Viant Technology Inc. reported its first quarter 2025 earnings on Tuesday, May 6, 2025. While the company delivered another quarter of revenue acceleration and profitability improvement – exceeding both internal and external expectations – it still seems to fly under Wall Street’s radar, as one can tell from the scarcity of news coverage.
Another Quarter of Strong Growth in a Tough Market
Viant delivered $70.6 million in revenue in Q1 2025, a 32% year-over-year increase from the $53.4 million it posted in the same quarter a year ago. This marks a slight acceleration from the 30% annual growth rate Viant achieved for full-year 2024, continuing a trend of double-digit quarterly growth that now stretches back over eight consecutive periods. That kind of consistency is unusual in AdTech, particularly for a company operating at a much smaller scale than market leaders like The Trade Desk.
To put it in perspective, The Trade Desk has averaged quarterly revenue growth in the mid-twenties percent range over the past two years. Viant’s 32% this quarter meaningfully outpaced not just The Trade Desk but also the broader U.S. programmatic segment, which is expected to grow roughly 13–14% in 2025. While Viant’s smaller revenue base makes high growth easier to achieve, the trend is nonetheless notable. It suggests that Viant is steadily gaining market share in an increasingly concentrated industry.
CTV Continues to Take the Lead in Viant’s Product Mix
One of the biggest stories this quarter was Connected TV (CTV), which accounted for more than 45% of total advertiser spend on Viant’s platform – an all-time high. This marks a continued shift toward CTV and away from display and other traditional digital formats. Viant doesn’t break out revenue by product in GAAP terms, but advertiser spend on the platform is a solid proxy, and this quarter’s CTV share underscores a long-building trend.
This shift hasn’t happened in a vacuum. Over the past year, Viant has expanded its CTV offerings through recent acquisitions like Iris.TV and Lockr, which have bolstered its contextual and identity capabilities. The rollout of Viant’s Household ID and IRIS_ID solutions has further enhanced advertiser targeting in the CTV space, a segment notoriously plagued by a dearth of targeting signals. These technologies allow Viant to offer cookie-less targeting solutions at a time when the industry is bracing for third-party cookie deprecation.
Compared to The Trade Desk, which also emphasizes CTV but remains more diversified in its spend mix, Viant’s composition is becoming more CTV-heavy. That could be a strategic strength if linear TV dollars continue their rapid migration to streaming environments. It also signals that Viant is effectively positioning itself to win in what is arguably the most important battleground in digital advertising today.
A U.S.-Centric Business – For Now
Viant doesn’t publish detailed geographic revenue breakdowns, but its financial filings and disclosures indicate that nearly all its revenue currently comes from the United States. This is perhaps quite similar to The Trade Desk, which also only derives about 12% of its revenue from international markets. However, this is more of a missed opportunity for The Trade Desk than for Viant. The Trade desk is a much more mature company and is urgently exploring growth opportunities to keep revenue growth up. Viant on the other hand is a much younger company that first needs to cover its homebase before venturing abroad.
While this domestic focus has helped Viant scale efficiently and stay focused on its core customers, as the company matures, international expansion represent a future growth opportunity. If the company can extend its identity, CTV, and AI-driven offerings into international markets, it could unlock another layer of revenue growth. For now, however, Viant remains a U.S.-focused platform with limited geographic diversification.
Operational Efficiency Is Quietly Improving
Viant reported a net loss of $3.3 million this quarter, roughly flat compared to a $3.2 million loss in Q1 2024. But those GAAP numbers obscure a stronger story beneath the surface. Contribution ex-TAC – a measure that strips out traffic acquisition costs – grew 25% year-over-year to $42.7 million. Adjusted EBITDA surged 76% to $5.4 million, with margins improving to 13% of contribution ex-TAC, up from 9% a year ago.
This kind of operational leverage signals that Viant is managing its growth responsibly. Non-GAAP operating expenses rose 20% year-over-year, but when excluding acquisition-related costs, they were up just 14%. That’s slower than both revenue and contribution ex-TAC growth, suggesting that Viant is scaling with discipline – a critical factor for mid-sized players looking to establish long-term credibility with investors.
Exceeding Expectations – and Setting the Stage for More
But Viant didn’t just grow. It exceeded both its own guidance and Wall Street’s expectations. The company’s internal forecast called for Q1 revenue between $65 and $68 million; it delivered $70.6 million. Adjusted EBITDA also topped guidance, and margins expanded meaningfully. Analysts had expected more modest gains, and the company’s outperformance continues a now-familiar pattern: this is Viant’s seventh consecutive quarter of 20%+ contribution ex-TAC growth, and its ninth straight quarter of 30%+ adjusted EBITDA growth.
After-hours trading showed that the market rewarded Viant’s performance, with its stock price going up by nearly 5%, a contrast to the steep 28% drop it suffered after Q4 2024 earnings when it missed profit expectations despite strong revenue. However, the generally small trading volume for the company also shows that it may be an overlooked opportunity flying under Wall Street’s radar.
A Cash War Chest – and Confidence to Use It
Viant finished the quarter with $174 million in cash and no debt. That’s a healthy balance sheet for a company its size, especially considering it just completed a $46.5 million share repurchase over the past 12 months. In fact, $24.9 million of that was deployed year-to-date in 2025, and on top of that, management also authorized an additional $50 million in buybacks on May 5, 2025, both items signaling continued confidence in the company’s intrinsic value and long-term growth prospects.
That capital flexibility gives Viant options. It can fund further acquisitions, accelerate R&D, or return capital to shareholders depending on market conditions. This level of balance sheet strength stands in contrast to some smaller AdTech firms that are burning cash and fighting to maintain their runway. It also positions Viant well if market consolidation accelerates in the wake of regulatory scrutiny or macroeconomic headwinds.
Looking Ahead: A Quiet Leader in a Noisy Market
Viant made several important announcements alongside its earnings report. Most notably, the company emphasized growing adoption of ViantAI, its proprietary AI bidding engine, which now powers 80% of ad spend on the platform. That level of AI integration is a clear differentiator and positions Viant well in a market increasingly driven by automation and performance optimization.
The company also doubled down on identity, pointing to rising adoption of its Household ID and IRIS_ID solutions as advertisers seek alternatives to cookies. Combined with the Lockr acquisition (a first-party data collaboration platform), these moves place Viant squarely in the center of the next wave of AdTech innovation.
Viant’s current strengths include its accelerating revenue growth, AI and CTV leadership, and balance sheet flexibility. Weaknesses include a still-small scale relative to competitors, limited international presence, and investor skepticism fueled by past volatility. But the opportunities – especially in CTV, AI-driven planning, and privacy-forward identity solutions – are significant. The main challenges lie in keeping pace with larger rivals like Google, Amazon, and The Trade Desk, while avoiding the execution missteps that can spook a skittish investor base.
The broader industry is clearly moving toward cookieless targeting, AI automation, and omnichannel optimization. Viant is aligning itself with all three of these trends. If it continues to execute with the discipline and innovation it showed in Q1, it could become one of the most compelling under-the-radar players in digital advertising.
Conclusion: A Company to Watch, Not to Underestimate
Viant’s Q1 2025 performance offers a compelling case that it is more than just a second-tier DSP. With consistent growth, rising profitability, and strategic positioning in high-demand segments like CTV and AI-driven advertising, Viant is quietly building a platform with staying power. It may not have the scale of The Trade Desk or the name recognition of Google, but it has the technology, the focus, and the financial foundation to keep growing – and to keep surprising the market.
About Viant
Viant Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: DSP) is a leader in AI-powered programmatic advertising. Its omnichannel DSP is built for Connected TV and designed to help marketers plan, execute, and measure campaigns with precision. Learn more at www.viantinc.com.
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