Trade Desk acquires customer-ID company, AdBrain

Programmatic player The Trade Desk has acquired the assets of Adbrain, a company that provides cross-device customer ID solutions.

Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed and it is not expected to have a material impact on quarterly financial results.

This deal follows hot on the heels of Mediamath's integration of Grapeshot's technology which, among other things, provides a way to target audiences while side-stepping the need for cookies.

With the European Union's GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) round the corner, and Apple's decision to clamp down on the use of cookies, programmatic players are looking for other ways to effectively target audiences.

Adbrain's solution is to use AI to connect various IDs associated with a single digital consumer, creating what it calls a Customer ID Map.

The Trade Desk integrated Adbrain in October 2015 and with the acquisition will be able to combine Adbrain's technology with login data, Jeff Green, chief executive and co-founder of The Trade Desk, said. "This will give advertisers and brands on The Trade Desk platform an independent alternative to walled gardens."