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The Refresh News: July 21 - Trade Desk Makes History, NBCU Scores Big on Sports, and Delta Bets on AI Pricing
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- [00:00]
Sponsor Representative
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- [00:51]
Audiohook Representative
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- [01:36]
Kate
Things we are not talking about this week holding companies, big tech, CEOs or drama, which would include that whole Coldplay astronomer CEO debacle because honestly, that's a whole podcast in itself. I'm Kate with Market Tech and this is the Refresh, your weekly download on what went down in advertising. Today is Monday, July 21, and this week on the Refresh, we're covering the Trade Desk entering the S P500, NBC Universal wrapping up their upfronts, and Delta using AI AI to create dynamic flight pricing. Many thanks to our sponsor Freewill for their continued support. Now let's get into it. Starting things off with the Trade desk, who received their golden ticket to the S&P 500 last Monday and officially joined the big dogs. Maybe naming their curated Publisher Marketplace. The SP 500 plus was really just them manifesting a spot on the S&P 500. The news has a trade desk blasting tub thumping, probably because they got knocked down after missing their revenue guidance earlier this year, which shocked the industry and generated speculation that maybe they're losing their magic. But guess what? They got up again. Clearly, at the time I said I thought that they were going to be just fine because honestly, everyone has bad days, and as it stands right now, it looks like the kids are going to be alright. That said, it's entirely realistic to expect that they'll hit choppy waters again at some point, especially given the volatility in the tech and ad tech landscape at large. But for now, let's celebrate their win with them. To get to The S&P 500, the Trade Desk edged out other major players like Robinhood and Applovin to replace Ansys in the index. After Ansys was acquired by Synopsys, the announcement of their addition saw the Trade desk stock surge 14% on July 14, more good news for the Trade Desk, at least in the near term. Stocks that are added to the index see an average of a 13 to 14% bump in the 12 months following their inclusion. The trade disc's addition to the S&P 500 reflects its financial strength, consistent profitability and steady influence over the digital ad ecosystem. With a $40 billion market cap as of this recording, strong liquidity and a dominant position as the largest independent DSP in the space, particularly within connected TV, AI and industry leading tech like UID 2.0 and Open Path, it checks all the boxes for inclusion. The Trade Desk's entrance also marks the first time in more than two decades that a pure play independent ad tech company has made it into the index. That means the significance of this moment goes beyond mere market mechanics. It's a noteworthy milestone for adtech as a whole, validating the industry as a mature sector capable of meaningful innovation that will drive the larger advertising industry forward. While this announcement is a clear win for the Trade Desk, it's also a win for the larger industry, reinforcing the idea that Programmatic is now foundational and that independent ad tech players can and will build tech that is uniquely differentiated while building long term trust, scale and relevance even in a market dominated by giants like Google, Meta and Amazon. Next up we have NBCUniversal, who just had what it's calling its most successful upfront in company history. And it's sports that stole the show. Fresh off of landing an 11 year deal for NBA rights, NBCU saw a 15% increase in total upfront ad commitments across its news, sports and entertainment inventory with a whopping 45% jump. Trump specifically tied to sports, and this is a category they position themselves to dominate. This year alone. They'll own access to massive tuning events like Super Bowl 60, where AD slots are reportedly going for $8 million, the 2026 Milan Olympics and the FIFA World Cup. NBC Universal isn't sharing specifics when it comes to final ad sales, but estimates put total upfront commitments above the $7 billion they last reported in 2022. Considering they did confirm that, this was a record breaking year for them. And get this, nearly one third of that spend went to its streaming service Peacock, marking it its largest digital upfront to date. What's particularly interesting is where that money is coming from. A quarter of NBA sponsors are reportedly new to traditional linear tv, and NBCU says more dollars are now coming from small and mid sized advertisers, many of whom are buying against advanced audiences through programmatic deals. In fact, NBCU's programmatic business alone hit $1 billion this upfront cycle. One of my main takeaways from this year's upfronts beyond sports duh was the significant emphasis on tech to the extent that it almost stole the spotlight from programming and in some cases it did holding the cards when it comes to owning inventory within major tent pole tuning events. Sports in particular will still hold massive value for networks and distributors. However, it's going to be the underlying tech that brings sophistication to how advertisers can structure buys, evaluate performance and reach audiences in more sophisticated, nuanced ways that will be the real game changer. Finally, let's close out by talking about Delta's plan to infuse AI into establishing airfare costs, creating a much more nuanced personalized approach. According to them, by the end of 2025, Delta says it wants one in five domestic fares to be individually set by artificial intelligence. Right now, only about 3% of tickets use this AI driven pricing model, but the airline is scaling fast through a partnership with Fetcher, a tech company specializing in dynamic predictive pricing. The idea is to eliminate static pricing altogether in favor of real time hyper personalized fares based on supply, timing and other signals like user behavior and booking history. The end goal is greater precision and profit, with early results from tests finding the approach amazingly favorable. According to Delta Leadership, the shift represents a fundamental re engineering of airline revenue strategy. Delta has likened the model to a 247 super analyst constantly simulating how much a traveler might be willing to pay at any given moment. Honestly, unless they're factoring what kind of perk it would take to get me to smash the purchase button without hesitation, I might be a lost cause. I I love a good deal, especially on travel, and I'm pretty sure I'm not alone here. Naturally, not everyone is celebrating. Critics have labeled the strategy surveillance pricing, and lawmakers are already signaling potential regulation there's growing concern that AI driven pricing could exploit consumer data in opaque ways, reinforcing inequalities or even drifting into legally gray territory. Without transparency or public pricing records, it's difficult to know whether certain groups are being charged more than others. In theory, AI could offer discounts to price sensitive travelers, but in practice, early signs suggest that wealthier consumers are getting the better deals. Honestly, the whole thing is kind of giving Wendy's surge pricing experiment. The use of AI to establish more personalized pricing is only a good deal if it puts the consumer's best interests first and avoids any potential bias while doing so. Unfortunately, I think we've seen enough examples of profits being placed over people, especially in the airline industry, that it would be blithely optimistic to assume otherwise. That's all we have time for this week. Thanks for joining us for the refresh, and we'll catch you next week.