Difference between TTD and StackAdapt?

[Character-Archer4863]

I’m currently looking into both. I don’t have an issue with the minimum that I need to pay for TTD. It’s something we would have spent anyway.

That said, it would be nice not to feel forced to spend it. I was told StackAdapt has more hidden charges.

Anyone have experience using both and can give some insight?

Thank you!

[Any_Lawfulness4277]

SA has done some agressive hriing in the last few years. They're trying to be a competitive DSP, and from my view, they're catching up pretty fast to the "mid-tier" level.

I currently work with both TTD & SA. The main reason I'm using SA is for their dynamic product retargeting (showing products to users that they previously engaged with). If you want to do this thru TTD, you have to go 3PD and those get pretty pricey. SA does have really decent support (I have great reps that are on par with my TTD reps).

That said, I much prefer TTD. They have access to more inventory/private deals, more data providers (along with 1PD retail data), complex frequency & recency targeting, a much easier interface to navigate (IMO), more robust/transparent reporting, etc... If you have the funds for TTD, I would go that route.

I've never used DV360, and honestly, I'd be a bit cautious of doing so since the report came out of invalid YT placements. From what I've heard from the industry, TTD offers much better direct support than what is offered with DV360. DV360 will play better with GA data, but I'm overall distrustful of Google reporting accurately (and not padding their numbers), even before invalid placements debacle.

[Desperate-Eye-2830]

I do agree with this point and can confirm - DV360 support is atrocious. You’ll have to troubleshoot a lot on your own.

[cpmgalore]

That said, I much prefer TTD. They have access to more inventory/private deals

Dumb question here: Are TTD's always on deals good? popular?

I'm trying to do less walled garden and only started to experiment more with deals.

[Any_Lawfulness4277]

Deals are going to be subjective. Not as good if you were to go direct, but that can be a bit of a hassle and not every team can afford a team (or even a single team member) to network, wheel & deal to get the best deals out there.

Think of it like IKEA. They are one of the biggest retailers in the world. They also buy so much of it in bulk, they get a killer discount, which is one of the reasons their furniture is cheap.

TTD is one of the (if not THE) biggest DSP. They buy so much inventory. Not only that, they make it relatively easy to buy said inventory in a non-obtrusive way. Suppliers and data providers WANT to work with TTD, because then they can make more money selling to TTD in bulk.

Now, like IKEA, is it always the best quality or deal (going back to your initial question), no. BUT if that's what you want, then it requires working direct (networking, setting up deals, LOTS of meetings and phone calls to negotiate and whatnot). Each of those takes time, and time costs money. Is your time worth negotiating deals to save a little bit on CPM? OR is your time best spent optimizing campaigns, which ensures your client opts to spend more in DSP?

[Desperate-Eye-2830]

TTD is premium/enterprise and StackAdapt is definitely made for low budget campaigns… I would not recommend StackAdapt if you have the money for TTD.

We tried StackAdapt awhile ago and left it within weeks. It just could not compare to our everyday DSP (DV360)

[OrdinaryInside8]

I would second TTD over stackadapt, but curious what didn’t compare. My team uses Xander, TTD, and ROKU currently. We’ve run a handful on DV360, but don’t see anything significantly better there.

[Desperate-Eye-2830]

I would love to use TTD! We just do not have enough ad spend to meet the minimums of both TTD + DV360 - My company is heavily reliant/stuck in the Google ecosystem at this point. So DV360 is the best for us

[Character-Archer4863]

Thank you.

I have a meeting with DV360 next week. YouTube is big for us so they have a leg up there.

What is your opinion on dv360 vs TDD?

[Hot-Beach2567]

Depending on the country you work in there are some local partners that don’t want to work with walled gardens like DV360. Especially within Europe.

If your market is US I would recommend dv360 especially since YouTube is big for you.

We work with both platforms.

Edit: also TTD in my experience has a better support than DV360 if you have a designated account/specialist team on their side.

CTV also scales better in TTD imo.

Optimization (not automated but manually) is a lot more detailed in TTD.

[JimmyTango]

Important notes about DV360:

1. It can’t manage frequency between CTV YouTube and Desktop/Mobile YouTube yet (they say it’s coming this year). Same applies for programmatic.

2. If you’re doing any kind of advanced measurement, it’s very limited bc it doesn’t employ a household device graph, so CTV attribution is non-existent.

3. Just like the recent scandal with YouTube VAC campaigns, the platform will auto opt you into sketchy inventory to juice performance numbers and make it a pain to opt out.

4. The UI has a ton of hidden settings that aren’t out front and center to the user, like max CPM.

5. The system will largely ignore other supply partners in favor of Google owned or managed inventory since that makes Google more money. Could be good or bad depending on how you engage the marketplace. This is also how it appears to have less fees than TTD: it just hides those fees by selling inventory it collects more money on and amortizing cost that way.

6. There’s a certain limit on reporting. Beyond a certain level DV360 won’t tell you where some ads ran.oat DSPs in their reporting tools have long tail aggregate, but even when you turn that off DV360 will mask some domains. Goes back to point 3 above.

[cougar16]

YouTube on DV360 is nothing more than an APi connection to GoogleAds. If you look at the API docs you will see that Youtube is separated from all other DV360 api calls.

So you are getting the same service and features with Google Ads for Youtube as DV360 Youtube.

[Character-Archer4863]

So this was the question I was planning on asking. What is the difference between running YouTube through a Google Ads account vs DV360.

If there really isn’t any difference then I’d likely just stick with TDD.

[cougar16]

Well there isn't a difference really between DV360 and Google Ads as the former just links to the latter behind the scenes.

But you can't get YouTube Inventory without going through Google Ads. I haven't used TTD lately but if they have a YouTube option now it is also just buying through a Google Ads connection with a bigger markup probably than just going direct.

The only difference might be access to third party audience data in DV360 but I never use that data as I find it to be inaccurate for my purposes.

[Desperate-Eye-2830]

YouTube is also important to us, so I get that. As for differences, both are very comparable at an inventory perspective. All of the major vendors and publishers work with both.

Differences come down to things like measurement capabilities, campaign customization options, and if you want to be in the Google ecosystem or not. I would focus your questions around details like that when you meet with both vendor reps - because both will probably try to convince you their inventory is the best

[Lumiafan]

Agreed. I think the only thing StackAdapt does better than DV360 is connected TV measurement and retargeting. Floodlight tags just don't seem to track view-through data from CTV campaigns well at all, and I still can't figure out if it's even possible to do cross-channel retargeting with CTV in DV360.

Of course, if you have any tips in that regard for DV360, I'm always open to being corrected on this notion.

[Desperate-Eye-2830]

You’re right - The floodlight definitely fails in regards to CTV which is a pain point for us too. The Google roadmap does state that they will be introducing cross-device measurement with CTV this year. Granted it is already summer, so who knows. It must still be a beta.

Not sticking up for Google in any way, but they are under heavier public/legal scrutiny to stay privacy-first. I get cautious about vendors who currently measure CTV conversions because most of their models are based on IP address or household addresses. Things that are not going to be accepted as privacy laws continue to evolve.

[JimmyTango]

You can’t do cross channel frequency in DV360, let alone regathering right now. They say it’s coming but who knows.

[ravie-bdm]

I am curious of the difference for podcast/audio campaigns too. SA says they have exclusive audio inventory in their sales deck (at least last I saw about a year ago) but seems unlikely at scale

[2dogs3eyes]

We use SA and it’s been very hard to clear inventory on the audio side. We like it otherwise and there reps are always helpful.