Content metadata provides critical context as CTV advertising goes programmatic

Nearly 20 years ago, subscription video streaming services broke tradition by offering premium, on-demand video content without advertising. Today, streaming has grown to dominate TV usage¹, but the arrival of advertising has brought the TV experience full circle. This shift presents a sizable opportunity for advertisers, but finding the right programming to invest in isn’t without its challenges.

Those challenges stem from the immense growth of connected TV (CTV) channels, amplified by challenges associated with audience-based targeting strategies that don’t scale in CTV. This is where metadata can help, as the information about video content can serve as signals within programmatic platforms to inform buying and selling decisions. With the IAB forecasting that 85% of U.S. CTV spending this year will be handled programmatically, information about CTV inventory has never been more important.

Video metadata, such as genre, year of production and parental rating, can inform programmatic transactions but it’s frequently not there or incomplete. When information about CTV inventory in programmatic platforms is limited—or missing altogether—advertisers don’t have insight into which programs their ads will appear in, or if the content is a good fit.

In a 2024 study, Gracenote analyzed more than 6.8 billion publisher-supplied bid requests for a single week’s worth of CTV inventory to understand whether the inventory included ample program information to facilitate grounded advertising decisions. 

In the inventory, any metadata tag represented a single biddable category—an attribute that provides some degree of information about the content, such as genre, content rating or program type. 

If a title had a genre, parental rating and a program type, for example, it had three biddable categories. In the sample, however, the average program didn’t even have 100% of a single biddable category. The average was 0.73 biddable categories per program. The reality, however, is that more than half of all CTV content has at least two genres, and almost 20% has three to four².

The importance of normalized and enhanced metadata notwithstanding, it’s typically not granular enough to differentiate individual programs—and advertising opportunities. Knowing that a program has a drama genre, for example, is helpful, but that might not be enough to inform specific advertising decisions. In addition to offering a wide range of content variety, drama is the most common genre across subscription streaming services, as 24.6% of the program titles available to viewers have a drama genre³.

Knowing a program’s genre also isn’t enough to distinguish new episodes from those in syndication. Each has its own value proposition, but programmatic platforms won’t be able to differentiate a season premiere of Grey’s Anatomy from the pilot that debuted in March of 2005.

The granularity of program information is becoming increasingly important across CTV channels for two reasons:

1. The amount of new and premium content, including live sports, is perpetually growing
2. More than 45% of the content being watched on streaming services is ad-supported⁴

Brands know that CTV offers awareness-building opportunities and targeting efficiency, but content opacity can hinder visibility into specific programs and screen environments. But when brands partner with metadata companies, SSPs (sell-side platforms) and CTV publishers, relevant content for targeted campaigns can be curated in ways that also allow publishers to maintain inventory control and data sharing. That’s because the combination of traditional metadata and program information (e.g., program name and network) significantly amplifies transparency in CTV inventories.

As CTV grows as the dominant way in which audiences engage with video content, these types of partnerships will be critical in helping brands and agencies make the most of the opportunities available to them—and at scale. 

For additional insights, download our 2025 Contextual Advertising report.

Notes

1. Streaming accounted for 46% of TV usage in June 2025; Nielsen’s the Gauge
2. Gracenote Contextual Video Data
3. Gracenote Global Video Data; June 2025
4. Nielsen’s The Gauge, Q2 2025