May 6, 2022

BuzzFeed, Los Angeles Times, Forbes, Mediavine and Red Ventures to Join OpenPath Global advertising technology leader, The Trade Desk announced more publishers have joined OpenPath, their proprietary product designed to provide advertisers with direct access to premium digital advertising inventory. Publishers including BuzzFeed, Los Angeles Times, Forbes, Mediavine and Red Ventures, whose publishing brands include Healthline Media and CNET, have now joined the initiative. “Journalistic media have been very enthusiastic supporters of OpenPath because they understand the importance of a competitive and transparent market in preserving their advertising yield” Since OpenPath launched in February 2022, more than 100 premium publishers globally have registered interest in the product as they look to maximize revenue from advertising impressions. OpenPath aims to remove the inefficiencies often present in the programmatic supply chain for digital advertising, including opaque and harmful privileges of the walled gardens. Initial OpenPath publisher partners include Reuters, The Washington Post, Gannett | USA TODAY Network, Conde Nast, McClatchy, Advance Local, MediaNews Group, Tribune Publishing, Nexstar Digital and CafeMedia, among others. “Journalistic media have been very enthusiastic supporters of OpenPath because they understand the importance of a competitive and transparent market in preserving their advertising yield,” said Jeff Green, Co-founder, Chairman and CEO, The Trade Desk. “As the industry adapts to a new, opt-in identity landscape, these publishers also recognize the power of OpenPath to help them activate their first-party subscriber data in a way that provides relevance to advertisers and more privacy control for consumers.” With this announcement, The Trade Desk remains committed to serving only advertisers. Since its inception, the company has worked to increase supply chain optimization and transparency on behalf of its advertising clients. OpenPath is the most significant step yet in this effort. The Trade Desk is not entering the supply side of digital advertising and will not provide supply side services, such as yield management. OpenPath provides publishers the ability to have direct access to advertiser demand and continue to leverage their existing yield management tools and partners. Publishers comment on OpenPath: BuzzFeed “We’re always looking for progressive solutions that benefit our advertising ecosystem and the brands that activate across it, so being a part of OpenPath couldn’t be a better alignment for what’s next in programmatic for the new BuzzFeed Inc. We’re excited to work with The Trade Desk on shaping the future of transparency in the supply chain and providing our partners the premium experience they expect,” said Alex Mason, Head of Programmatic Operations, BuzzFeed Inc. Los Angeles Times “As the leading source for news and information on the West Coast, we are excited to partner with The Trade Desk on a solution that will elevate the advertising experience for both our clients and our readers. OpenPath will help us improve transparency and performance for our advertisers, and provide our engaged readership with the marketing messages that are most relevant to them,” said Anna Magzanyan, Chief Strategy & Revenue Officer, Los Angeles Times. Forbes “Now, more than ever, it’s imperative for brands and marketers to understand their customers and their shifting needs, and to help drive successful business outcomes through authentic and meaningful audience engagement. Forbes is excited to be partnering with The Trade Desk on OpenPath to provide exceptional performance and deeper insights to our advertising clients, and to help bring greater accountability and transparency to the programmatic ecosystem,” said Nina Gould, Chief Product Officer, Forbes. Mediavine “As the programmatic industry continues making strides in supply path optimization and transparency, a true collaboration on the buy and sell sides is key. We are proud to continue our partnership with The Trade Desk as OpenPath’s first fully server-side integration. OpenPath helps ensure monetization opportunities for independent publishers across the web, including the more than 8,700 currently working with Mediavine,” said Eric Hochberger, Mediavine CEO and Co-founder. As part of the initial announcement in February 2022, The Trade Desk has communicated to advertising technology partners that it has sunset Google’s Open Bidding platform as of April 15, 2022. The Trade Desk will continue to buy through Google’s Ad Exchange.