Organization and Description of Business

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2026

Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]

Organization and Description of Business

Note 1 — Organization and Description of Business

Direct Digital Holdings, Inc., incorporated as a Delaware corporation on August 23, 2021 and headquartered in Houston, Texas, together with its subsidiaries, is an end-to-end, full-service advertising and marketing platform primarily focused on providing advertising technology, data-driven campaign optimization and other solutions to help brands, agencies and middle market businesses deliver successful marketing results that drive return on investment ("ROI") across the entire digital advertising ecosystem. Direct Digital Holdings, Inc. is the holding company for Direct Digital Holdings, LLC (“DDH LLC”), the business formed by the Company's founders in 2018 through acquisitions of Colossus Media, LLC (“Colossus Media”) and Huddled Masses, LLC (“Huddled Masses®” or “Huddled Masses”). Colossus Media operates the Company’s proprietary programmatic platform under the trademarked banner of Colossus SSPTM (“Colossus SSP”). In September 2020, DDH LLC acquired Orange142, LLC to further bolster its overall programmatic advertising platform and to enhance its offerings across multiple industry verticals.

In February 2022, Direct Digital Holdings, Inc. completed an initial public offering and certain organizational transactions which resulted in the Company's current Up-C structure. (See Note 6 — Related Party Transactions). During the first quarter of 2026, the Company shifted its focus to driving intentional digital marketing spend with current and future customers historically classified by the Company as buy-side customers as well as new enterprise customers accessing the digital advertising market through its recently launched product - Ignition+. In connection with this shift in focus, the Company reassessed its reportable segments and determined that it has one reportable segment that is managed on a consolidated basis. The new focus to streamline operations is expected to enhance the customer experience and better reflects the economics of the Company's current business where revenues reflect primarily contracts for managed advertising campaigns which may or may not access curated publisher audiences managed by the Company's sell side platform. In these consolidated financial statements, the “Company,” “Direct Digital,” “Direct Digital Holdings,” “DDH,” “we,” “us” and “our” refer to Direct Digital Holdings, Inc., and, unless otherwise stated, all of its subsidiaries, including DDH LLC and, unless otherwise stated, its subsidiaries. All of the subsidiaries are incorporated in the state of Delaware, except for DDH LLC, which was formed under the laws of the State of Texas.

Direct Digital Holdings, Inc. owns 100% of the voting interest in DDH LLC and as of March 31, 2026, it owns 94.3% of the economic interest in DDH LLC. DDH LLC was formed on June 21, 2018 and acquired by DDH on February 15, 2022 in connection with its organizational transactions. DDH LLC’s wholly-owned subsidiaries are as follows:

Subsidiary	Date of Formation	Date of Acquisition
Colossus Media, LLC	September 8, 2017	June 21, 2018
Orange142, LLC	March 6, 2013	September 30, 2020
Huddled Masses, LLC	November 13, 2012	June 21, 2018

The Company provides technology-enabled advertising solutions and consulting services to clients either through multiple demand side platforms (“DSPs”) or through its own programmatic advertising platform (Colossus SSP), across multiple industry verticals such as travel and tourism, higher education, energy, healthcare, financial services, consumer products and other sectors with particular emphasis on small and mid-sized businesses transitioning into digital with growing digital media budgets. In the digital advertising space, buyers, particularly small and mid-sized businesses, can potentially achieve significantly higher ROI on their advertising spend compared to traditional media advertising by leveraging data-driven over-the-top/connected TV (“OTT/CTV”), video and display, in-app, native including programmatic, search, social, influencer marketing and audio advertisements that are delivered both at scale and on a highly targeted basis.