A new TV operating system from The Trade Desk aims to disrupt how ad dollars flow on smart TVs. Ventura OS promises transparency and neutrality for both advertisers and publishers. Device makers face tough choices as the OS market grows crowded.
Media and publishing professionals tracking the evolution of connected TV advertising now have a new player to watch. The Trade Desk has launched Ventura OS, a TV operating system designed to give device manufacturers, publishers, and advertisers a more transparent and neutral ad environment-directly addressing long-standing industry concerns about conflicts of interest.
Ventura OS, which debuted in November 2024, enters a market where smart TV makers are increasingly focused on ad revenue. The Trade Desk is pitching Ventura to device manufacturers as a way to increase monetization, while promising publishers and buyers a transparent ad model that avoids favoritism. According to Rob Caruso, Ventura’s SVP of consumer products, the company does not operate its own content service or aggregate third-party content, a move intended to sidestep the conflicts that can arise when distributors also control content and ad sales.
Caruso’s comments, made at the StreamTV Show in Denver, were a clear contrast to companies like Google, Amazon, and Roku, which run video distribution, content, and advertising businesses simultaneously. He argued that these overlapping interests can incentivize platforms to steer ad spend toward their own properties, potentially disadvantaging other publishers and advertisers.
Industry analysts at the event noted that the unique relationships between programming distributors and streaming services could influence how ad budgets are allocated. This dynamic raises questions about whether any operating system can truly remain neutral when it comes to managing ad inventory and commitments.
When asked directly about Ventura’s neutrality, Caruso stated that The Trade Desk does not manage inventory partnerships within Ventura OS, and that publisher relationships do not influence the OS’s ad product. He emphasized that objectivity is lost when ad flows are shaped by such relationships. Instead, Ventura OS passes ad engagement data to The Trade Desk’s DSP, allowing buyers to make informed decisions based on their own goals. The data flow is strictly one-way, from the OS to the DSP.
Ed Lee, VP of business strategy and partnerships at Ventura, told StreamTV attendees that the OS is designed to provide better signals for both advertisers and publishers. This means publishers can see where bids originate, and advertisers gain more insight into how their budgets are spent. Ventura’s approach aims to deliver on the industry’s demand for both transparency and performance, leveraging access to the full TV viewing journey-including the increasingly valuable smart TV home screen.
Smart TV makers are racing to monetize home screen real estate. Samsung recently made its home screen ad inventory available programmatically, and Roku has relaunched its interface to better serve both advertisers and consumers. Ventura’s team is also responding to consumer complaints that home screens are becoming cluttered with ads. Lee said Ventura prioritizes targeted ads over ad volume, aiming to avoid making ads feel intrusive and to preserve the content discovery experience for users.
Caruso added that interfering with content discovery is a major misstep for any OS operator. He argued that deviating from user expectations risks undermining the platform’s value.
Despite Ventura’s clear pitch, scaling adoption remains a challenge in a saturated OS market. Caruso acknowledged that hardware manufacturers face significant costs when switching operating systems, so Ventura must offer a compelling value proposition. However, he noted that some OEMs, such as TCL, already use multiple OS partners, suggesting there is room for new entrants.
Ventura OS also offers customization for programming distributors. For example, The Trade Desk and DirecTV have partnered to develop a custom version of Ventura OS that integrates DirecTV’s streaming interface. Caruso reported that interest is growing, with the Ventura Ecosystem launched in February to make monetization features more accessible. Partners include V (formerly VIDAA) and Nexxen. Ventura OS is currently in user testing, with additional integrations planned.
As the TV ad landscape shifts, the question of how audiences discover and engage with content remains central. Recent data shows that direct traffic to publisher sites is declining, while social and video platforms are becoming primary news sources-a trend explored in this recent analysis of changing news consumption patterns.
