The Trade Desk is the world’s largest independent demand-side platform, enabling advertisers to buy digital advertising across multiple channels with advanced targeting capabilities.
The Trade Desk is a leading independent demand-side platform (DSP) that empowers advertisers and agencies to programmatically buy digital advertising inventory across display, video, mobile, connected TV, audio, and native formats. Our integration with The Trade Desk enables server-side audience activation, allowing you to target your Permutive cohorts in programmatic campaigns.This integration is a Destination:
Destination: Permutive activates your cohorts to The Trade Desk using a server-side integration, enabling you to target users with cohort membership data in programmatic advertising campaigns.
The integration works via a two-step process:
Cookie Sync: The Permutive SDK initiates a cookie sync with The Trade Desk to obtain and store The Trade Desk’s cookie ID as an alias for each user.
Cohort Activation: When users fall into activated cohorts, Permutive looks up The Trade Desk cookie ID from the aliases table and makes a server-side API call to The Trade Desk, informing them of the user’s cohort membership.
There are two variations of this integration:
The Trade Desk 1P: For first-party targeting and retargeting your own website visitors across The Trade Desk’s inventory.
The Trade Desk 3P: For selling your Permutive audiences to advertisers using The Trade Desk’s platform, enabling third-party data monetization.
Use cases include:
Retarget your website visitors across display, video, and CTV campaigns with cohorts built from first-party behavioral data.
Activate lookalike audiences and custom segments for programmatic advertising.
Sell third-party audience segments to advertisers through The Trade Desk’s marketplace.
Measure campaign performance and optimize based on audience engagement.
This integration requires third-party cookies to be enabled. As of 2023, this means the integration primarily works in Chrome-based browsers. Safari and Firefox block third-party cookies by default, which prevents the cookie sync mechanism from functioning.
The Trade Desk Account: You must have an active advertiser or agency account with The Trade Desk.
Advertiser ID: You’ll need your Trade Desk Advertiser ID to configure the integration in the Permutive Dashboard. This identifier links your Permutive cohorts to your Trade Desk account.
Permutive Web SDK: The Permutive Web SDK must be deployed on your website to enable the cookie sync and cohort activation mechanisms.
Third-Party Cookies: Users must have third-party cookies enabled in their browsers for the integration to function. This limits reach to browsers that support third-party cookies (primarily Chrome-based browsers).
You must enable The Trade Desk integration in the Permutive Dashboard.
Navigate to the Permutive dashboard
Go to your workspace’s integrations page
Click “Add Integration” and select either:
The Trade Desk - 1P for first-party retargeting, or
The Trade Desk - 3P for third-party audience sales
Enter your Trade Desk Advertiser ID when prompted
Save the integration configuration
Once enabled, the Permutive SDK will automatically begin the cookie sync process for users visiting your site.
2
Configure Cohort Activation
After enabling the integration, you must configure which cohorts should be activated to The Trade Desk.
In the Permutive Dashboard, navigate to one of your cohorts
Look for The Trade Desk activation option in the cohort configuration
Toggle the activation to “On” for cohorts you want to sync to The Trade Desk
The activation will fire when users enter or exit the cohort
When a user falls into an activated cohort, Permutive will:
Look up The Trade Desk cookie ID from the user’s aliases
Make a server-side API request to The Trade Desk
Inform The Trade Desk that this user is a member of the cohort
3
Verify Setup
Verify that the integration is working correctly.
Check your browser’s developer tools Network tab for requests to The Trade Desk domain during the cookie sync process
Look for redirect requests from The Trade Desk back to Permutive’s identity API
In The Trade Desk platform, verify that your Permutive audiences are appearing and being populated
Check that audience sizes in The Trade Desk match your expected cohort sizes (accounting for cookie matching rates)
The cookie sync happens client-side via the SDK, while cohort membership updates are sent server-side. There may be a slight delay between a user entering a cohort and appearing in The Trade Desk audience.
Verify the redirect URL points to Permutive’s identity API and includes cookie ID parameters
The Trade Desk integration is not currently supported on iOS. The integration requires a web-based cookie sync mechanism that is not available in mobile app environments.For mobile app audience activation, please contact your Permutive Customer Success Manager to discuss alternative DSP integrations that support mobile app environments.
The Trade Desk integration is not currently supported on Android. The integration requires a web-based cookie sync mechanism that is not available in mobile app environments.For mobile app audience activation, please contact your Permutive Customer Success Manager to discuss alternative DSP integrations that support mobile app environments.
The Trade Desk integration requires third-party cookies, which are blocked by default in Safari and Firefox.Solution: This is an expected limitation. The integration will only work in browsers that support third-party cookies (primarily Chrome-based browsers). There is no workaround for this limitation with the current integration architecture.Consider using UID2 or other cookieless identifier solutions for broader browser reach. Contact your Customer Success Manager for information about alternative identity solutions.
Low match rates between Permutive and The Trade Desk
You may notice that your audience sizes in The Trade Desk are smaller than your cohort sizes in Permutive.Possible causes:
Users visiting in browsers that block third-party cookies (Safari, Firefox)
Users with ad blockers that prevent cookie syncing
Users who have cleared their cookies since visiting your site
Geographic differences (The Trade Desk may not operate in all regions)
Solution: Match rates of 40-60% are typical due to third-party cookie limitations. To improve match rates:
Focus measurement on Chrome users where possible
Implement UID2 for cookieless identification
Ensure the Permutive SDK loads before users leave the page
Cohorts not appearing in The Trade Desk platform
Your activated cohorts may not appear in The Trade Desk interface.Possible causes:
The integration was recently enabled and data hasn’t populated yet
Advertiser ID is incorrect in Permutive Dashboard
Cohort has no users with successful cookie syncs
Solution:
Verify your Advertiser ID in the Permutive Dashboard matches your The Trade Desk account
Check that cohorts are toggled “On” for The Trade Desk activation
Wait 24-48 hours after enabling activation for initial population
Contact The Trade Desk support to verify they’re receiving data from Permutive
Users remain in The Trade Desk audience after exiting cohort
Users may still appear in The Trade Desk audiences even after they’ve exited a cohort in Permutive.Solution: This may be due to caching or TTL (time-to-live) settings on The Trade Desk’s side. Audience removals can take 24-48 hours to fully propagate. If users consistently remain in audiences longer than expected, contact The Trade Desk support to review your account’s TTL settings.
Cookie sync blocked by ad blockers
Ad blocking browser extensions may prevent the cookie sync process from completing.Solution: This is an expected limitation. Users with ad blockers will not successfully complete the cookie sync and therefore won’t be activatable in The Trade Desk. This is factored into expected match rates. There is no workaround for this limitation.
