MarkApp vs The Trade Desk

MarkApp Founder Named to Fortune Greece 40 Under 40

Sotiris Oikonomou, founder and managing director of MarkApp, has been named to Fortune Greece's 40 Under 40 list for 2026, recognizing his entrepreneurial achievements. The recognition comes alongside other accolades, including the European Video Awards' Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year and a spot in the FT1000 ranking. MarkApp, founded by Oikonomou at age 22 without external funding, has grown into a global ad tech company with offices in Athens, London, Limassol, and Dubai. The company's in-house platform includes Pantheon (contextual SSP), Harion (cross-device commerce DSP), and MarkDash (unified reporting). This recognition highlights MarkApp's focus on connected TV, contextual intelligence, and premium content environments, positioning it as a significant player in the ad tech industry.

• Sotiris Oikonomou, founder of MarkApp, was named to Fortune Greece's 40 Under 40 list for 2026.
• MarkApp's CEO also won Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year at the 2026 European Video Awards.
• MarkApp has offices in Athens, London, Limassol, and Dubai.

MarkApp: MENA Needs CTV Measurement, Verification Before Scale

In an interview ahead of ATS Dubai, Sotiris Oikonomou, managing director at MarkApp, argues that MENA's CTV market must not replicate US and European mistakes. He highlights that social video dominates MENA digital spend, with CTV growing but underdeveloped. Key concerns include the lack of household-level targeting, measurement, and verification, leading to inflated CPMs and unverified inventory. Oikonomou calls for industry-wide standards: declared supply paths, SupplyChain object usage, content metadata, and OM SDK compliance. He notes that CTV fraud in the US scaled 140% in Q1 2026, urging MENA to prioritize proof before scaling. IAB MENA is expected to release a household multiplier, and a language-based classification for Arabic content is needed. The market must educate both buyers and publishers to build trust and drive incremental growth.

• MarkApp's managing director Sotiris Oikonomou gave an interview ahead of ATS Dubai.
• MENA digital ad spend scaled ~18% year on year, with social media accounting for 60% of that growth.
• About 9% of users aged 18-34 in MENA use smart TV as first screen.

The Trade Desk and Dstillery Link AI Agents for Mid-Campaign Audiences

The Trade Desk and Dstillery integrate their AI agents, Ask Koa and DS-1, to enable ad buyers to create custom audiences in minutes instead of days. The integration allows agents to communicate during live campaigns, using performance insights and targeting goals to build new audiences that can be activated through The Trade Desk. Advertisers could already buy Dstillery's custom audiences, but building them manually took four days. While buyers acknowledge potential time savings, they question whether agentic integrations will significantly change media buying, noting that the real value still lies in knowing which audiences are right for a brand.

• The Trade Desk is connecting its AI agent 'Ask Koa' with Dstillery's agentic platform 'DS-1'.
• The integration reduces custom audience creation from four days to minutes.
• Ad buyers question whether the integration will significantly increase ad spend.

ShopMy Hires Jed Dederick as CRO to Scale Creator Commerce

ShopMy, a creator affiliate marketing platform, has appointed Jed Dederick, former Chief Revenue Officer at The Trade Desk, as its new CRO. Dederick started on October 13 and reports to CEO Harry Rein. His mandate is to bring programmatic-style scale and measurement to creator commerce, starting with a pay-for-performance product the company is hesitant to label as ads. ShopMy, launched in 2020, was recently valued at $1.5 billion after raising $70 million. The hire signals the company's ambition to professionalize creator-driven marketing and establish it as a major performance channel.

• ShopMy appointed Jed Dederick as Chief Revenue Officer, effective October 13.
• Dederick previously served as CRO at The Trade Desk for nearly 14 years.
• ShopMy was valued at $1.5 billion after raising $70 million.

The Trade Desk Announces Date of Third Quarter 2026 Financial Results and Conference Call

The Trade Desk announced it will release its third quarter 2026 financial results and hold a conference call on October 27, 2026.