By Juby Babu
(Reuters) -Trade Desk reported a sharp slowdown in second-quarter revenue growth on softer demand for its digital advertising services in the connected TV market, sending its shares plummeting more than 26% in extended trading on Thursday.
Demand-side platform providers such as Trade Desk are facing the squeeze as advertisers tighten their marketing budgets and favor larger platforms such as TikTok and Meta’s Facebook and Instagram in the face of economic uncertainty.
“In the second quarter, starting right at the beginning of April, some of the biggest brands, particularly in sectors like auto and consumer packaged goods, which are meaningful categories for us, began to experience even greater volatility, but since then, things have stabilized,” said CEO Jeff Green on a post-earnings call.
Trade Desk, which does not have its own ad inventory, allows advertisers to plan, buy, and optimize campaigns across various ad exchanges and publishers.
Revenue at the ad-tech firm rose 19% in the three months ended June 30, down from 26% in the year-ago quarter and 25% in the first quarter.
Meanwhile, operating expenses jumped nearly 18% in the quarter.
A roughly in-line revenue forecast of $717 million for the third quarter also disappointed investors, said Michael Ashley Schulman of Running Point Capital Advisors.
“Investors promptly hit the ‘skip-ad’ button, slicing the shares 28% after-hours and handing the demand-side platform maestro its worst day since February’s flop,” Schulman said.
In February, Trade Desk reported a miss on fourth-quarter revenue, the company’s first top-line miss in at least five years. Its shares have fallen nearly 30% this year, through Thursday’s close.
Rivals like Roku, PubMatic, and Magnite may benefit from the dislocation, Schulman added, “pitching themselves as smoother tracks for incremental budgets.”
Separately, Trade Desk named Alex Kayyal as its chief financial officer effective August 21, succeeding Laura Schenkein.
(Reporting by Juby Babu in Mexico City; Editing by Tasim Zahid and Sriraj Kalluvila)
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