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TTD vs. MGNI: Which Ad-Tech Stock Is the Smarter Pick Now?
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Key Takeaways
The Trade Desk targets growth via biddable CTV and its Kokai DSP, but faces margin pressure from rising costs.
Magnite's CTV strength spans Netflix, Roku and live sports, with CTV near 45% of contribution ex-TAC.
MGNI is expanding ClearLine and SpringServe adoption as higher capex and competition weigh on margins.
Digital advertising remains one of the most attractive long-term growth markets in the technology space. According to a Grand View Research report, the global digital advertising market is expected to witness a CAGR of 15.4% from 2025 to 2030.
Both The Trade Desk, Inc. (TTD - Free Report) and Magnite, Inc. (MGNI - Free Report) play pivotal roles in the digital advertising ecosystem. While TTD is a pure-play ad-tech firm built around a demand-side platform (DSP), Magnite is a supply-side platform (SSP) that helps publishers manage and sell their ad inventory across various formats, such as streaming, online video, display and audio.
Both firms have sizeable exposure to the booming connected TV (CTV) and retail media trends. Despite their shared tailwinds, The Trade Desk and Magnite represent very different investment profiles.
Understanding the strengths, weaknesses, and risk-reward dynamics of each is essential for determining which stock may be the better pick right now.
The Case for TTD
Macro volatility is immensely concerning for The Trade Desk. If macro headwinds worsen, revenue growth may face pressure due to reduced programmatic demand.
The Trade Desk is facing intense competition in the digital ad space. Walled gardens like Meta Platforms, Apple, Google and Amazon dominate this space as they control their inventory and first-party user data, allowing for highly targeted ad campaigns. While CTV remains a strong revenue driver, the market is also becoming increasingly competitive. AMZN’s expanding DSP business is giving tough competition to TTD, especially in this space.
TTD is focused on embedding AI across the portfolio, which will increase capex and operational costs. Rising expenses, coupled with investments, could compress margins if revenue growth slows. In the last reported quarter, total operating costs (excluding stock-based compensation) surged 17% year over year to $457 million. Expenses increased due to continued investments in enhancing platform capabilities, particularly in platform operations.
Though TTD is focusing on geographic expansion, executing well across disparate markets can be complex and risky. Regulatory and privacy-related changes like the deprecation of cookies and tightening data-privacy laws like Europe’s GDPR also pose ongoing challenges.
Despite these factors, TTD has several tailwinds that continue to support its long-term narrative. Shift toward open Internet remains the key theme. Management noted that the transition toward biddable CTV is gaining rapid momentum, and it expects decision CTV to become the default buying model in the future. The benefits of decision-based buying (like greater flexibility, control and performance) compared with traditional programmatic guaranteed or insertion-order models, are rendering it the logical choice for advertisers. Kokai, TTD’s next-generation AI-powered DSP experience, remains central to its strategy. 85% clients use Kokai as their default experience, and this is strengthening its competitive moat.
The Case for MGNI
For Magnite too, CTV remains the key driver with deep partnerships with major publisher partners and agency marketplaces, along with momentum, particularly in live sports and SMB advertising. CTV now represents a significant portion of Magnite’s mix, accounting for roughly 45% of total contribution ex-TAC.
Netflix’s ad-supported rollout across global markets is pacing ahead of expectations, and Magnite believes there is a meaningful opportunity for continued growth through 2026. Roku also remains a fast-growing partner, with Magnite serving as the preferred programmatic partner for the Roku Exchange. Within Live sports, MGNI is witnessing contributions from Disney’s NFL and college football and Major League Baseball. The company’s Live Stream Accelerator product is now used by several partners globally.
Higher intake of its ClearLine platform, which now boasts more than 30 clients, is another plus. It recently introduced several key enhancements, including support for native home-screen CTV units. The company is integrating agentic workflows and open standards across its core products and has begun to integrate the Model Context Protocol, or MCP. Notably, MCP is a generalized open standard that enables agents and large language models to connect to external systems and data. ClearLine is one of the company’s first products to embed MCP, allowing partners to automate tasks. These capabilities are powered in part by Streamer.ai, which Magnite acquired in September.
On the last earnings call, MGNI highlighted SpringServe (CTV ad serving and SSP platform) as a critical differentiator as it plays a key role as the "mediation layer for publishers." Earlier in the year, Spotify selected Magnite as its global programmatic partner for the Spotify Ad Exchange, which uses SpringServe to boost omnichannel advertising across video, audio and native display formats.
However, as with all firms operating in this space, competitive pressure, especially from tech behemoths, is enormous, along with macroeconomic uncertainty that could threaten ad budgets. Moreover, margin expansion may face pressure in the coming periods due to ongoing investments and higher capex. Magnite raised its full-year 2025 capex guidance to $80 million.
Share Performance & Valuation for TTD & MGNI
Over the past month, TTD and MGNI shares have lost 4.8% and 12.5%, respectively.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
In terms of the forward 12-month price/earnings ratio, TTD shares are trading at 16.73X, higher than MGNI’s 13.74X.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
How Do Zacks Estimates Compare for TTD & MGNI?
Analysts have kept their estimates unchanged for TTD’s bottom line for the current year in the past 60 days.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
For MGNI, the estimates are unchanged for the current fiscal year.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
TTD or MGNI: Which Is a Smarter Pick?
TTD currently carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell), while MGNI has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
In terms of Zacks Rank, MGNI is a better pick at the moment.
Image: Bigstock
TTD vs. MGNI: Which Ad-Tech Stock Is the Smarter Pick Now?
Key Takeaways
Digital advertising remains one of the most attractive long-term growth markets in the technology space. According to a Grand View Research report, the global digital advertising market is expected to witness a CAGR of 15.4% from 2025 to 2030.
Both The Trade Desk, Inc. (TTD - Free Report) and Magnite, Inc. (MGNI - Free Report) play pivotal roles in the digital advertising ecosystem. While TTD is a pure-play ad-tech firm built around a demand-side platform (DSP), Magnite is a supply-side platform (SSP) that helps publishers manage and sell their ad inventory across various formats, such as streaming, online video, display and audio.
Both firms have sizeable exposure to the booming connected TV (CTV) and retail media trends. Despite their shared tailwinds, The Trade Desk and Magnite represent very different investment profiles.
Understanding the strengths, weaknesses, and risk-reward dynamics of each is essential for determining which stock may be the better pick right now.
The Case for TTD
Macro volatility is immensely concerning for The Trade Desk. If macro headwinds worsen, revenue growth may face pressure due to reduced programmatic demand.
The Trade Desk is facing intense competition in the digital ad space. Walled gardens like Meta Platforms, Apple, Google and Amazon dominate this space as they control their inventory and first-party user data, allowing for highly targeted ad campaigns. While CTV remains a strong revenue driver, the market is also becoming increasingly competitive. AMZN’s expanding DSP business is giving tough competition to TTD, especially in this space.
TTD is focused on embedding AI across the portfolio, which will increase capex and operational costs. Rising expenses, coupled with investments, could compress margins if revenue growth slows. In the last reported quarter, total operating costs (excluding stock-based compensation) surged 17% year over year to $457 million. Expenses increased due to continued investments in enhancing platform capabilities, particularly in platform operations.
Though TTD is focusing on geographic expansion, executing well across disparate markets can be complex and risky. Regulatory and privacy-related changes like the deprecation of cookies and tightening data-privacy laws like Europe’s GDPR also pose ongoing challenges.
Despite these factors, TTD has several tailwinds that continue to support its long-term narrative. Shift toward open Internet remains the key theme. Management noted that the transition toward biddable CTV is gaining rapid momentum, and it expects decision CTV to become the default buying model in the future. The benefits of decision-based buying (like greater flexibility, control and performance) compared with traditional programmatic guaranteed or insertion-order models, are rendering it the logical choice for advertisers. Kokai, TTD’s next-generation AI-powered DSP experience, remains central to its strategy. 85% clients use Kokai as their default experience, and this is strengthening its competitive moat.
The Case for MGNI
For Magnite too, CTV remains the key driver with deep partnerships with major publisher partners and agency marketplaces, along with momentum, particularly in live sports and SMB advertising. CTV now represents a significant portion of Magnite’s mix, accounting for roughly 45% of total contribution ex-TAC.
Netflix’s ad-supported rollout across global markets is pacing ahead of expectations, and Magnite believes there is a meaningful opportunity for continued growth through 2026. Roku also remains a fast-growing partner, with Magnite serving as the preferred programmatic partner for the Roku Exchange. Within Live sports, MGNI is witnessing contributions from Disney’s NFL and college football and Major League Baseball. The company’s Live Stream Accelerator product is now used by several partners globally.
Higher intake of its ClearLine platform, which now boasts more than 30 clients, is another plus. It recently introduced several key enhancements, including support for native home-screen CTV units. The company is integrating agentic workflows and open standards across its core products and has begun to integrate the Model Context Protocol, or MCP. Notably, MCP is a generalized open standard that enables agents and large language models to connect to external systems and data. ClearLine is one of the company’s first products to embed MCP, allowing partners to automate tasks. These capabilities are powered in part by Streamer.ai, which Magnite acquired in September.
On the last earnings call, MGNI highlighted SpringServe (CTV ad serving and SSP platform) as a critical differentiator as it plays a key role as the "mediation layer for publishers." Earlier in the year, Spotify selected Magnite as its global programmatic partner for the Spotify Ad Exchange, which uses SpringServe to boost omnichannel advertising across video, audio and native display formats.
However, as with all firms operating in this space, competitive pressure, especially from tech behemoths, is enormous, along with macroeconomic uncertainty that could threaten ad budgets. Moreover, margin expansion may face pressure in the coming periods due to ongoing investments and higher capex. Magnite raised its full-year 2025 capex guidance to $80 million.
Share Performance & Valuation for TTD & MGNI
Over the past month, TTD and MGNI shares have lost 4.8% and 12.5%, respectively.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
In terms of the forward 12-month price/earnings ratio, TTD shares are trading at 16.73X, higher than MGNI’s 13.74X.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
How Do Zacks Estimates Compare for TTD & MGNI?
Analysts have kept their estimates unchanged for TTD’s bottom line for the current year in the past 60 days.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
For MGNI, the estimates are unchanged for the current fiscal year.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
TTD or MGNI: Which Is a Smarter Pick?
TTD currently carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell), while MGNI has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
In terms of Zacks Rank, MGNI is a better pick at the moment.
You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.