Key Takeaways
- The Trade Desk's Q3 revenue fell 0.5% year-over-year to $736 million. Political ad spending prevented an even steeper decline.
- The company cut 15% of its workforce in Q3, expecting those layoffs to generate more than $100 million in savings during 2027.
- The Trade Desk's Koa AI model improved median cost per acquisition by 21% across 62 A/B tested campaigns while reducing setup time by up to 15%.
The numbers
$736 million: Revenue for Q3 2026, down 0.5% year-over-year, compared to 18% growth in Q3 2025.
$266 million: Adjusted EBITDA, representing a 36% margin, down from $317 million and 43% margin a year earlier.
$2.14 billion: Revenue for first nine months of 2026, up 4% YoY
$38 million: Net income, down from $116 million a year earlier, including $44 million in restructuring charges, primarily severance
$755 million: Revenue guidance for Q4 2026
Watercooler talk
CEO Jeff Green began the call by welcoming back co-founder Dave Pickles, whose expanded role ADWEEK reported last week.
Green called the 2026 elections The Trade Desk’s “biggest political cycle yet,” notable especially for being a midterm and not a presidential year.
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