Key points
- The Trade Desk's Ask Koa agent now talks directly to Dstillery's DS-1 agent while campaigns are running.
- Custom audiences that took about four days to build, per Dstillery's product chief, can now be ready in minutes.
- Performance data and advertiser targeting goals feed the new audiences, which are activated through The Trade Desk.
- Adweek reports ad buyers doubt the speed gain will translate into higher spend.
Why it matters for marketers: Audience building can shift from a multi-day request to a mid-flight adjustment, but marketers should test whether faster segments actually improve results before moving budget.
The Trade Desk has linked its conversational agent, Ask Koa, to DS-1, the agentic platform from adtech company Dstillery. The two systems can now exchange information while a campaign is live, so new audiences can be created without waiting on a manual handoff.
Advertisers were already able to purchase Dstillery's custom audiences through The Trade Desk. The difference is the process behind them. According to Dstillery chief product officer Taejin "TJ" In, building those audiences required manual coordination and usually took four days. With the agents connected, the companies say the work takes minutes.
For marketers, the notable change is timing. The agents draw on performance insights and the advertiser's targeting goals to define fresh audiences, and those segments can be activated through The Trade Desk. That means audience strategy can be adjusted during a flight rather than only at planning stage, and it removes a layer of back-and-forth between buyers and data partners.
Adweek reports that buyers remain skeptical about whether the faster workflow will actually push advertisers to spend more. Speed saves labor, but it does not prove the audiences perform better. Teams considering the tool should compare agent-built segments against their current ones on results, and ask how much control they keep over the targeting goals the agents work from.
Sources
This brief is our own summary. Read the full reporting at the source.