TripleLift’s Creative Gambit: Reshaping Ads with CTV, Retail Media, and AI

NEW YORK, NY – December 11, 2025 – In an advertising technology landscape often defined by ruthless efficiency and automation, one company is making a significant bet that the future belongs to creativity. TripleLift, a supply-side platform (SSP) acquired by Vista Equity Partners in 2021 for a reported $1.4 billion, has declared a breakthrough 2025, driven by a strategic pivot that places creative innovation at the core of its global ambitions. Under the new leadership of CEO Dave Helmreich, who took the helm in February, the company is moving aggressively to redefine programmatic advertising not as a race to the bottom on cost, but as an opportunity to build better, more engaging experiences for consumers, publishers, and brands alike.

This past year saw the company expand into 15 new international markets, launch high-impact partnerships with giants like Amazon and DIRECTV, and report staggering growth in the booming retail media sector. But behind the impressive numbers is a more fundamental story of disruption: a concerted effort to solve the growing problem of ad fatigue, particularly in high-engagement environments like Connected TV (CTV), and to build the AI-powered tools necessary for a privacy-first, post-cookie world.

"2025 has been a year of extraordinary momentum for TripleLift, where we've proven that creativity and technology can redefine what's possible in programmatic advertising," said Helmreich in a recent statement. His vision, which he brings from a tenure as Chief Commercial Officer at CTV platform Innovid, is to move the industry beyond mere process optimization and toward more meaningful advertising. As the company looks to 2026, its strategy appears less about simply selling ad space and more about fundamentally reshaping what an ad can be.

Redefining the Second Screen: The Rise of Creative CTV Advertising

Nowhere is TripleLift’s creative-first philosophy more apparent than in its assault on the Connected TV market. As viewers have flocked to streaming services, advertisers have followed, often bringing the same interruptive 30-second spots that have defined linear television for decades. TripleLift is challenging this paradigm by pioneering formats designed to integrate into the viewing experience rather than disrupt it.

The most prominent example is its rollout of Programmatic Pause Ads, launched in partnership with DIRECTV Advertising. This format, an industry-first for programmatic channels, turns the simple act of a viewer pressing the “pause” button into a premium advertising moment. A static, elegant brand message appears on screen, capturing user attention when they are already engaged with their remote. Research shows the format is remarkably effective, delivering 34% higher unaided ad recall than traditional addressable ads and a 24% lift in brand recall compared to standard pre-roll spots. Following its initial launch, the company quickly expanded the offering to other premium publishers like Xumo and Plex, creating a one-stop shop for marketers looking to scale this non-interruptive format.

Building on this momentum are the company’s Enhanced Spots, which overlay dynamic content like product images and scannable QR codes onto traditional video ads. This transforms a passive viewing experience into an interactive one, reducing the friction between brand awareness and consumer action. For advertisers, the value is clear: a 65% interaction rate with these dynamic elements has been observed among exposed viewers, alongside a 15-percentage-point increase in purchase intent. For viewers, the benefit is a more relevant and less intrusive ad load, with studies indicating an 8-point increase in the likelihood to rewatch content when these formats are present.

The New Blueprint for Growth: Global Scale and Retail Media Dominance

While innovative formats capture headlines, TripleLift’s 2025 success is equally rooted in shrewd business strategy and execution. The company’s global expansion, which includes a new office in Paris and new leadership in Canada and the UK, signals its ambition to become a dominant global player. This expansion is powered by strategic partnerships that unlock high-growth revenue streams, most notably in retail media.

In 2025, TripleLift’s retail media business grew an astounding 110% year-over-year. A key catalyst for this was joining Amazon's DSP Certified Supply Exchange (CSE) Program in October. This integration goes far beyond simple inventory access. It allows TripleLift to leverage its unique creative technology within the massive Amazon advertising ecosystem. For instance, the company was the first SSP to support Amazon's Native Responsive eCommerce (REC) format on third-party supply, enabling advertisers to automatically generate dynamic ads using real-time data from their Amazon product pages—like price, star ratings, and availability—and scale them across TripleLift’s vast network of publishers.

The partnership also involves deep technical collaboration. TripleLift was an early beta partner for Amazon Ads' Dynamic Traffic Engine, a system that allows Amazon to signal its upcoming ad traffic needs, enabling the SSP to optimize its infrastructure and reduce wasted bid requests. This improves efficiency for all parties and highlights a shift toward more intelligent, collaborative supply chains. The strategy’s power was on full display during Prime Day 2025, when TripleLift saw a 10x year-over-year increase in advertiser spend, serving both brands native to Amazon and those looking to capitalize on the retail event’s massive audience.

"This year, our teams turned ambition into impact, launching new solutions, expanding globally, and helping partners achieve stronger results across every channel," noted Rob Deichert, TripleLift's chief operating officer. This combination of global reach, technological integration, and a focus on high-growth sectors like retail media provides a powerful blueprint for scaling in the fiercely competitive ad tech landscape.

The Next Frontier: Betting on AI and a Cookieless Future

Looking ahead, TripleLift is doubling down on the technologies that will define the next decade of digital advertising: artificial intelligence and identity solutions for a world without third-party cookies. The company has announced plans to deepen its investment in AI-powered creative automation, sophisticated dynamic creative frameworks, and advanced addressability solutions. This isn't just about keeping pace with industry buzzwords; it's a strategic necessity for survival and leadership in a privacy-conscious market.

AI-powered creative automation will allow brands and agencies to generate and test thousands of ad variations at scale, personalizing messages for different audiences and contexts without a massive human lift. This is the engine behind Dynamic Creative Optimization (DCO), a technique that has been shown to boost engagement in CTV campaigns by as much as 40%. By building more sophisticated frameworks, TripleLift aims to make this level of personalization accessible across its entire suite of formats, from native display to interactive CTV.

At the same time, the company is tackling the industry's existential challenge: the deprecation of the third-party cookie. Advancing its solutions for identity and addressability means investing in privacy-compliant technologies that allow advertisers to reach relevant audiences without relying on outdated tracking methods. This involves strengthening contextual targeting capabilities and supporting emerging industry-wide identity frameworks.

Helmreich sees this as the dawn of a new era. "The next chapter of programmatic will be defined by creativity powered by AI, and TripleLift intends to lead that transformation," he stated. The company is betting that the platforms that succeed will be those that can intelligently automate the creation and delivery of beautiful, relevant, and respectful advertising, proving that performance and a positive consumer experience are not mutually exclusive goals.