Vlad Chubakov (@Programmatic 101)

One of the world’s largest advertising companies Publicis is reportedly dropping $TTD as a recommended platform after a recent audit. The audit alleges fee opacity & unauthorized auto-enrollment that directly challenges Trade Desk’s core value proposition as a neutral, transparent DSP. The timing is brutal.

The highlight of Marketecture Live, @aripap and The @TheTradeDesk CEO Jeff Green talk stock purchases, AI, OpenPath, and more. Link below 👇

@cvanderhook @Seth_Ulinski @efroestad Appreciate the kind words Chris. Never say never.

@101Programmatic @Seth_Ulinski @efroestad Vlad. It’s time. Been enjoying your content for years. You need to be on Viant. We service the shit out of our customers. No tickets or chat bots.

Haven’t seen this discussed anywhere - TTD has quietly changed how they service agencies. No more allocated AM team. Now you submit tickets, just like every other big DSP. That was IMO one of TTD’s biggest strengths. And yes, ticket-based support is as painful as you’d expect. Frustrating.

@UncleJuelzz This is good

@101Programmatic No ticket system Vlad

@Seth_Ulinski @efroestad Maybe. Our account is US based. And I just asked pol on reddit and there are a lot of frustrated people sharing the same experience…

@101Programmatic @efroestad Must vary by region (for now)

@efroestad Interesting

@101Programmatic Not the scenario for us! Still have an amazing support team from TTD

at the end of the day we’re all just trying to find something that we care about as much as @eric_seufert’s passion for CAPIs

@HatesAdtech The openpath situation pretty much answers your question about which definition wins. TTD did everything right by the first one - and got punished for it. That tells me the industry doesn’t really want a better ecosystem (except for some bubble on x/li)

I have a shower thought for all of you. I think that things are coming to a head because of misalignment -- namely around the word Transparency. To the ad tech layman, transparency means "i want to know every participant in the supply chain and how much they're taking." We have seen significant product development around this with middling efficacy or adoption. This interpretation of "transparency" makes assumptions about a desire for "efficiency" or "optimization." This is where I think we've gone awry. There's another interpretation of "transparency." The alternative interpretation is "I want to know what you're doing to the extent that it can make me look bad." Same word, radically different intent. The latter has nothing to do with efficiency -- in fact, a desire for inefficiency and lack of absolute transparency is not at all at odds with the latter definition, while those two things are quite at odds with the former. As is every product manager's nightmare, I fear our industry may have been building features for the former, when the desire is for the latter. I think this is an artifact of sanitized public discourse being at odds with product realities. I really don't mean to pass judgment here, but there seem to be a lot of surprised pikachu faces out there, and I can't say that I'm one of them.

Lots of discussion about OpenPath. I am pro OP. My thoughts below. Someone tell me where I’m wrong. OpenPath has value to both the buy and sell side. It has value to the buyer because TTD claims (and I’ll take their word for it) they run OP at cost. They claim their ~5% take rate is just to run it at break even. TTD is making all their money on DSP fees (different discussion) where the other SSPs have higher yields and dynamic pricing so they can make a profit which OP doesn’t need to. The pubs don’t have the same margin rate across all SSPs (it’s dynamic and essentially the SSPs is trying to take the highest margin while also trying to win the auction in the Pub’s adserver/header). Hypothetically OP would have the lowest margin (because they are running it at break even) but the bid would still have to be the highest to win the auction in the pub’s adserver. The one benefit for pubs using OP should be that they get more volume from TTD they wouldn’t otherwise get if they didn’t use OP. If TTD isn’t outright lying about OP and they are running it at breakeven and aren’t favoring it beyond it being the most efficient path to supply then I only see a benefit for buyers to use them. The inherent problem is, Google poisoned the well on this, when a company is on the buy and sell side they have a conflict of interest. Makes them an easy target for all of AdTech to bash them. OP doesn’t do rebates so holdcos who’s SSP rebates go right to their bottom line have every incentive (besides their clients media performance) to use SSPs who give them the biggest rebates. Has any advertiser ever talked about turning off Amazon Publisher Services? Amazing to me they have been able to fly under the radar for scrutiny when unlike TTD I don’t believe they have ever claimed to run it at cost or not to favor their own pipes.

Rebates were the first thing I thought of when I saw holdcos pulling back from OP. Wrong incentives are a massive problem in our industry and TTD is one of the few players who actually tried to fix it. And instead of the industry appreciating that, people are trying to get to the bottom of their motives. IMO it tells a lot about the state of the industry and shows if people really want to change things.

@AdtechGod this is how I spent the last two months

I just vibe coded the dumbest shit. 🫠

NEW: Live ads have been spotted in ChatGPT for the first time. Story below. 👇 adtechradar.com/2026/02/18/liv…

A lot of adtech social is exactly this: two seasoned programmatic pros arguing over tiny details just for the sake of fighting, while buyers sit there watching the whole thing with zero clue what’s going on. They just slap some off-the-shelf segments onto a line item and leave the rest in God’s hands.

Everyone’s talking about agentic replacing traders. But the trader’s real job is to balance incentives - and that’s the one thing you can’t automate. A DSP will always find the cheapest path. MFA, bot clicks, junk inventory. Your job is to push back against that.

Chrome 146 includes an early preview of WebMCP, accessible via a flag, that lets AI agents query and execute services without browsing the web app like a user. Services can be declared through an imperative navigator.modelContext API or declaratively through a form.

Is there such a thing as “vibe programmatic”? Hey agent, activate a CTV campaign on Netflix.

Scoop: Amazon is working to launch a marketplace where publishers can sell their content to firms offering AI products. W/@erinkwoo theinformation.com/articles/amazo…

🚨 @OpenAI officially rolled out ads in ChatGPT today. -Dubbed OpenAI Ad Pilot Program, has already drawn investment from Omnicom Media, WPP, and Dentsu, - Over 30 clients, including Adobe, Audemars Piguet, Audible, Ford, Mazda, will test ads on ChatGPT adweek.com/media/chatgpt-…

NEW: @OpenAI is reportedly rolling out ads in ChatGPT today. Story below. 👇 adtechradar.com/2026/02/09/ope…