The Trade Desk and THG PLC announced a partnership that will allow media buyers to access THG’s first‑party retail data segments—ranging from intent‑driven browsers to high‑value shoppers—directly through The Trade Desk’s Kokai platform on a self‑serve basis. The deal gives advertisers the ability to target and measure campaigns across the full funnel, from brand awareness to direct sales, using event‑level purchase data that THG can provide without a retailer clean room.
The partnership builds on The Trade Desk’s recent focus on expanding its retail‑media portfolio and strengthening its position in the growing connected‑TV and audio markets. By integrating THG’s data into its AI‑powered Kokai engine, the company can offer more precise audience segmentation and closed‑loop attribution, which should reduce media waste and boost return on ad spend for beauty brands. The deal is expected to drive incremental revenue and deepen The Trade Desk’s data moat, reinforcing its competitive advantage in the open‑internet programmatic market.
THG PLC, the parent company of UK beauty retailers Cult Beauty and LOOKFANTASTIC, has been positioning itself as a leading retail‑media platform. The partnership aligns with THG’s strategy to broaden its retail‑media and data offering by leveraging insights from its online beauty businesses. The move also democratizes access to retail data, allowing advertisers to self‑serve THG’s data for the first time and moving away from traditional, more restricted retail‑media approaches.
In the context of recent financial performance, The Trade Desk reported $739 million in revenue for Q3 2025, an 18% year‑over‑year increase, and a gross margin of 78.1%, down 0.2 percentage points from the prior quarter. The company guided for Q4 2025 revenue of at least $840 million and adjusted EBITDA of approximately $375 million, signaling confidence in continued growth and margin maintenance. THG PLC’s post‑demerger revenue was £1.7 billion in 2023, with a gross margin of 41.70%, down 190 basis points from 2022, and adjusted EBITDA of £92.1 million, underscoring the company’s focus on profitability while expanding its retail‑media footprint.
Management commentary highlights the strategic fit of the partnership. Tim Abraham, GM of Data Partnerships at The Trade Desk, said the deal “enables advertisers to access event‑level data to build custom segments and measure performance without the need for a retailer clean room, allowing brands to leverage our proprietary AI to accurately reach the right customers based on real purchase behaviours and optimise media towards sales.” Rachel Moss, Retail Media Director at THG PLC, added that the partnership “demonstrates how THG’s retail media offering is evolving as we enter the next phase of our partnership with The Trade Desk, and we’re excited about what the next 12 months will bring as we continue to expand and innovate.”
The partnership positions both companies to capitalize on the broader retail‑media trend, which is projected to capture roughly 20% of global advertising spend by 2030, or about $300 billion. By breaking away from walled‑garden inventory and providing first‑party data across programmatic channels, the deal offers advertisers greater transparency and simpler activation paths, while reinforcing The Trade Desk’s strategy to counter the dominance of large tech platforms.
Overall, the collaboration is a strategic milestone that expands The Trade Desk’s data capabilities, strengthens THG’s retail‑media proposition, and aligns with industry momentum toward first‑party data and self‑serve retail media solutions.
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