For over a decade, digital advertising in India was largely a one-way street, dominated by Big Tech and their closed ecosystems. Now, a tectonic shift is underway. As media consumption habits evolve, the “Open Internet” is beginning to challenge the monopoly of walled gardens, and global adtech player The Trade Desk wants to be the infrastructure behind that transformation.
In a conversation with BrandWagon Online, Tejinder Gill, Managing Director of The Trade Desk India, explains why advertisers are seeking alternatives, what’s fuelling the shift to the Open Internet, and how brands can finally demand transparency, choice, and real business outcomes from their digital campaigns.
A market ripe for change
“When we entered India,” Gill recalls, “the first thing we did was define what the Open Internet actually is — because let’s be honest, most people conflate the internet with a few social media platforms.”
According to The Trade Desk, the Open Internet includes everything outside the walled gardens — connected TV, digital audio, news platforms, even digital OOH. In contrast to UGC-heavy platforms like Meta and YouTube, this ecosystem relies on premium, publisher-driven content.
“Think about your own day,” Gill says. “Sure, you might scroll through Instagram or watch a video on YouTube. But chances are, you also listened to a podcast, read news on TV, or streamed something on OTT. That’s all Open Internet.”
In fact, The Trade Desk’s research shows that 52% of users’ time is now spent on the Open Internet — a key inflection point. Yet, despite this shift in attention, a staggering 85% of digital ad budgets still go to walled gardens.
As per the company’s APAC Identity survey with Indian marketers, there is a clear appetite for alternatives to Big Tech platforms in digital advertising. The report highlights that 92% of Indian marketers believe brands and agencies are overly dependent on Big Tech, while 58% are already diversifying their media partnerships to build a more open, competitive ecosystem. At the same time, 96% are actively leveraging first-party data to drive campaigns, though many continue to grapple with unlocking its full potential.
The pain points: transparency, scale, measurement
Gill says the reasons brands are looking beyond Big Tech aren’t emotional — they’re practical.
“The number one complaint I hear from marketers is about transparency. They say: ‘Once our budgets go into a platform, we don’t know what comes out.’ There’s no clarity on where ads run, what the impact was, or even how to compare performance across platforms.”
The Trade Desk pitches itself as the neutral broker in this space. “We don’t own inventory. We’re not playing both sides of the game,” Gill says, drawing an analogy with real estate. “It’s like house-hunting in Noida with a budget of Rs 50,000 — would you trust a broker who only shows you apartments in a building he owns? Or a neutral platform that gives you all the options?”
Measurement is the other sticking point. “If you run a campaign on Google, you can’t take those learnings and apply them to Meta. The ecosystem doesn’t talk to itself. With us, it does.”
Complement, not compete
Gill is quick to clarify that this isn’t about replacing the walled gardens — but complementing them.
“Smart marketers aren’t choosing sides. They’re asking: how do I run a campaign on Spotify in the morning, follow up with a CTV ad at lunch, and close with a native display in the evening — all based on the same insight?”
This omnichannel mindset is a significant departure from the past, where marketers often worked in silos, managing multiple vendors across platforms with no unified view. “Now, they want efficiency. They want to consolidate. And that’s where we come in.”
What’s driving the shift?
Several forces are converging at once.
First, consumer behaviour. COVID-19 accelerated digital experimentation, pushing people to explore beyond the usual apps. As a result, open internet platforms — from news apps to OTTs — saw a surge in adoption.
Second, regulatory scrutiny. “Globally, there’s rising discomfort with the concentration of power in Big Tech. Antitrust cases in the US and Europe are shaking things up.”
Third, financial accountability. “CFOs are now part of media planning. They’re asking: if I give you a Rs 10 crore marketing budget, what’s the actual sales impact?” Gill says The Trade Desk helps answer that, citing case studies with FMCG brands like Pepsi that have shown measurable results like in-store footfall and purchase lift.
India’s distinct dynamics
Gill believes India is uniquely positioned for this transition, despite the dominance of mobile consumption.
“Mobile is here to stay — it’s the most personal screen. But the migration from linear TV to connected TV is starting to play out. Families still gather around the largest screen in the house, and increasingly that screen is internet-enabled.”
He also points to a change in advertiser mindset. “Some of India’s top 10 advertisers are already shifting serious media budgets to the Open Internet. They’re doing it not out of ideology, but out of economics. They want scale, measurement, and transparency. And they want an alternative.”
The real punchline? Choice.
“If there’s one word that defines the next decade of digital advertising in India, it’s choice,” Gill says. “For 20 years, brands didn’t have one. Now they do.”
And for a country where more than half the population is consuming content beyond the Big Four, that choice, across screens, platforms, and partners, could redefine how digital media is planned and measured. “In a world of black boxes, we’re offering clarity. And when marketers see what’s possible with the Open Internet, they don’t go back,” he concluded.