The Trade Desk Adds Agentic AI And Simplified Measurement To Kokai Platform With Zuma Release

The Trade Desk has released Kokai Zuma, the latest iteration of its Kokai advertising platform, introducing agentic AI capabilities, a reworked measurement framework and a redesigned user interface.

Kokai, which launched in 2023, is The Trade Desk’s platform for planning, buying and measuring advertising across the open internet. The Zuma release is designed to make the platform easier to navigate, learn and use.

The update comes as advertising continues to fragment across channels, formats and devices, creating more complexity for media buyers managing campaigns and trying to understand what drives performance. Zuma aims to reduce that friction by helping traders find information faster, make changes with greater confidence and spend less time on workflow management.

While the redesigned interface is the most visible change, The Trade Desk has indicated that the larger investment has gone into upgrading the platform’s backend – specifically its forecasting engine and underlying AI infrastructure. That backend work covers predicting available inventory, modelling campaign outcomes and powering the platform’s agentic capabilities in real time.

The company claims initial results from Zuma’s improved modelling and forecasting capabilities have shown an average 32 per cent improvement in CPA performance.

The Trade Desk Founder and CEO, Jeff Green, described the release as a continuation of what Kokai started.

“Kokai changed the way digital media is bought and sold programmatically, and Zuma builds on that foundation, making our platform faster, simpler and smarter,” Green explained. “AI is helping our customers move faster than ever, while making measurement more intuitive and actionable.”

“We’ve listened closely to our users about what they need to navigate an increasingly fragmented digital media ecosystem, and Zuma brings those learnings into Kokai,” he added. “We’re continuing to build the platform that advertisers deserve – one that removes friction from the work, puts agentic AI to practical use and gives them a clearer view of the outcomes their media dollars are driving.”

Koa Expands With Agentic Capabilities

At the centre of Zuma’s AI features is Koa, the artificial intelligence engine that powers The Trade Desk. Koa analyses more than 20 million ad impressions every second and has been part of the platform since 2018, evolving as The Trade Desk has expanded its use of AI.

With Zuma, Koa now powers a growing set of agentic capabilities within Kokai. These include a new conversational experience and specialised Koa Agents designed to help users automate tasks, uncover opportunities and act faster.

The Koa Assistant is a conversational AI assistant backed by a set of specialised Koa Agents that support campaign creation, audience building, troubleshooting and performance analysis.

On the audience side, Koa can now identify previously untapped and relevant audiences to expand campaign reach at scale. The Trade Desk has flagged this as particularly relevant for advertisers using Audience Unlimited, which is available across more than 70 per cent of global data providers from The Trade Desk Data Marketplace.

Koa also handles frequency optimisation, using AI to adjust frequency settings based on campaign objectives and performance. The aim is to reduce manual effort while improving campaign delivery.

Measurement And Reporting Reworked

Zuma also overhauls how advertisers measure campaign impact and access insights.

Conversion Lift enhancements simplify the process of launching lift studies and introduce new reporting dimensions for campaign planning. The improved reporting homepage now directs users to frequently used reports, saved templates and generated reports, streamlining day-to-day analysis.

A Report Builder offers more flexibility and transparency, making it easier to customise reports and explore the full depth of included dimensions.

Interface Changes Driven By User Feedback

The Zuma release incorporates feedback from The Trade Desk’s user base to make common workflows easier to understand and manage.

A refreshed page design provides greater clarity to advertiser, campaign and ad group views, surfacing key metrics and trends so users can spot what matters and quickly find where to focus.

The Applied Settings View gives a single, consolidated view of targeting parameters, making it easier to understand what is driving or restricting spend. Upgraded bulk editing lets users preview the potential impact of changes before they are applied, offering more confidence when adjusting campaign strategy at scale.

Principal and Chief Analyst at W Media Research, Karsten Weide, offered a positive assessment of the release.

“It’s great to see The Trade Desk go full-bore on agentic, and the performance gains are real numbers,” Weide remarked. “That’s encouraging – this is real change.”

Global Rollout Underway

Zuma is rolling out to Kokai clients globally, with additional capabilities and enhancements expected over time. The capabilities included in the release are either generally available or accessible through open or closed beta. References to upcoming capabilities remain subject to change.

Last Updated on August 28, 2026 by Nick Ross