The Trade Desk, a leading programmatic advertising platform, has reported a 23% year-on-year increase in Q4 revenue, reaching $606 million and surpassing analyst expectations of $582 million. The company has consistently grown more than 20% in each of the last eight quarters.

The adjusted earnings per share (EPS) for Q4 was $0.41.

Jeff Green, founder and CEO of The Trade Desk, said: “Once again The Trade Desk outpaced nearly all areas of digital advertising in 2023, with $1.95 billion of revenue representing 23% growth year over year and a record $9.6 billion of spend on our platform. At the same time, we continue to generate significant profitability and cash flow, which allows us to remain at the bleeding edge of our industry, with innovations such as Kokai. Our results are testament to the growing value that advertisers are placing on the open internet versus the limitations of walled gardens.”

Green added: “More and more of the world’s leading advertisers are gravitating to channels and partnerships that offer precision and premium value at scale, such as Connected TV (CTV) and retail media. More companies across the advertising ecosystem are leveraging new tools, such as UID2, OpenPath and OpenPass, which allow them to build the new identity and authentication fabric of the open internet. And with the launch of Kokai, we are bringing more value to advertisers with the industry’s most advanced, intuitive media buying platform.”

The Trade Desk is issuing 1Q 2024 guidance of at least $478 million in revenue and approximately $130 million in EBITDA. The company's tools, such as Unified ID 2.0 (UID2), OpenPath and OpenPass, are being adopted by more companies across the advertising ecosystem.

In January, DISH Media announced the adoption of UID2 across its suite of traditional TV and OTT services, including DISH TV and Sling TV. HP's integration of UID2 has improved targeting on CTV, reducing wasted advertising spend. OpenPath, which connects The Trade Desk's advertising clients to premium publishers, is live and gaining momentum with dozens of publishers representing over 11,000 destinations across CTV, mobile, display and audio.

OpenPass lets publishers authenticate their regular website visitors so they can help advertisers score the relevance of their ad impressions. More publishers have deployed OpenPass, including Snopes, OK Magazine and Radar Online.

The Trade Desk is rolling out Kokai, its biggest platform upgrade ever, which allows advertisers to use an audience-first approach to their campaigns and leverage AI to enhance every aspect of the media buying process.

The Trade Desk announced an additional share repurchase authorisation, bringing the total amount of authorised future repurchases to $700 million (USD) of its Class A common stock. The Trade Desk's 2023 gross spend was $9.6 billion and customer retention remained over 95% during the year.