Gracenote, Nielsen’s content intelligence business, and The Trade Desk have announced a partnership to bring program-level content intelligence to programmatic connected TV (CTV) buying.
The integration marks Gracenote’s first partnership with a demand-side platform (DSP). It will allow advertisers using The Trade Desk to use Gracenote’s content IDs, metadata and standardised taxonomy for more granular content-based targeting and curation, moving beyond broader genre-level targeting.
The integration also enables advertisers to see the programmes in which their ads appeared, providing program-level reporting that can be used for campaign planning and optimisation. Campaigns can be activated across eligible inventory from connected supply partners, extending the use of Gracenote’s content intelligence beyond its direct SSP integrations.
The move comes as CTV advertisers seek greater visibility into the programming associated with available inventory. According to Gracenote’s 2026 CTV advertising study, 91% of programmatic traders surveyed said a lack of show-level data limits CTV advertising, while 95% of media planners said show-level reporting would be valuable. The survey covered 500 media planners, TV buyers and programmatic traders at US agencies and brands.
Bill Michels, Chief Product Officer, Gracenote, said, “While programmatic CTV has scaled significantly, it has remained tethered to a playbook built around user behaviour and developed for web and mobile. That data remains critical, but content intelligence deserves a more prominent role in establishing targeting criteria and driving performance. With Gracenote’s persistent identifiers and rich content taxonomy, we are bringing this scale to The Trade Desk, providing customers with greater control before campaigns run and clearer accountability after.”
Jay Goebel, Vice President of Data Partnerships, The Trade Desk, said, “Advertisers increasingly expect the same precision and transparency in CTV as they do across the rest of their digital media buying. By bringing Gracenote’s programming intelligence into The Trade Desk, advertisers can combine show-level context with the other signals available on our platform to make more informed buying decisions and gain greater visibility into where their ads appear. This integration gives advertisers another way to apply the data that matters to them, with greater choice and control across their CTV campaigns.”
The partnership expands Gracenote’s advertising business from its existing work with publishers and supply-side platforms into the demand-side workflow, connecting content intelligence with CTV campaign planning, activation and optimisation.
