Sonos reportedly has partnered with online advertising company The Trade Desk on its as-yet unannounced (and almost certainly delayed) video streaming device, according to Janko Roettgers, who in his September 12 Lowpass newsletter cited “multiple sources with knowledge of the partnership.”
The Trade Desk is a publicly traded company, currently valued at just over $50 billion, and describes itself as “the omnichannel advertising platform built for the open internet.” In August, Roettgers reported that since 2019 the company has been building its own smart TV operating system to compete against Roku, Amazon, and Google. But that’s something that The Trade Desk has denied, according to Digiday.
While there has been plenty of speculation that Sonos might be preparing to enter the streaming video arena — in part based on a 2023 Bloomberg report that claimed such a device was under development — little has been said about the software Sonos might use.
Sonos’ current platform, which has faced enormous challenges since it released a poorly executed app update in May, is entirely oriented around music streaming. While Sonos does have soundbars — as do Amazon Fire TV and Roku — they’re only meant for audio playback and don’t have a traditional operating system in the same sense. Sonos has apps for iOS and Android (and that includes Fire TV), but it hasn’t ever directly played in the space occupied by Roku, Google TV, Amazon Fire TV, and Apple’s tvOS. The Sonos Ace headphones, released just after the software meltdown, were the company’s first foray beyond the traditional speaker category. Sonos CEO Patrick Spence also said that two new products that were ready for release before the end of the year are shelved until the app and platform situations are rectified.
Roettgers suggests that a partnership with a third-party like The Trade Desk would solve a number of problems simultaneously. If Sonos can license a pre-built platform, it would alleviate the need to develop one from scratch. Given its ongoing problems with the existing Sonos app and the tens of millions of dollars it’s spending to fix it — plus recent layoffs “for long-term success” — it likely has few resources to spare for other software initiatives.
Roettgers notes that creating the necessary relationships with streaming giants like Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime Video, and HBO is no easy feat. The Trade Desk reportedly already has these relationships.
“The company recently began selling ads for Netflix, and also counts major media companies like NBCUniversal, Fox and CBS among its partners,” Roettgers wrote. “The Trade Desk has secured agreements with a number of major streaming services to participate on its platform, according to multiple sources.”
The Trade Desk apparently is content to let Sonos have a lot of control over the look and feel of the software, which could be yet another reason why the two companies might partner on this project. Roettgers points out that streaming platforms owned by Roku, Google, and Amazon have strict licensing requirements that impact the interface, branding, and even remote control design of their licensee’s devices.
