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TTD's International Expansion: Can EMEA and APAC Drive Growth?

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Key Takeaways

  • The Trade Desk sees strong international momentum as EMEA and APAC each grow nearly 30% year to date.
  • CTV revenue grew more than 50% year over year in both EMEA and APAC during the second quarter.
  • China surged more than 100%, while international markets contributed 17% of second-quarter revenue.

The Trade Desk (TTD - Free Report) has strengthened its footprint in the rapidly expanding programmatic advertising market, but its next phase of growth could increasingly depend on opportunities outside the United States. As digital advertising becomes more sophisticated across Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) and the Asia-Pacific (APAC), TTD’s international expansion offers a potentially significant growth runway. Its footprint spans more than 35 markets and is supported by global partnerships and localized engineering resources, enabling the company to provide clients with deep expertise across regional advertising markets.

The majority of The Trade Desk’s top 100 accounts are growing at double-digit rates year over year. Moreover, advertisers outside the top 500 are delivering more than 50% year-to-date growth, highlighting strong momentum among smaller, emerging and challenger brands. Geographically, EMEA and APAC have each grown nearly 30% year to date, while China has surged more than 100%. Its retail media footprint now spans retailers representing more than 80% of U.S. retail sales, including Walmart, while its global investments are opening new opportunities as brands increasingly adopt data-driven advertising across Europe and APAC.

The Trade Desk's second-quarter revenue rose 3% year over year to $715 million. Geographically, the U.S accounted for about 83% of revenue, while international markets contributed 17%. Continued investments in EMEA and APAC are driving strong momentum, with CTV revenue growing more than 50% year over year in both regions during the quarter.

TTD’s international expansion is poised to be a long-term growth driver. EMEA provides a combination of digital advertising markets and emerging economies, while APAC offers enormous populations, rising digital consumption and expanding advertising budgets. CTV could accelerate TTD's international opportunity as streaming and addressable television gain traction.

Competition Remains a Major Risk for TTD

Magnite’s (MGNI - Free Report) growth is driven by strong CTV and DV+ demand. It is seeing broader adoption of programmatic advertising, particularly among premium accounts, while international expansion is providing another growth driver as global streamers rely on programmatic channels to reach new markets. Recently, MGNI announced the launch of its first agentic campaign in EMEA with trading desk Amnet France, highlighting how agentic buying can improve the performance and efficiency of premium CTV campaigns. Magnite also expanded partnerships with major global brands, including Walmart, Samsung, Roku, Viasat, AMC and Dentsu, strengthening its CTV and omnichannel capabilities through automated buying, data-driven targeting and broader programmatic access.

PubMatic, Inc.’s (PUBM - Free Report) disciplined investments have diversified its business, with CTV, mobile app and emerging revenues. In the second quarter, CTV, mobile app and emerging streams accounted for about 60% of revenue and grew nearly 40% year over year. CTV revenue rose 13%, led by 25% growth in the Americas, while mobile app revenue jumped more than 40%, driven by mediation integrations, product innovation and a growing global publisher base. Direct buying on Activate more than doubled globally year over year. In June, PUBM launched its first agentic advertising campaign in Spain with Havas and Movistar, marking a key step in European programmatic CTV adoption.

TTD’s Price Performance, Valuation and Estimates

Shares of TTD have declined 47.4% in the past six months against the Zacks Internet Services industry and S&P 500 composites’ rise of 9.5% and 13.3%, respectively.

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From a valuation standpoint, TTD trades at a forward price-to-earnings of 27.89X, higher than the industry’s average of 19.97X.

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Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for TTD’s earnings has been revised downward over the past 60 days.

Zacks Investment Research
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

TTD currently carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).

You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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