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The Trade Desk has poached Channel 4’s Patrick Morrell to lead the adtech company’s growth into the connected TV space.

In the London-based role of director, strategic publisher and TV development, Morrell will be responsible for developing and strengthening relationships between TTD and key players such as broadcasters and media agencies. He reports to Dave Castell, general manager inventory EMEA.

He is joining TTD after eight years at Channel 4, where he was agency investment lead since 2016 and specialised in driving revenue growth in both linear and connected TV. Before that he worked in a variety of sales and trading-focused roles. 

The ad tech company is intent on leading the growth of programmatic advertising in the connected TV (streaming) space, which is set to expand even further this year with the launch of Disney+ in the UK. TTD offers a self-service cloud-based platform that enables advertisers to manage and optimise campaigns across formats and devices. 

Morrell said: "Connected TV is developing rapidly, both at home and further afield, and I’m keen to seize this momentum and make it one of the biggest success stories of 2020. 

"Despite rumblings about the ‘decline of traditional TV’, it’s clearer now than ever before that the ROI, scale and reach of TV – combined with the leading technology of a programmatic DSP – has the potential to bring endless opportunities to both broadcasters and agency partners." 

Ofcom revealed last summer that nearly one in two UK households had a streaming subscription, while as much as 87% of UK consumers have access to connected TV. 

However Martin O’Boyle, managing director, partnerships at PMX, part of Publicis Media, warned that advertisers faced a complicated landscape with different buying point and data sets. He told ±±¾©Èü³µpk10’s recent breakfast panel event on connected TV: "We’re working out ways to knit all this together so our clients can reach as many people as possible."