The Trade Desk launches data marketplace overhaul with AI scoring

The Trade Desk announced plans to launch Audience Unlimited on September 29, 2025, marking a significant overhaul of how third-party data is priced and deployed in digital advertising campaigns.

The platform aims to address long-standing challenges in the data marketplace. Advertisers have historically been reluctant to deploy third-party data because of cost concerns and difficulty determining which data sources deliver effective results. Those who do use third-party data typically invest nearly 20% of their media costs on it, according to the company.

Audience Unlimited introduces AI-powered scoring to evaluate data segments by relevance to specific campaigns. The system will analyze thousands of curated segments from hundreds of third-party data providers. Rather than requiring advertisers to purchase data sources individually at unpredictable costs, the new model offers tiered pricing integrated directly into campaign costs.

"Audience Unlimited is going to transform the way marketers think about the value and cost of third-party data," said Samantha Jacobson, Chief Strategy Officer at The Trade Desk. "Brands that leverage third-party data to optimize their campaigns consistently see significantly improved performance. However, the complexity of the data marketplace to date has made the deployment of data somewhat anemic."

The platform secured bulk pricing for data, which The Trade Desk will pass on to advertisers through simplified cost structures. The company's AI will help advertisers understand the relevance of all data sources to their campaigns and layer in as much as they need to optimize performance.

Two pricing tiers will be available through new Koa Adaptive Trading Modes. Control Mode charges tiered rates of 3.3% and 4.4% of impression costs for Audience Unlimited access. Performance Mode includes Audience Unlimited at no additional cost. Advertisers will still be able to apply data with traditional a la carte pricing if they choose.

The Trade Desk has struggled to gain traction with third-party data adoption among advertisers. PPC Land reported in January 2025 that programmatic advertising faced challenges with data cost structures that discouraged experimentation. The publication noted that transparency issues in data marketplace pricing remained a persistent concern throughout 2024.

Control Mode allows traders to manually manage bids, allocation, and optimizations with full flexibility to structure campaigns according to their needs. Agentic AI surfaces recommendations and opportunities, but traders decide when and how to activate them across individual tiles such as Geography, Device Type, and Ad Format. Performance features are available and priced a la carte in this mode, giving advertisers the ability to select which capabilities to apply to each campaign.

Performance Mode operates differently. Koa acts as a full co-pilot, dynamically optimizing bids and allocation to maximize efficiency and performance. Advertisers set the overall strategy and guardrails, and agentic AI continuously finds the most value within them. All optimizations remain fully transparent, with visibility into the changes Koa makes and the ability to override bid factors at any time. Performance Mode brings together The Trade Desk's innovations including Audience Unlimited, Predictive Clearing, Identity Alliance, Prism, and free measurement, which are continuously optimized to work in concert.

"The Trade Desk's Audience Unlimited represents a fundamental shift in how advertisers approach targeting," said Michael Beebe, CEO of Dstillery. "By embedding AI-powered audience selection directly into campaign strategy, it transforms data from an afterthought into a core driver of performance."

The system will provide access to hundreds of thousands of marketplace and custom segments. This scale presents a challenge that AI-powered selection aims to solve. Advertisers have the tools to unlock the full potential of data and AI to power smarter, more relevant targeting.

Third-party data providers expressed support for the initiative. "Third-party data is an essential driver of growth, helping advertisers reach more audiences, uncover new insights, and make smarter marketing decisions," said Anne Acker, SVP of Commercial Partnerships at LiveRamp. "Solutions like Audience Unlimited help pave the way for the future of media buying, taking the guesswork out of finding and building high-quality segments from trusted data sources."

The timing reflects broader industry trends. The Trade Desk's Q2 2025 financial results showed revenue growing to $694 million, up 19% year-over-year. The company has positioned itself to capitalize on shifts in digital advertising as third-party cookie deprecation continues to reshape targeting strategies.

Audience Unlimited and Koa Adaptive Trading Modes will be available for select agencies on the Kokai platform in late 2025. All users will gain access early in 2026. The phased rollout suggests The Trade Desk plans to test the system with larger partners before broader deployment.

The announcement comes as advertisers seek more efficient ways to deploy targeting data. The marketplace for third-party data has been fragmented, with individual providers maintaining their own pricing structures and integration requirements. This fragmentation created barriers to testing multiple data sources simultaneously.

For the marketing community, Audience Unlimited addresses a specific pain point in campaign optimization. The traditional model required advertisers to evaluate data providers individually, negotiate pricing, integrate each source separately, and track costs across multiple vendors. This complexity limited experimentation and concentrated data spending among a small number of proven providers.

The AI scoring system changes this dynamic. By evaluating relevance automatically across thousands of segments, the platform reduces the research burden on campaign managers. The inclusive pricing model removes cost uncertainty, potentially encouraging broader adoption of third-party data in campaign strategies.

The move also reflects competitive pressure in the advertising technology sector. As identity solutions proliferate and alternative targeting methods emerge, platforms need to demonstrate clear value propositions. Audience Unlimited positions third-party data as an accessible, performance-enhancing tool rather than a complex, expensive add-on.

Whether the simplified pricing and AI-powered selection drive meaningful increases in third-party data adoption remains to be seen. The late 2025 launch timeline allows competitors to respond with their own data marketplace innovations. The success will depend on whether advertisers find the AI scoring accurate and whether the tiered pricing delivers the promised cost savings compared to traditional a la carte models.

The Trade Desk operates a cloud-based platform where ad buyers create, manage, and optimize digital advertising campaigns across ad formats and devices. The company maintains integrations with major data, inventory, and publisher partners. Headquartered in Ventura, California, The Trade Desk has offices across North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific.

Timeline

• September 29, 2025 – The Trade Desk announces Audience Unlimited platform with AI-powered data scoring and tiered pricing at 3.3% and 4.4% of impression costs
• Late 2025 – Audience Unlimited and Koa Adaptive Trading Modes launch for select agencies on Kokai platform
• Early 2026 – Full rollout of Audience Unlimited to all users
• August 2025 – The Trade Desk appointed Alex Kayyal as Chief Financial Officer to drive growth strategy
• Q2 2025 – The Trade Desk reported revenue of $694 million, up 19% year-over-year
• January 2025 – Industry analysts noted challenges with programmatic data costs limiting adoption
• 2024 – Data marketplace transparency concerns persisted throughout the year

Summary

Who: The Trade Desk, a NASDAQ-listed advertising technology company, announced the initiative. Samantha Jacobson, Chief Strategy Officer, provided key statements. Third-party data providers including Dstillery (CEO Michael Beebe) and LiveRamp (SVP Anne Acker) commented on the announcement.

What: Audience Unlimited represents a major overhaul of the third-party data marketplace within digital advertising. The platform uses AI to score data segments by relevance across thousands of curated segments from hundreds of providers. Pricing is set at tiered rates of 3.3% and 4.4% of impression costs in Control Mode, while Performance Mode includes Audience Unlimited at no additional cost. The system addresses two primary obstacles: high costs (advertisers typically invest nearly 20% of media costs on third-party data) and difficulty determining which data sources will be effective.

When: The Trade Desk made the announcement on September 29, 2025. The platform will launch for select agencies in late 2025 and become available to all users in early 2026.

Where: The announcement came from The Trade Desk's headquarters in Ventura, California. The platform will be available on the Kokai platform, which The Trade Desk operates globally across North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific.

Why: The initiative addresses long-standing challenges in third-party data deployment. Many advertisers do not regularly use third-party data because of cost concerns and complexity in determining effective data sources. Those who do use it face unpredictable costs and reconciliation challenges. By securing bulk pricing and providing AI-powered relevance scoring, The Trade Desk aims to make third-party data more accessible and cost-effective, potentially improving campaign performance for advertisers who have been reluctant to deploy these tools.