintain consistent messaging while adapting to local languages and cultural nuances. This capability is particularly valuable for multinational brands seeking to coordinate global campaigns with local relevance.

Fourth, the integration represents another step in the consolidation of advertising workflow tools within major demand-side platforms. This trend has seen platforms like The Trade Desk expanding beyond their core media execution functions to include creative production, measurement, and audience development capabilities.

Client testimonials and use cases

Client testimonials highlight the value proposition of Bunny Studio's creative services. According to Justin Ohanessian, Director at AdsWizz, "Bunny Studio's dedicated Production Management team are the icing on the cake to helping us scale our business at speed!" He further elaborated that when seeking a creative solution, they needed "a service that could meet our tight deadlines, but also one that could deliver exceptionally high quality creatives."

Oda Berntsen, Project Manager at Attensi, emphasized customer service quality, stating "Bunny Studio's customer service is exceptional. No matter the size of the project, I always receive top quality service and speedy deliverables."

These testimonials suggest the partnership may address significant pain points in audio creative production, particularly regarding turnaround time and quality consistency.

The Trade Desk has not made the integration universally available. According to their announcement, advertisers interested in accessing the functionality should "reach out to your account representative to confirm eligibility." This suggests a phased rollout approach, potentially prioritizing larger advertisers or those with established audio strategies.

Additional information regarding the integration is available in The Trade Desk's Knowledge Portal, though access requires platform login credentials. The company has also included a disclaimer noting that "these services are provided by Bunny Studio, and The Trade Desk makes no representations or warranties of any kind regarding these services."

The partnership represents part of a broader industry trend toward integrated creative and media solutions. Major advertising platforms have increasingly recognized the critical interrelationship between creative quality and media performance, leading to investments in creative production capabilities.

For The Trade Desk, enhancing creative capabilities strengthens their competitive position against advertising platforms with vertically integrated creative tools. The move also positions The Trade Desk more competitively in the audio advertising space specifically, an area experiencing significant growth but historically dominated by platform-specific solutions from major audio publishers.

The partnership adds additional capabilities to Kokai, The Trade Desk's platform that launched in January 2024 as a significant upgrade to their previous system. This integration represents ongoing enhancement of the platform's capabilities following its initial release.

Timeline

• 2019/2021: Bunny Studio founded (company documents reference both dates)
• January 2024: The Trade Desk launches Kokai platform
• April 28, 2025: Partnership announced between The Trade Desk and Bunny Studio
• April 29, 2025: Kerianne Stiene, Director of Partnerships at The Trade Desk, shares announcement on LinkedIn