Streaming has become the dominant way people engage with their televisions, resulting in a considerable increase in CTV advertising over the past decade. Even as viewers spend increasing amounts of time with CTV, however, traditional linear TV budgets are expected to remain outsized for the foreseeable future.
Agencies and advertisers see tremendous potential in CTV, but they remain hesitant to reallocate budget from linear TV because of one key barrier: a lack of information.
86% of media planners would shift more linear dollars to CTV if show-level targeting was available
– 2026 Gracenote CTV advertising survey
Because they frequently don’t have insight into CTV inventory, brands and agencies are simply growing their total spend to ensure that CTV is in the mix. As a result, CTV spending continues to rise, but its allotted share remains overshadowed by funding earmarked for traditional TV.
Content transparency represents a notable blind spot for advertisers, but there are ways to navigate the challenges, especially when it comes to knowing which content signals will advance inventory transparency.
Why ad investments in CTV are lagging traditional TV spending
Learn why CTV spending is growing, yet remains overshadowed by investments earmarked for traditional TV.
Outside of the upfronts: Capitalizing on live sports across CTV
The broadening CTV landscape opens a wealth of advertising opportunity that sits well outside of national upfront deals.
Precision at scale
Case study: Mexican beer brand Dos Equis successfully scaled a niche live sports strategy in CTV with zero waste.