Advertisers are requesting new deal terms with the major streaming TV companies ahead of this year's spring ad haggle, including how brands spend through programmatic platforms. In some cases, brands and ad agencies are asking streaming publishers to let The Trade Desk be part of the deals, according to advertising and media leaders.

The Trade Desk, a demand-side ad platform that works closely with brands to buy inventory online, is becoming a more important player in upfront negotiations, said one digital media buyer from a top brand, a sign of the increased automation in connected TV advertising.

“We are doing some tests with The Trade Desk on connected TV, and actually with their retail arm,” this media buyer said. The buyer spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of upfront negotiations. The “retail arm” of The Trade Desk funnels money into retail media networks that are proliferating online. “The money that we’re spending with The Trade Desk, we’re baking into our deals this year. That money should count toward any sort of upfront commitment, and that was not necessarily true in the past. So that allows us a little bit more flexibility and agility than we’ve had previously.”

The shape of the upfront marketplace has been evolving as traditional media companies more heavily push their streaming platforms, changing how ads get delivered. Upfront TV ad spending is expected to reach close to $20 billion this year, relatively flat compared to 2022, according to Insider Intelligence.

Related: A guide to streaming advertising in 2023

The Trade Desk’s role in all of this is complicated because media companies typically want to control how they sell commercial inventory, especially in upfront deals. The process in streaming is becoming more automated, and programmatic advertising allows marketers to dip in and out of the market as they see fit. Upfront commitments are meant to give publishers certainty about how much an advertiser will spend, while providing the advertiser access to premium inventory that's usually in high demand and typically comes at a lower price than when purchased in the so-called “scatter” marketplace closer to air date.

The Trade Desk has been a proponent of shaking up the upfront TV ad markets in a way that adjusts to the rhythm of streaming. “As TV networks adopt streaming ad-supported options, advertisers are talking about their linear investment and their connected television investment all in the same conversation,” said Tim Sims, The Trade Desk’s chief revenue officer, in an email to Ad Age. “We’re seeing more and more clients leverage data ... on the open internet in their CTV buys and bringing those insights to their upfront conversations.”

The Trade Desk has sought to upend upfront markets, with CEO Jeff Green advocating for a “forward market” in connected TV, one that locks brands into ad spending commitments, but at the same time applies real-time ad tech to the buys.

Brands want to factor in the amount of money that they spend through automated ad tech partners. And it’s not just through The Trade Desk—advertisers also use Amazon as a demand-side platform to place ads, while Roku has a demand-side platform, as well, according to publishers.

Advertisers are asking, “Can I transact through every buying lane and have every dollar count toward my upfront,” said one programmatic ad seller at a top TV publisher.

Advertisers are tying the upfront ad orders, reserving set inventory on TV, while also looking for flexibility to manage advertising through private marketplaces and programmatic guaranteed ads, the ad seller said.

Publishers are OK including The Trade Desk in the deals, so long as the advertisers don’t take too much advantage of the programmatic pipes, the ad seller said. For instance, the streaming TV players don’t want advertisers to think they can turn off ad campaigns or back out of deals.

“It is about creating value for our buyers, but still respecting the value exchange that is happening in the upfront,” the ad seller said, “which is clients guaranteeing spend with us for the future, and in exchange we’re giving them favorable pricing, favorable terms and we’re reserving inventory for them.”

But The Trade Desk is not the only ad tech platform responding to the programmatic movement in streaming TV. Just this week, Magnite, a supply-side platform, which works with publishers to sell ad space in connected TV, launched a new service for advertisers called ClearLine. Advertisers can use the platform to manage how they buy ads using private marketplaces and programmatic guaranteed deals with publishers. Magnite works with TV makers such as LG and Vizio, which run connected TV channels with ads, as well as with major streaming apps.

“The sellers and the buyers in that ecosystem have really specific requirements around how they want to transact,” said Sean Buckley, Magnite’s chief revenue officer. “And so, you need to have the depth of technology and capabilities, and you also need to be flexible.”

“Buyers want to include the dollars that they’re transacting programmatically in their upfront commitments,” Buckley said.

Data also is a crucial part of the mix in the upfront negotiations, and the ad tech platforms help facilitate cooperation around data, Buckley said.

While advertisers are making demands of the publishers, the publishers also have demands, according to another ad buyer from a major brand. The buyer said that the media companies are making upfront deals contingent on spreading more money with the streaming channels. The buyer said the tactic was like how many retailers have been nudging advertisers to push more spend into retail media networks.

“With these deal structures you’re going to start to see some of these players adding that as a component,” the ad buyer said. “So, say you want to buy March Madness with CBS, there also is going to be a component that says you have to spend ‘X’ amount with Paramount+.”

“It’s really to get the dollars flowing to the streaming arms in some of these places, where they haven’t really necessarily been.”