Viant (DSP) Q2 2025: $250M Incremental Pipeline Signals Upmarket and Downmarket AI Expansion

2025-08-11 | By EarningsIQ Research

Viant’s Q2 revealed a pivotal pipeline surge, with $250 million in new annualized ad spend opportunities from major U.S. advertisers, underscoring a definitive upmarket shift and AI-driven platform evolution. The company’s CTV, addressability, and AI suite are converging to unlock both large enterprise and millions of SMB prospects, setting the stage for accelerated growth into 2026. Near-term headwinds from lost client spend and election cycle comps are transitory, with management positioning for market share capture against entrenched walled gardens.

Summary

  • Pipeline Transformation: $250 million in new enterprise RFPs marks a leap into major advertiser territory.
  • AI Suite Adoption: 85% of platform ad spend now runs through Viant AI bidding, fueling efficiency and client wins.
  • Market Share Ambition: Platform investments and direct sales expansion target both large brands and millions of smaller digital advertisers.

Performance Analysis

Viant delivered record Q2 results, with revenue up double-digits year-over-year and contribution XTAC, a net revenue measure after traffic acquisition costs, also reaching new highs. The company’s core growth was led by its connected TV (CTV) offering, which now constitutes nearly half of platform ad spend, and by rapid adoption of its proprietary AI tools. Notably, CTV spend hit an all-time Q2 high, and emerging digital channels collectively represented more than half of total platform volume, indicating an accelerating advertiser shift from legacy display to high-impact, measurable formats.

Operational leverage was evident, with non-GAAP operating expenses held in check despite ongoing investment in the Viant AI suite and recent acquisitions (Iris TV and Locker). Cash flow from operations surged, and the company continued to return capital to shareholders via buybacks. However, growth was tempered by a few transitory headwinds: three advertisers paused spend due to macro policy actions, and a lost client via agency channel concentrated its spend seasonally in Q3, creating a temporary drag that will not persist into Q4 or 2026.

  • CTV Momentum: CTV accounted for 45% of total ad spend, with direct access premium publisher integrations (e.g., LG, Disney, Roku) driving margin and win-rate improvements.
  • AI Bidding Scale: 85% of spend now runs through automated AI bidding, delivering up to 46% media cost reduction for clients.
  • Customer Base Expansion: Top 100 customer contribution XTAC grew 21% YoY, with a 23% increase in $1M+ spenders over the trailing year.

Viant’s financial discipline and product innovation are supporting both margin expansion and rapid scaling into new segments, even as the company absorbs cyclical and one-off client churn.

Executive Commentary

"We achieved excellent results in the second quarter, setting new records across all metrics and surpassing the midpoint of our adjusted EBITDA guidance. This strong growth was fueled by demand for our unique CTV offering, increased adoption of Viant's addressability solutions, and wider use of the Viant AI product suite."

Tim Vanderhoek, Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer

"Our results would have been even stronger if not for a temporary disruption we highlighted during our first quarter earnings call. In response to economic policy actions from the current administration, three advertisers paused their campaigns during the quarter. This macro-driven development created a headwind of nearly 300 basis points to revenue growth and over 400 basis points to contribution extract growth in the quarter."

Larry Madden, Chief Financial Officer

Strategic Positioning

1. Upmarket Expansion: Direct Enterprise Engagement

Viant is decisively moving beyond its historical mid-market focus, with its AI-driven platform now attracting major U.S. advertisers. The company reported a pipeline of $250 million in annualized ad spend opportunities from new enterprise RFPs, representing multi-year, winner-take-all DSP-of-record contracts set to ramp in 2026. This shift is underpinned by Viant AI’s demonstrable cost savings and workflow automation, which are resonating with large brands seeking efficiency and transparency outside the walled gardens.

2. Downmarket Ambition: SMB and Performance Advertiser Reach

The upcoming launch of AI decisioning in late 2025 is positioned to unlock the millions of small business and performance advertisers currently concentrated in search and social channels. Viant’s vision is to deliver a fully autonomous, chat-based DSP experience, rivaling Meta’s Advantage Plus and Google’s PMAX but for the open internet—removing technical complexity and reducing switching costs for smaller advertisers. This approach targets a pool representing over half of the $240 billion U.S. search and social ad market.

3. CTV and Addressability Leadership

Viant’s CTV direct access premium publisher program continues to differentiate the platform, enabling direct supply paths to major inventory (e.g., LG, Disney, Paramount) and integrating addressability solutions like Household ID and Iris ID. These tools enable campaign targeting and measurement at household and content level, delivering measurable improvements in brand favorability and recall. The integration with WURL further broadens Iris ID’s reach, making Viant the first DSP to offer real-time bidding on WURL’s premium FAST channel supply.

4. AI Product Suite: Full-Funnel Automation

Three of four phases of Viant AI are now live: AI bidding (optimizing ~85% of spend), AI planning (automating campaign setup), and AI measurement & analysis (on-demand, chat-based campaign insight). AI decisioning is on track for late 2025, aiming for full campaign autonomy. The suite not only improves client outcomes but is also the foundation for Viant’s upmarket and downmarket expansion.

5. Sales Force Evolution and Direct Brand Relationships

Viant is investing in an enterprise sales team to deepen direct relationships with large advertisers, reducing dependence on agency intermediaries and mitigating risks from agency-driven client churn. This strategic shift supports both new business wins and retention as the platform scales.

Key Considerations

Viant’s Q2 marks a strategic inflection point as the company leverages its AI platform to expand addressable market and deepen customer engagement across the spectrum. The following considerations frame the quarter’s context:

Key Considerations:

  • AI as a Market Share Catalyst: The rapid adoption of Viant AI bidding and planning is not only driving efficiency but also serving as a wedge to win enterprise and SMB clients from entrenched competitors.
  • Pipeline Visibility into 2026: The $250 million RFP pipeline is incremental, with most wins set to ramp next year, providing rare forward visibility in a typically transactional industry.
  • Margin and Productivity Gains: Contribution XTAC per employee rose 10% YoY, reflecting operational leverage even as Viant invests in product and sales expansion.
  • Temporary Headwinds, Not Structural: Client churn and political cycle comps are well-quantified and will not impact long-term growth, per management and analyst Q&A.
  • Capital Allocation Discipline: Ongoing share repurchases signal management’s confidence in valuation and long-term prospects.

Risks

Key risks remain centered on execution of upmarket and downmarket expansion, particularly the ability to convert pipeline RFPs into recurring revenue and to penetrate the SMB segment at scale. Competitive intensity from walled gardens (Amazon, Meta, Google) is acute, especially as these platforms control the majority of U.S. ad spend and are accelerating innovation. Macroeconomic policy shifts and agency channel churn can create episodic volatility, though management has demonstrated proactive mitigation efforts and transparency in guidance.

Forward Outlook

For Q3 2025, Viant guided to:

  • Revenue of $83.5 to $86.5 million, reflecting 6% YoY growth at the midpoint
  • Contribution XTAC of $51 to $53 million, up 10% YoY at the midpoint
  • Adjusted EBITDA of $14 to $15 million, a slight YoY decline due to temporary headwinds

For full-year 2025, management maintained a cautious stance, citing:

  • Transitory impacts from lost client spend and political comp lapping
  • Potential for accelerating revenue and contribution XTAC growth in 2026 as the $250 million pipeline ramps

Management emphasized that the underlying business momentum is robust, with new business opportunities and AI-driven expansion outweighing near-term cyclical pressures.

Takeaways

  • AI-Driven Competitive Moat: Viant’s differentiated AI suite and addressability tools are driving both client wins and operational efficiency, positioning the company to take share from legacy DSPs and walled gardens.
  • Pipeline as a Growth Engine: The $250 million in new RFPs is incremental and set to meaningfully impact 2026 results, offering rare visibility and validation of the upmarket strategy.
  • Execution Watchpoints: Investors should monitor conversion of pipeline to realized spend, AI decisioning adoption among SMBs, and continued margin discipline as Viant scales both product and sales teams.

Conclusion

Viant’s Q2 results and pipeline signal a decisive transition from mid-market DSP to a platform with credible upmarket and downmarket ambitions, powered by proprietary AI and addressability innovation. While near-term growth is dampened by transitory factors, the company’s strategic positioning and visible pipeline set the stage for accelerated gains in 2026 and beyond.

Industry Read-Through

Viant’s results reflect a broader industry pivot toward AI-driven automation, CTV addressability, and transparency as advertisers seek alternatives to walled gardens and legacy DSPs. The company’s ability to attract both major brands and SMBs with workflow simplification and measurable outcomes is a signal that the next phase of ad tech competition will be defined by platform usability, cost efficiency, and data openness. For peers, the need to accelerate AI integration and lower switching barriers is now table stakes, while for investors, Viant’s pipeline visibility and upmarket wins highlight the potential for share shifts in a consolidating programmatic landscape.

DSP Technology Advertising AI CTV Programmatic Addressability