The Trade Desk today launched the Ventura Ecosystem, a formal industry collaboration designed to unite global television operating systems and streaming platforms within a shared programmatic advertising marketplace for connected TV. V, the smart TV operating system formerly known as VIDAA that powers more than 50 million connected devices worldwide, and Nexxen, a global advertising technology platform listed on the Nasdaq under the ticker NEXN, have signed on as the first collaborators.

The launch marks the next formal step in the trajectory of Ventura, which The Trade Desk first announced in November 2024 as a streaming platform designed to provide what the company has described as a cleaner and fairer supply chain for CTV advertising. The concept of a trade desk-owned operating system had already drawn scrutiny well before today's announcement. In September 2024, Viant's co-founder and chief operating officer Chris Vanderhook compared the strategy directly to Google's historical expansion in open web display advertising, raising concerns about the potential for concentrated control over CTV inventory, data, and pricing.

Today's announcement does not launch a new operating system. Instead, it formalises a collaboration framework through which existing TV operating systems can connect to Ventura's monetization toolset - gaining access to The Trade Desk's ad tech infrastructure while retaining control of their own brand, system design, and user experience. The Ventura Ecosystem, as described in the announcement, is structured as an opt-in model, with integration described as lightweight and requiring what the company calls "minimal effort."

The technical stack behind the Ecosystem

Participants in the Ventura Ecosystem can access a suite of The Trade Desk's existing ad tech components. These include OpenPath, which establishes a simplified, direct connection between ad buyers and sellers, bypassing intermediary supply-side platforms. The goal is to reduce friction and fees in the auction process. OpenPath has had a turbulent few weeks: a February 20 report by Adweek confirmed that Dentsu and WPP had quietly exited the initiative, citing transparency concerns and what they described as hidden fees - a complication that sits somewhat awkwardly alongside today's open-marketplace messaging.

Also included in the Ecosystem toolset is Unified ID 2.0 - referred to as UID2 for domestic U.S. inventory and EUID for European inventory - which is The Trade Desk's open-source identity solution. It operates using hashed and encrypted email addresses rather than third-party cookies, enabling targeting and measurement in a privacy-conscious framework. German publishers BCN and Kleinanzeigen adopted EUID and OpenPath just last week in a parallel expansion of this identity infrastructure into European markets.

The third component is OpenAds, a supply-chain tool that The Trade Desk's CEO Jeff Green unveiled in October 2025 as a means to combat auction manipulation and improve fairness and transparency following Prebid's controversial transaction ID changes. Green described OpenAds as designed to "increase fairness, transparency, and trust in the supply chain." Finally, OpenPass is included - a single sign-on solution that offers a more personalized user and advertising experience across participating platforms.

V and Nexxen: what each partner brings

V's participation is significant in scale terms. Launched in 2014 as VIDAA, the operating system powers more than 50 million connected devices worldwide across brands including Hisense and Toshiba televisions, with more than 400 brand partners. The company rebranded from VIDAA TV OS to simply V, with today's announcement referencing the platform under its new name throughout. The relationship between V and Nexxen predates today's announcement. Last year, Nexxen introduced the ability for advertisers to programmatically activate premium native smart TV advertising through a strategic multiyear agreement with V across multiple OEM partners. That inventory is now also available programmatically through Nexxen, with plans to integrate it into the Ventura Ecosystem framework.

Nexxen brings a full-stack advertising technology platform. The company operates both a demand-side platform and a supply-side platform, with the Nexxen Data Platform at its core. Headquartered in Israel with offices across the United States, Canada, Europe, and Asia-Pacific, Nexxen's capabilities span discovery, planning, activation, monetization, measurement, and optimization. The company previously partnered with The Trade Desk in August 2024 to make its automatic content recognition data segments available through that platform across the U.S., U.K., Canada, and Australia. It then renewed and expanded its VIDAA partnership in August 2025 with a $35 million additional investment, securing exclusive global ACR data access and exclusive North American ad monetization rights through at least the end of 2029.

Ofer Druker, CEO of Nexxen, described the broader significance of joining the Ventura Ecosystem. "With last year's launch of programmatic activation capabilities in our growing CTV OEM marketplace, led by V (previously VIDAA), Nexxen has assumed a leadership role in an industry that historically lacked standardization, transparency and efficiency," according to the press release. "In aligning with The Trade Desk's Ventura, we are intentionally and broadly opening the opportunity. Our agreement represents the next major step in evolving the ways CTV is bought for the better."

Guy Edri, CEO of V, framed the collaboration in terms of shared philosophy. "When I met with The Trade Desk, I realized we share a similar vision: offer advertisers and industry partners a more open and equitable OS and advertising supply chain. That's the promise of V as an independent TV OS," Edri said, according to the announcement.

Industry context: a market under pressure

The launch arrives at a particular moment for The Trade Desk. The company reported $739 million in third-quarter 2025 revenue, beating forecasts by $19.45 million, but its second-quarter 2025 results triggered a 27% stock drop despite a 19% revenue increase. CTV-led video accounted for approximately 50% of the company's total platform spend in recent quarters - making the Ventura Ecosystem's success more than a product bet; it is a significant portion of the company's core growth thesis.

The broader context is a CTV advertising market expanding at pace. Industry projections cited across multiple PPC Land reports show CTV's share of media budgets doubling from 14% in 2023 to 28% in 2025, while streaming officially surpassed the combined share of broadcast and cable TV for the first time in July 2025. Nexxen's own ACR data capabilities have become increasingly central to this market. In October 2025, Nexxen licensed its ACR audience segments to Yahoo DSP across the U.S., U.K., and Germany. Earlier that same month, Teads launched deterministic CTV measurement in beta to address the persistent measurement gap in streaming advertising.

The question of whether an independent DSP should also operate an OS layer - or at minimum define the technical standards for how OS partners monetize inventory - remains contested. Matthew Henick, SVP of Consumer Products at The Trade Desk, positioned the Ventura Ecosystem explicitly against what he described as the limitations of vertically integrated systems. "Most TV operating systems today are owned by companies that are focused on their own agendas, rather than strengthening the broader marketplace and creating winning opportunities for everyone," Henick said, according to the press release. "The Ventura Ecosystem is different; we're building it together with contributors, like V and Nexxen, to create an open marketplace centered around collaboration and delivering value to all Ventura Ecosystem participants."

That framing echoes language The Trade Desk has used consistently since the Ventura concept emerged. The company partnered with DIRECTV in October 2025 to develop a custom Ventura TV OS version for third-party manufacturers - its first major hardware partnership. The Ventura Ecosystem announced today operates differently: rather than deploying a custom OS, it allows existing OS providers like V to plug into Ventura's monetization infrastructure while maintaining their own system identity.

The Trade Desk has not disclosed financial terms of any Ventura Ecosystem agreements. The announcement states that more partners are expected to join the Ecosystem "soon," though no names or timelines were provided.

Why this matters for buyers and publishers

For media buyers and programmatic teams, the Ventura Ecosystem represents a potential consolidation of CTV supply paths. Access to increased programmatic demand, better CPMs, and stronger fill rates through OpenPath and related technologies are listed as intended benefits for participating OS providers. Whether those promises materialise will depend heavily on adoption momentum and the resolution of transparency concerns that have complicated OpenPath's relationships with major holding companies in recent weeks.

For publishers and OEMs considering participation, the Ecosystem's lightweight integration pitch is central - the monetization engine, according to The Trade Desk, can be activated with minimal effort while the operating system retains control of its brand and user experience. That balance of autonomy and access is what distinguishes the Ecosystem model from the more bespoke DIRECTV collaboration, where The Trade Desk is more deeply embedded in OS construction.

Timeline

Summary

Who: The Trade Desk, through its Ventura streaming platform, alongside founding Ecosystem collaborators V (formerly VIDAA, an operating system powering more than 50 million connected devices) and Nexxen (a Nasdaq-listed advertising technology company headquartered in Israel with global operations).

What: The launch of the Ventura Ecosystem - a formal industry collaboration framework allowing global TV operating systems to connect to The Trade Desk's monetization toolset, including OpenPath, Unified ID 2.0/EUID, OpenAds, and OpenPass, while retaining control of their own user experience and brand.

When: The announcement was made on February 24, 2026, with the V and Nexxen agreements taking effect on the same day.

Where: The announcement originates from Ventura, California, where The Trade Desk is headquartered. The Ecosystem is designed for global deployment across TV operating systems and streaming platforms internationally.

Why: The Trade Desk positions the Ecosystem as a response to a CTV advertising market it characterises as fragmented and controlled by vertically integrated platforms focused on proprietary agendas. The initiative aims to create a more transparent, revenue-optimised marketplace for CTV advertising at a time when streaming accounts for a growing share of total TV viewing and CTV is projected to represent 28% of media budgets in 2025, up from 14% in 2023.

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