The Trade Desk expands Kokai with agentic AI
The release is aimed at helping media buyers manage increasingly fragmented campaigns with less manual effort
The Trade Desk has introduced Kokai Zuma, an update to its advertising platform that combines agentic AI capabilities with a redesigned interface and simplified measurement tools. The release is aimed at helping media buyers manage increasingly fragmented campaigns with less manual effort.
Introduced in 2023, Kokai supports the planning, buying and measurement of advertising across the open internet. Zuma focuses on making the platform easier to navigate and use while building on its AI forecasting infrastructure.
Kokai Zuma adds agentic AI capabilities
The Trade Desk has also expanded the forecasting engine and AI infrastructure supporting Kokai. The technology predicts available inventory, models campaign outcomes and supports Koa's agentic capabilities in real time. The company reports an average 32 percent improvement in CPA performance from the updated modeling and forecasting capabilities.
The backend investment is intended to support improvements across the user experience, while positioning AI infrastructure as a core component of the platform's development. Zuma also builds on Koa, The Trade Desk's AI technology, which analyzes more than 20 million ad impressions every second.
Koa brings automation to campaign management
Koa, which was introduced in 2018, now supports several agentic capabilities within Kokai. These include Koa Assistant, a conversational AI experience that uses specialized Koa Agents to support campaign creation, audience building, troubleshooting and performance analysis.
Koa can also identify relevant audiences that advertisers have not previously targeted and optimize frequency settings according to campaign objectives and performance. Audience Creation is particularly relevant for advertisers using Audience Unlimited, which is available across more than 70 percent of global data providers in The Trade Desk Data Marketplace.
The Trade Desk simplifies measurement and reporting
Zuma includes enhancements to Conversion Lift, designed to simplify the launch of lift studies while adding reporting dimensions for campaign planning and analysis.
The reporting homepage has also been redesigned to direct users to frequently used reports, saved templates and generated reports. Report Builder provides additional flexibility for customizing reports and examining available dimensions.
Kokai redesign targets everyday workflows
The platform's interface has been updated to give advertiser, campaign and ad group views greater clarity, with key metrics and trends more prominently surfaced.
An Applied Settings View consolidates targeting parameters in one location, helping users understand factors that may be driving or restricting spend. Bulk editing has also been upgraded to let users preview the potential impact of changes before applying them across campaigns.
Jeff Green, founder and CEO, The Trade Desk: "Kokai changed the way digital media is bought and sold programmatically, and Zuma builds on that foundation, making our platform faster, simpler and smarter. AI is helping our customers move faster than ever, while making measurement more intuitive and actionable. We’ve listened closely to our users about what they need to navigate an increasingly fragmented digital media ecosystem, and Zuma brings those learnings into Kokai. We’re continuing to build the platform that advertisers deserve – one that removes friction from the work, puts agentic AI to practical use and gives them a clearer view of the outcomes their media dollars are driving."
Karsten Weide, Principal and Chief Analyst, W Media Research: "This is impressive. It's great to see The Trade Desk go full-bore on agentic, and the performance gains are real numbers. That's encouraging – this is real change."
Kokai Zuma is rolling out to Kokai clients globally, with additional capabilities planned over time. The capabilities outlined by The Trade Desk are either generally available or offered through open or closed beta, while planned features remain subject to change.
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