LGBTQ+ streamer Revry blasts The Trade Desk, alleging ‘unjust practices’

LGBTQ+ streamer Revry is in an ad tech dispute with The Trade Desk and has pulled its business from the demand-side platform. Revry claims The Trade Desk unjustly blocked it from selling connected TV inventory. However, The Trade Desk claimed the discrepancy was a matter of its policies, which prohibits the resale of ad inventory. At the heart of the dispute is a matter of data and Revry’s unique access to its audience of LGBTQ+ consumers and allies, which it wants to be able to use to buy inventory across streaming services, even outside its own apps. “After months of trying, The Trade Desk has blocked us from using our audience data with advertisers,” wrote Damian Pelliccione, the free ad-supported platform’s co-founder and CEO, in a letter to clients shared with Ad Age. “TTD sees the value in our data but wants to take most of the benefit for themselves. Despite pressure from major brands, they refuse to fix this.” (Read Pelliccione’s letter in full at the bottom of this article.) Revry claims that The Trade Desk’s proposed remedy would force it to relinquish its valuable audience data, a move it’s unwilling to take. Revry’s data is central to its business model, in which it not only sells ad inventory for its platform but also helps brands place ads across streaming TV to reach LGBTQ+ viewers, Pelliccione explained in a conversation with Ad Age. Now, Revry is pulling its ad business from The Trade Desk in protest. Recent news: 5 things to know about contextual ad targeting The clash points to potential inequities in how ad tech can serve minority media businesses. While The Trade Desk can grant companies such as Revry broad access to trading with major advertisers, the concessions needed to sell media through the platform have greater impact on Revry than the mega media companies that also trade on it, said Pelliccione. “The Trade Desk has a longstanding history of working with partners to improve the advertising supply chain,” The Trade Desk stated in response to Revry’s claims. “To protect and give our advertiser clients the confidence in their media buys, we have long implemented policies to block reseller CTV inventory that sits outside of a publisher’s owned and operated inventory due to this inventory’s uncertainty and lack of transparency. We only make exceptions if an advertiser makes a specific request. Our years of investment and commitment on cleaning up the supply chain have demonstrated that we take this work seriously. And we will continue to do this work in service of our clients and the entire advertising ecosystem.” Sign up for Ad Age newsletters From influencer marketing to agencies, get the latest news and analysis delivered to your inbox Click here Inside the dispute Revry began selling its inventory programmatically, including on The Trade Desk, in 2017. Then, in 2023, the LGBTQ+ owned, operated and targeted platform launched PrismRiot, an ad network in which Revry sells its owned inventory as well as inventory from other media companies’ CTV ad space connected by Revry’s first-party audience data. Revry's ad network includes 76 media and technology partners reaching over 3,000 FAST channels across major CTV distributors, including Roku, Vizio WatchFree+ and Samsung TV. PrismRiot’s value lies in allowing advertisers to reach LGBTQ+ consumers across channels and publishers, both LGBTQ+ targeted and not. Brands including Henkel, McDonald’s, Discover, Verizon, Lexus and CarMax have used the network to buy media, according to Revry. While Revry’s owned inventory was available for purchase on The Trade Desk, the streamer’s business was blocked for transacting when Revry began selling PrismRiot inventory through The Trade Desk. As part of The Trade Desk’s inventory policies, it does not allow publishers to sell inventory from third parties in order to maintain transparency in where advertising is being served. This is meant to ensure advertisers are not unknowingly buying inventory in low-quality environments or that violate a marketer’s brand safety guidelines through programmatic platforms. More from Ad Age: Which ad metrics matter most in 2025 “The Trade Desk prohibits resold CTV,” states The Trade Desk’s public Inventory Policies website. “To ensure the direct traffic continues to transact, any CTV sellers that are sending both direct and resold CTV with the same seller ID must separate the direct and resold supply into separate seller IDs.” The Trade Desk’s policy applies to all CTV inventory because the ad tech company is unable to track the environment in which an ad is delivered, unlike in web inventory in which The Trade Desk does allow reselling. Revry will continue to make its inventory available to buyers on demand-side platforms Google Display & Video 360, Nexxen and Yahoo’s DSP, all of which have made PrismRiot inventory available, according to Pelliccione. Revry has been in conflict with The Trade Desk over the policy since the beginning of 2024, according to Pelliccione, and they said that at least two national advertisers have attempted to work with The Trade Desk in order to make Revry’s owned and partner inventory available for transacting through The Trade Desk. A spokesperson for The Trade Desk confirmed one client has asked for an exception, and the request is under review, while a second inquired into the matter with no request currently in review. “This is the same company that claims to be about fairness and preaches about how it defends the ‘open path,’ yet they’re suppressing our rights and limiting the ability for brands to reach our audience,” wrote Pelliccione to clients. “They’ve offered no real solutions, hiding behind ‘technology’ as an excuse and gaslighting us into a fake sense of security. So, we’re left with a choice: either we hand over our data or walk away.” Revry was informed that it would be able to continue selling inventory on The Trade Desk if it only sought to transact its owned inventory on the platform, and that it could also monetize its audience data on The Trade Desk if it were to license it to a data management platform that could offer the data for advertisers to use in audience targeting on The Trade Desk, according to Alia Daniels, co-founder and chief operating officer at Revry. “If put in the wrong hands, it would be so easy for [Revry’s data] to be used wrongly, and … we have many policies and procedures in place on our end to ensure the data remains safe,” said Daniels. “For us to just go sell it so we can get a quick buy that’s not even our full buy, but a portion of our buy [due to revenue share on a programmatic platform], it’s not worth it to us.” Regulation for sensitive data, which may include one’s sexual orientation, varies by state. Under Revry’s public privacy policy, the company states it will collect volunteered information such as a user’s name, email address, birth date and gender. Revry confirmed that rather than possessing data that identifies its audience’s sexual identity, the media company assumes Revry users are LGBTQ+ or community allies if they are consuming Revry content. “We’re not the major publisher here—we’re a smaller publisher focused on a minority audience,” added Pelliccione. “[The Trade Desk’s policies] do not work for us because we don’t have the same level of scale. We need the exchange [PrismRiot], all the different marketplaces, all the different access points we can leverage in order for this to be a viable business, move forward and grow.” Media measurement blog Tracking TV, social and digital updates Click here Revry’s letter to clients: Hey friends, allies, and partners, We’ve been fighting for a long time to create a media company that unapologetically represents our intersectionality, our stories and our community. For us by us. From the beginning, we have consistently been pushed aside, under estimated and under valued. Our conviction is unshakable, Our strength is unmatched and our pink dollar is unstoppable. We have a right to exist, to express ourselves, and to celebrate our community. Revry is the only FREE queer streaming TV company available on CTV/ FAST (Connected TV / Free Ad-Supported Streaming TV) across every platform, giving you access to a diverse library of queer content — no paywalls, no subscriptions, no barriers. In 2023, we launched PrismRiot, the world’s only queer ad exchange, helping brands reach our audiences — not just on our platform but across the entire streaming landscape. The data we’ve gathered powers how we connect with our audience, it fuels our original content, and creates the largest resource for brands to feel safe and secure with connecting to our community.. Now, here’s the frustrating part: After months of trying, The Trade Desk has blocked us from using our audience data with advertisers. TTD sees the value in our data but wants to take most of the benefit for themselves. Despite pressure from major brands, they refuse to fix this. This is the same company that claims to be about fairness and preaches about how it defends the “open path”, yet they’re suppressing our rights and limiting the ability for brands to reach our audience. They’ve offered no real solutions, hiding behind “technology” as an excuse and gaslighting us into a fake sense of security. So, we’re left with a choice: either we hand over our data or walk away. We’ve made our decision. We’re not backing down. We will fight for our rights, for our audience, and for the chance to build something meaningful and impactful at scale! Thankfully, companies like Yahoo, DV360, and Nexxen understand the value of our data. They know that helping brands connect with our audience is just good business. Period. We’re calling on The Trade Desk to treat publishers like us fairly and for others to stand up to the unjust practices that TTD is imposing on the majority of minority owned and operated businesses. If you have any questions or concerns, don’t hesitate to reach out to me. Let’s keep fighting. We’re just getting started. With pride and power, Damian Pelliccione Co-founder and CEO Revry

LGBTQ+ streamer Revry blasts The Trade Desk, alleging ‘unjust practices’

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