Keywords were once the best we had. Now, keyword-based targeting is fundamentally inaccurate - and it's time we admit it. In English-speaking markets, its flaws are easy to miss. Take it globally across multilingual Europe, Africa, Asia or the Middle East, and it breaks almost instantly. A phrase that feels empowering in English might sound sarcastic in Indonesian, for example. Humor doesn't always translate, and nuance disappears.
The Trade Desk operates the largest independent ad-buying platform on the open internet. On Monday, the company unveiled Audience Unlimited, a major upgrade to how advertisers access and apply third-party data on its platform. The new approach aims to push data from a nice-to-have to the default setting -- removing cost surprises, reducing guesswork, and tightening the connection between data and campaign outcomes.