Equativ vs. The Trade Desk

Smart AdServer is great for a marketing department, to track stats and clicks of their audience. It's a great way to engage the client without actually engaging them. We use it all the time to monitor where they're going, what they're interested in, and how engaging our posts are. I would say it's probably not a good idea for a smaller organization, as one social media manager could work it all out

Incentivized

After extensive research of DSP and DMP platforms in the market, our agency made the wise decision to license TTD's platform and develop a long-term partnership. TTD continues to innovate and offer cutting-edge media buying solutions, access to more audience data segments, and access to new and emerging media channels like CTV/OTT and digital-out-of-home. We couldn't be happier with TTD's technology and is one of the most advanced agency users of TTD is a key differentiator for our agency.

Incentivized

• It is easy to use, with functionality covering mobile, desktop and even tablet. I'm always on the go, so it's nice to be able to access my server from pretty much anywhere.
• It has a wonderful intuitive user interface, every facet of this is designed and thought over, so it's easy to navigate around the program.
• It offers a free trial so there's no real commitment if you just want to try it out, which is nice.

Incentivized

• User engagement - Cookie matching provides better engagement and effectiveness
• Reporting of campaigns - Great reporting on display advertising & platforms
• Dashboard reporting - Scalable to global deployment & campaigns

Incentivized

• I would like a more in-depth look at my traffic stats. I can see clicks, where my audience is going, but I'd like maybe some kind of perspective into who my audience is (18-24, adult, etc).
• Constant updates. It's nice that they're always looking to update program, but the update can kinda get in the way of my work sometimes.
• I'd prefer it if were a little cheaper – the free trial is nice, but getting my superiors to sign off on the cost (they're a bit old school) is a bit tough sometimes.

Incentivized

• Reporting platform leaves a lot to be desired. Requires a lot of trial/error to pull exactly what you need to drive optimizations/learnings.
• The "stop"/"continue bidding" feature for sitelists, devices, player sizes, etc is awful. When you set something up specifically, you should not have the AUTOMATIC option to serve beyond those parameters.
• Trafficking video (VAST/VPAID) tags requires a manual insertion of a click URL. Completely redundant ask and is not provided by advertisers as that URL lives within the ad tag. Should not require multiple actions traffic a video tag.
• Creative approval process (manual) doesn't seem necessary and is not a part of peers' platforms. There is no "pause/deactivate" feature for creative, you remove them or adjust the end date.

Incentivized

easy to understand dashboards and the self started ability to get going on your own terms. It's great to target niche groups across the world while still being able to report at a high level to C-suite. Wish it drove more conversions, but display can be a struggle there. Overall, would use it again.

Incentivized

We noted no issues with our limited interaction with support. The software operated just as expected and we found that we were able to navigate needs on our own. We understand that The Trade Desk offers excellent support, so we believe it will be a good resource to us in the future.

Incentivized

Honestly, you can use either/or. I'm all about AdServer right now because since Adobe has implemented their cloud service, they've gotten more expensive. Smart AdServer is just one cost, and it's cheaper than Adobe Cloud

Incentivized

The Trade Desk is a much better product than AppNexus. Even though both products showed promise awhile back, AppNexus stopped innovating and The Trade Desk became specialists on data, cross site tracking and CTV inventory thus having a better and more unique product that actually adds value to your advertising efforts.

Incentivized

• It's helped my organization better manage our traffic flow.
• It's reduced the amount of work on our social media manager.
• It's helped my organization get a better perspective on our clientele - where they're going, what they're interested in, it's been a great asset to our business.

Incentivized

• The good thing about having an agency account is The Trade Desk lets you add your markups to the client billing.
• We had a very positive response from clients regarding their perceived ROI on their ad spend through The Trade Desk.
• We did not have many national clients, mostly local dealerships, so it was difficult for them to allocate a lot of funds to display advertising, even though the ROI yield was acceptable.

Incentivized