Ventura Ecosystem debuts: Hisense’s V and Nexxen join the new model for monetizing TV operating systems
For over a year, The Trade Desk has been vocal about fixing the connected TV market through its Ventura TV OS. Now, the company is taking the next step in that quest by launching the Ventura Ecosystem, a new initiative designed to increase monetization for major TV operating systems.
V, the operating system formerly known as VIDAA and owned by Hisense, and Nexxen are the first to join. V brings immediate global scale with over 50 million connected devices and 400 brand partners across 180 countries.
Matthew Henick, senior vice president of consumer products at The Trade Desk, is overseeing the rollout. In an interview with The Current, he described Ventura as more than a TV operating system, arguing that it could reshape parts of the entertainment ecosystem — from creators and publishers to advertisers and viewers. Early results following the Ventura Ecosystem’s launch may offer an initial indication of whether that broader impact materializes.
What is the Ventura Ecosystem? Can you explain it in concrete terms?
The Ventura Ecosystem brings together TV operating systems, streaming companies and ad platforms to fix how streaming advertising works.
Right now, the system is too fragmented. Advertisers can’t reach audiences efficiently, and publishers aren’t getting paid what their inventory is worth. We’re changing that.
Concretely, Ecosystem collaborators get access to Ventura and The Trade Desk’s monetization services like OpenPath, UID2/EUID, OpenPass and soon OpenAds, which means more demand for their ad inventory, better pricing and fewer unsold slots. It’s a set of tools that aims to make everyone more money and improve the audience experience.
How is the Ventura Ecosystem different from Ventura TV OS itself?
The streaming OS is our full end-to-end product. It is customizable to fit our manufacturer and retailer partners’ needs and goals. The Ventura Ecosystem is how we extend some of the best parts of it to the rest of the industry.
Most TV operating systems are built to serve themselves. Ours was built to make the whole advertising supply chain work better, starting at the OS level where it matters most. The Ventura Ecosystem takes the tools and standards we’ve built into the Ventura streaming OS and opens them up to other operating systems and players who want to work together on the same problems: clean identity, transparent measurement and fairer auctions.
Why are V and Nexxen the right launch partners for the Ventura Ecosystem?
Scale and conviction. V operates more than 50 million connected devices worldwide. Nexxen has been doing serious work simplifying the ad supply chain. Both looked at the same problems we did, fragmented identity, opaque auctions, too many middlemen and came to the same conclusion: The industry needs to collaborate to fix this, not compete in silos.
Where did the need for the Ventura Ecosystem come from? Is it about reaching immediate scale with established players?
Streaming is how most people watch TV now, but the advertising infrastructure hasn’t kept up. It’s fragmented; it’s opaque; and it’s leaving money on the table for everyone: OEMs, operating systems, publishers, advertisers. Nobody’s winning, including audiences.
We built Ventura OS to fix that at the OS level.
The Ventura Ecosystem is the next step: working directly with other players on the things no single company can solve alone. Clean identity across platforms. Transparent measurement. Fairer ad auctions. With V’s device footprint and Nexxen's supply chain expertise, we can move faster and drive real results for advertisers and publishers across the industry.
How does Ventura act as a flywheel for success across the TV industry, from publishers to OEMs to advertisers? And what does Ventura gain from collaborating with other operating systems?
When advertising works better, everyone benefits. Advertisers reach the right audiences, so they spend more. Publishers earn more from that spending, so they invest in more shows, news and movies. Better content attracts more viewers, which makes the ad inventory more valuable. That’s the flywheel.
What we bring is the infrastructure to make that cycle spin faster: identity, measurement and auction tools built into the OS layer. What we gain from collaborating with other operating systems is straightforward: The more players using clean identity and transparent standards, the more valuable the whole marketplace becomes. A rising tide. We don’t need to own every screen to win. We need the screens to work together.
The Current is owned and operated by The Trade Desk Inc.