New AI-powered feature on Kokai platform offers deeper insights and greater transparency for advertisers and publishers.

The Trade Desk has announced the launch of Deal Desk, a new feature on its Kokai platform, designed to streamline the performance of digital advertising deals. This innovation allows advertisers to manage direct and upfront commitments with publishers while offering real-time transparency into deal quality, pacing, and outcomes.

Digital advertising deals-especially private marketplace and programmatic guaranteed transactions-constitute a significant portion of programmatic ad spend. However, many underperform due to limited insight into impression quality and delivery metrics. Deal Desk leverages AI-driven intelligence to close this gap, offering advertisers and publishers better visibility and optimization opportunities.

Will Doherty, SVP of Inventory Development at The Trade Desk, stated: “We’re committed to improving the digital advertising supply chain, and enhancing deal performance is a critical part of that mission. Deals haven’t evolved alongside advancements in AI and transparency. Deal Desk is the innovation our industry needs-it helps foster stronger, more strategic relationships between advertisers and premium publishers.”

Deal Desk introduces several key features, including Deal Quality Scores that help advertisers evaluate performance and identify alternatives if a deal falls short. Publishers, in turn, can propose more granular deals and receive actionable insights based on the same scoring system. The platform automates deal activation, prioritization, and offers tools to expand or deactivate underperforming deals-ensuring maximum impact and efficiency.

Among the early adopters of Deal Desk is Disney, which is integrating the feature into its private marketplace offerings.

Jamie Power, SVP of Addressable Sales at Disney, noted: “As more buyers transition toward biddable activations, we’re focused on equipping them with the flexibility and tools they need to drive performance. Our partnership with The Trade Desk is rooted in our shared goal of evolving how we transact-placing advertisers’ needs at the forefront.”

Deal Desk will enter beta testing in Q3 2025, marking a significant step in reshaping how programmatic deals are executed and optimized across the open internet.