Clean pipes, clear value: Why OpenPath is a win for advertisers

Advertisers have long optimized their campaigns for success by focusing on audience targeting, creative execution, and the right media mix. Increasingly, they are reaching for another powerful lever: supply path optimization (SPO). When advertisers gain clearer and more direct access to premium supply, signal integrity improves, decision-making sharpens, and performance follows. 

The Trade Desk’s OpenPath was built to help buyers drive better performance by providing access to high-quality inventory via direct connections between advertisers and a publisher’s ad server. Agencies and brands have seen measurable gains — like 3 times higher average win rates¹ and lower CPMs — when their ad campaigns run through cleaner, more efficient pipes. 

Transparency isn’t a feature. It’s a strategy. 

With OpenPath, transparency in the supply path is moving from a technical feature to a strategic advantage. The New York Post, FUNKE, Valnet, The Arena Group, and Vizio are among the hundreds of publishers making their inventory available through a direct connection that bypasses unnecessary complexity in the supply path. 

Within the Kokai platform, you can see where ads ran — down to the publisher, site, or app. You can analyze ad spend by unique supply path, comparing delivery via OpenPath versus through other paths. Notably, OpenPath does not function as an intermediary, but rather as the most direct route an ad can take within our platform. 

With the details provided about where your ads are appearing, you can: 

• Evaluate performance across paths 

• Quantify cost differences 

• Make informed campaign decisions 

Higher win rate, lower costs, stronger outcomes 

The clearest validation of any supply path innovation is performance. For advertisers prioritizing OpenPath, gains are showing up in metrics such as win rate and CPM efficiency. 

Take DraftKings, one of the leading operators of Sportsbook and Fantasy apps. With user acquisition as a core growth driver, the brand needed scalable, high-quality inventory without sacrificing cost-efficiency. By activating campaigns through OpenPath’s direct connections to premium publishers, DraftKings achieved meaningful performance improvements. 

Agencies are seeing similar results. 

Ovative Group, supporting a leading sporting goods retailer, prioritized OpenPath to secure more direct access to premium publishers across open and private marketplaces. 

That meant the agency scored more impressions for its client at a lower cost without compromising quality. 

These outcomes reinforce that for performance-driven brands and efficiency-focused agencies alike, OpenPath is helping turn transparency into a measurable advantage. 

Agencies see the bigger picture 

For agency leaders focused on SPO, OpenPath is part of a broader strategic shift toward efficiency. 

Mike Wolk, a leader at Goodway Group, describes it this way: “[We have] been relentless in our pursuit of perfecting supply chain optimization, ensuring advertisers access the cleanest inventory at the best prices. It’s our way of driving media efficiency to deliver meaningful results. Achieving this requires collaborating with cutting-edge partners, and The Trade Desk consistently brings us real solutions to make it possible.” 

Wolk’s sentiment underscores a broader reality that this shift isn’t just about simplifying the path but creating conditions for better marketing outcomes. Innovations like OpenPath help unlock more premium inventory, sharper insights, and an increasingly accountable ecosystem for all. 

The future of supply path strategy 

As marketers aim to maximize working media and improve efficiency, the question isn’t just where they advertise, but how they access premium inventory at scale. OpenPath doesn’t just change what you buy but how you buy it. 

To learn more about how to get started with OpenPath today, click here or reach out to your representative at The Trade Desk.