OpenAI to Partner with The Trade Desk for Advertising Expansion
Written by Emily J. Thompson, Senior Investment Analyst
Updated: Mar 05 2026
0mins
Should l Buy ZETA?
Source: stocktwits
- Initial Advertising Strategy: OpenAI plans to initially rely on external partner The Trade Desk to scale its advertising business on ChatGPT, which is still in its early stages, indicating OpenAI's sensitivity to market demands and the need for strategic partnerships.
- Market Reaction: Shares of Zeta Global Holdings slipped nearly 1% in overnight trading and are on track to end a three-day winning streak, reflecting retail investors' unease over OpenAI's talks with The Trade Desk, which may signal declining confidence in Zeta's future prospects.
- Analyst Rating Discrepancies: According to Koyfin, Wall Street has a consensus rating of 'Strong Hold' on Zeta, while The Trade Desk enjoys a 'Buy' rating, highlighting differing market expectations for the two companies and potentially influencing investor decisions.
- Price Targets and Valuations: Zeta's average price target is $29.08, implying a 55% upside from its last closing price of $18.76, while The Trade Desk's target is $32.95, suggesting a 30% upside from its closing price of $25.17, reflecting contrasting market views on their future performance.
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Analyst Views on ZETA
Wall Street analysts forecast ZETA stock price to rise
14 Analyst Rating
11 Buy
3 Hold
0 Sell
Strong Buy
Current: 18.300
Low
23.00
Averages
29.00
High
44.00
Current: 18.300
Low
23.00
Averages
29.00
High
44.00
About ZETA
Zeta Global Holdings Corp. is a marketing technology company that uses proprietary data, artificial intelligence (AI) and software to create a technology platform that enables marketers to acquire, retain and grow customer relationships. The Company empowers its customers to target, connect and engage consumers through software that delivers personalized marketing across all addressable channels, including email, social media, web, chat, Connected TV and video, among others. Its Generative AI (GenAI)-driven marketing solutions enable brands to personalize experiences on a scale, measure impact with precision and optimize marketing spending to increase return on investment. Its Zeta Marketing Platform (ZMP) is an AI-powered marketing platform with identity data at its core. Leveraging GenAI and machine learning, the ZMP processes billions of structured and unstructured data signals to predict consumer intent, optimize messaging and drive personalized messaging across all channels.
About the author

Emily J. Thompson
Emily J. Thompson, a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) with 12 years in investment research, graduated with honors from the Wharton School. Specializing in industrial and technology stocks, she provides in-depth analysis for Intellectia’s earnings and market brief reports.
- New Advertising Opportunities: Zeta Global has announced the launch of ads on the OpenAI platform, opening a significant new channel for clients, which is expected to substantially enhance the company's market share and revenue potential.
- Enhanced Tool Value: This advertising initiative further increases the value of Zeta Global's marketing tools, particularly in light of the recent launch of Athena AI, which allows customers to operate via voice commands, thereby improving user experience and engagement.
- Expanded Market Size: By collaborating with OpenAI, Zeta Global not only gains access to a broader customer base but also has the potential to achieve higher market penetration in the future, driving long-term growth.
- Long-term Strategic Outlook: This move by Zeta Global indicates its focus on future market opportunities, which is expected to provide the company with sustained competitive advantages and position it favorably in the rapidly evolving digital advertising landscape.
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- Ad Platform Expansion: Zeta Global announced the launch of client ads on the OpenAI ad platform, opening a significant new customer funnel that is expected to enhance its market share and revenue potential considerably.
- Marketing Tool Upgrade: The newly launched Athena AI allows customers to operate via voice commands, not only improving user experience but also strengthening Zeta Global's competitive edge in the smart marketing sector, thereby solidifying its market position.
- Long-term Strategic Outlook: Management discussed that marketing is just the beginning, with business intelligence tools potentially becoming a long-term growth direction for the company, indicating Zeta Global's proactive exploration of new growth areas to adapt to market changes.
- Market Potential Analysis: OpenAI's platform is set to expand market size, and Zeta Global may leverage this opportunity to attract more clients and enhance brand influence, thereby positioning itself more favorably in the competitive advertising market.
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- Market Miscasting: Bank of America highlighted that investors have miscast Zeta as a cyclical digital advertising company, while its fundamentals indicate a high-growth, cash-generating platform that is poised for long-term growth.
- Price Target Increase: BofA reinstated coverage of Zeta with a 'Buy' rating and a $24 price target, implying a potential upside of 22% from current levels, reflecting strong confidence in the company's future performance.
- Strategic Partnership Deepening: CEO David A. Steinberg announced at a technology conference that Zeta has partnered with OpenAI to provide advertising services for enterprise clients, further expanding its market reach and enhancing competitive advantages.
- Retail Sentiment Shift: Retail sentiment for Zeta shifted from 'bearish' to 'extremely bullish', with message volumes surging 2,650%, indicating strong investor confidence in the company's growth prospects.
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- Joining Open Standards: Zeta Global announced its participation in the Open Semantic Interchange (OSI) initiative led by Snowflake, aimed at establishing a unified, vendor-neutral semantic data standard to address inconsistencies in business metric definitions across different companies and tools, thereby enhancing data interoperability.
- Stock Price Reaction: Following the announcement, Zeta's stock rose approximately 3.37% to $16.58 during trading, although it slipped slightly in after-hours trading, indicating a positive market response to its OSI involvement, yet it remains down about 18.53% year-to-date.
- Market Performance Comparison: In contrast to Zeta's performance, the S&P 500 index has risen 9.58% year-to-date, while Snowflake's stock has declined 31.27%, reflecting market concerns about the latter, although analysts maintain a 'strong buy' rating for both companies, indicating confidence in their long-term potential.
- Ecosystem Collaboration: Zeta stated that joining OSI would facilitate smoother integration of its marketing cloud platform with other enterprise tools, reducing integration issues; despite short-term stock volatility, investors are keenly observing whether such ecosystem collaboration can support stronger data adoption and AI-driven revenue growth.
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- Analyst Rating Maintained: On May 1, Needham analyst Scott Berg maintained a 'Buy' rating on Zeta Global Holdings (NYSE:ZETA) with a price target of $25.00, reflecting confidence in the company's strong Q1 2026 performance.
- Acquisition Performance Exceeds Expectations: The recently acquired Marigold business significantly outperformed expectations, resulting in Zeta's best revenue beat to date, which bolstered market confidence in its acquisition execution capabilities.
- AI Solution Shows Early Success: The analyst highlighted early success from Zeta's Athena AI solution, which helped secure the company's largest contract, indicating that AI is becoming a critical growth driver for the platform.
- Accelerated Customer Revenue Growth: The average revenue per super-scaled customer increased at the fastest pace in over a year, demonstrating Zeta's enhanced ability to expand within its existing customer base.
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- Significant Revenue Growth: Zeta Global reported Q1 revenue of $396.3 million, a 49.9% year-over-year increase that surpassed analyst expectations of $370.5 million, indicating strong market performance and sustained customer demand.
- Optimistic Profit Guidance: The company raised its full-year revenue guidance to $1.79 billion from $1.76 billion, reflecting management's confidence in future performance, particularly driven by the AI platform Athena.
- Accelerated Customer Consolidation: Zeta secured a notable partnership with a global apparel retailer, consolidating four vendors into a single contract, highlighting the increasing market demand for streamlined marketing operations and integrated data solutions, enhancing the company's competitive edge.
- Diverse Application Expansion: The number of super-scaled customers utilizing multiple use cases increased by over 50% year-over-year, driving a 21% growth in average revenue per user (ARPU), indicating a growing reliance on Zeta's products and significant future growth potential.
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