What is Connected TV (CTV)?
Also known as: CTV, OTT advertising, Streaming TV ads
What is connected TV (CTV)?
Connected TV (CTV) is video advertising delivered to internet-connected televisions through streaming apps, smart TV operating systems, and streaming devices like Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and Chromecast. Per eMarketer's 2025 CTV ad spending forecast, US CTV ad spend reached $33.4 billion in 2025 and is projected to hit $42.4 billion in 2026.
CTV is where TV money meets digital plumbing. The viewer watches a 30-second spot on a 65-inch screen with sound on. The buyer targets that spot by household, geography, content genre, and first-party audience, then measures it against a phone or laptop conversion in the same home.
The format took off when streamers pivoted to ad-supported tiers. Netflix launched its ad tier in late 2022. Disney+ followed in 2023. Amazon flipped Prime Video to ad-supported by default in early 2024, instantly adding more than 115 million ad-supported viewers in the US, per Amazon's Q1 2024 upfront announcement.
[CITATION CAPSULE] CTV is video advertising on internet-connected televisions delivered through streaming apps. Per eMarketer, US CTV ad spend hit $33.4 billion in 2025 and will reach $42.4 billion in 2026. The category combines TV reach with programmatic targeting, with inventory split across Roku, Netflix, Disney+, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, Tubi, and Peacock.
CTV vs OTT vs Linear TV vs SVOD vs AVOD
The streaming landscape uses five overlapping terms. They describe different layers of the same stack.
| Term | What it means | Example | Ad-supported |
|---|---|---|---|
| Linear TV | Scheduled broadcast or cable | ABC, ESPN, CNN cable | Yes |
| OTT | Video delivered over internet | Hulu on a laptop | Sometimes |
| CTV | OTT rendered on a TV screen | Hulu on a Roku TV | Sometimes |
| SVOD | Subscription video on demand | Netflix Premium tier | No (paid tier) |
| AVOD | Ad-supported video on demand | Tubi, Pluto TV | Yes |
| FAST | Free ad-supported streaming TV | Roku Channel, Samsung TV Plus | Yes |
The line worth remembering: every CTV impression is OTT, but not every OTT impression is CTV. A Hulu ad on a phone is OTT but not CTV. The same ad on a Roku is both. Per the IAB Connected TV Buyers Guide, the industry now reserves CTV for the TV-screen render because the creative, measurement, and pricing all change when the screen size changes.
Major CTV ad inventory in 2026
Seven platforms control most of the ad-supported CTV inventory in the US. Each has a distinct audience, content mix, and ad model.
| Platform | US ad-supported reach | Ad model | Notable inventory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Roku | 90M+ streaming households | Auction + direct, Roku Ads Manager | Roku Channel, FAST, home screen |
| Amazon Prime Video | 115M+ ad-tier viewers | Amazon DSP, programmatic guaranteed | Prime originals, Thursday Night Football |
| Hulu (Disney) | 50M+ ad-tier subs | Disney DSP, direct, programmatic | Hulu library, live TV, Disney+ ad tier |
| Netflix | 70M+ global ad-tier subs | Direct + Microsoft, The Trade Desk | Netflix originals, live events |
| Disney+ | 30M+ ad-tier subs | Disney DSP | Disney, Marvel, Star Wars catalog |
| Peacock (NBCU) | 36M+ paid subs | NBCU One Platform | NBC, Bravo, Premier League, NFL |
| Tubi (Fox) | 97M MAUs | Programmatic + direct | Free movie and TV catalog |
Sources: Roku Q4 2024 letter to shareholders, Disney Q1 2025 earnings, Netflix Q4 2024 letter, Tubi 2024 audience report.
The two biggest shifts since 2023: Amazon's flip to ad-default unlocked the largest single block of premium CTV inventory on the market overnight. Netflix opened to The Trade Desk in late 2024, pulling its inventory into the open programmatic ecosystem instead of the Microsoft-only walled garden it launched with.
CTV ad formats
CTV inventory runs five core formats. The dominant unit is still the in-stream video spot.
- 15-second pre-roll. Plays before content starts. Non-skippable on most premium streamers. Highest completion rates, typically 95 percent and above.
- 30-second mid-roll. Plays inside content at natural breaks. The TV-equivalent unit. Most premium inventory ships in this length.
- Pause ads. Static or short-form ads triggered when the viewer pauses. Hulu, Peacock, and Disney+ all run them. Low intrusion, surprisingly strong recall.
- Overlay and L-bar. Branded overlays during live content like sports. Used heavily during the NFL Thursday Night Football package on Prime Video.
- Interactive shoppable. QR codes, second-screen handoffs, and remote-control prompts. Roku, Amazon, and NBCU all ship interactive units that route viewers from the TV to a phone for purchase.
Most performance budgets sit in 15-second and 30-second in-stream. The cost-per-completed-view math works there because the viewer cannot skip and the screen is the room's main focus. Compare that to a YouTube Ads skippable in-stream where 70 percent of viewers skip after 5 seconds, and the price-per-attention math on premium CTV looks reasonable even at $40 CPMs.
How to buy CTV ads
Three buying paths cover most CTV spend. Each suits a different scale and control level.
Programmatic via DSPs
Most CTV impressions transact through a demand-side platform (DSP). The Trade Desk, Amazon DSP, Yahoo DSP, and Google DV360 all carry CTV inventory. The buyer sets audience, geo, frequency, and bid, then the DSP auctions against the streamer's supply.
Best fit: scaled buyers running multi-platform CTV with first-party data. Minimum spend usually starts at $5,000 to $25,000 per month depending on the DSP.
Programmatic Guaranteed (PG)
PG locks in a fixed CPM and impression volume from a specific publisher, executed programmatically. The buyer gets premium inventory at a negotiated price without the auction variance.
Best fit: brands that need guaranteed reach on a specific show, sport, or daypart. Common for tentpole launches and seasonal pushes.
Direct insertion orders
The legacy TV path. Buyer signs an IO with the streamer, agrees on flight dates, GRPs, and creative. Hand-built reporting. Highest minimums, often $50,000 to $250,000.
Best fit: enterprise brands with TV-style buying teams or upfront commitments. The Disney, NBCU, and Netflix upfronts each clear billions of dollars in IO commitments every May.
[INTERNAL-LINK: programmatic advertising → /glossary/programmatic-advertising] handles the plumbing for the first two paths. The third is the path TV money has always run on.
Measurement challenges
CTV measurement is where most first-time buyers stumble. The cookie-based tools that work on display do not work on a TV.
The core problem: a TV does not pass a user identifier on click. There is no click. The viewer sees a spot, then opens a phone. Attribution has to bridge the device gap.
The standard fix is household-level matching. The DSP captures the IP address of the TV at ad exposure, then watches for activity on phones, tablets, and laptops sharing that IP within a defined window. Per Nielsen's 2024 cross-platform measurement report, household IP matching reaches 70 to 85 percent accuracy when paired with a clean device graph from a partner like LiveRamp or Tapad.
Three measurement layers serious CTV buyers run together:
- Household attribution. IP plus device graph. Captures most digital conversions linked to a TV exposure.
- Incrementality testing. Geo-based holdouts or PSA holdouts. The only way to prove CTV drove conversions that other channels would have missed.
- Mixed media modeling (MMM). Long-window econometric model. The only path that captures CTV's brand and search-lift effects across weeks.
The brands that get CTV right do not rely on last-click attribution dashboards. Last-click undercounts CTV by 40 to 60 percent in most accounts because the conversion happens days later on a different device. Holdouts and MMM are not optional.
Real-world example with numbers
A direct-to-consumer mattress brand allocates $250,000 over a 60-day flight to test CTV alongside its existing Meta and Google budgets.
The setup:
- DSP. The Trade Desk.
- Inventory. Hulu, Peacock, Tubi, Roku Channel, Netflix.
- Targeting. Custom audience built from CRM email match plus a third-party "in-market for mattress" segment.
- Creative. Two 30-second spots, one demo-led, one testimonial-led. Both with a QR code in the final 5 seconds.
- Frequency cap. 3 per household per week.
Results after 60 days:
- Spend: $247,800.
- Impressions delivered: 8.9 million.
- Blended CPM: $27.85.
- Completed views: 8.4 million (94 percent VTR).
- QR scans: 11,200.
- Direct attributed purchases: 412.
- Last-click CPA: $601.
- Geo-holdout incrementality lift: 23 percent on the test markets versus control.
- Adjusted CPA after incrementality: $194.
The last-click number alone would have killed the channel. The geo-holdout test pulled CPA down to a level that beat the brand's blended target of $220. The brand renewed for $500,000 in the next quarter and shifted the demo-led spot to 15-second cuts on Tubi and Roku to lower the blended CPM.
CTV in 2026
Three forces define CTV this year. They all push the same direction.
Premium inventory is no longer scarce. Amazon, Netflix, and Disney+ ad tiers added more than 200 million ad-supported viewers globally between 2023 and 2025. Per the IAB 2025 video ad spend study, CTV is now the fastest-growing slice of US digital ad revenue, up 18.4 percent year over year. The supply unlock pushed CPMs down 10 to 15 percent on non-tentpole inventory.
Measurement is consolidating. The Trade Desk's UID 2.0 and the IAB Tech Lab's privacy sandbox work brought identity-resolved CTV closer to the targeting precision of the open web. Most major DSPs now offer household-level conversion reporting out of the box.
AI creative is shrinking the production tax. TV-grade creative used to cost $50,000 to $250,000 per spot. AI video tools now generate 15-second and 30-second cuts from a product link or a hero photo, often within a single afternoon. The constraint on CTV testing in 2026 is no longer the cost of the spot. It is whether the creative is good enough to hold a sound-on, big-screen viewer.
The strategic move for performance brands in 2026: treat CTV as the reach layer of a programmatic advertising stack, measure with holdouts and MMM, and feed it the same AI video ads library that runs on social. One creative concept, three screens, one measurement frame.
Related terms
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between CTV and OTT?
OTT is the delivery method, video sent over the internet instead of cable or broadcast. CTV is the device, an internet-connected TV running streaming apps. Every CTV impression is OTT, but OTT also covers phones and laptops. Per IAB, the industry now uses CTV when the impression renders on a TV screen.
How much do CTV ads cost in 2026?
CPMs range from $20 to $50 for premium streaming inventory and $15 to $30 for ad-supported tiers like Tubi and Pluto TV, per eMarketer 2025 benchmarks. Netflix and Disney+ price at the top end. Minimum spend through DSPs starts at $5,000 per campaign, while direct deals with major streamers often require $50,000 or more.
Can small advertisers buy CTV ads?
Yes. Self-serve DSPs like The Trade Desk, MNTN, and Vibe let small brands run CTV campaigns from $1,000 to $5,000 per month. Roku Ads Manager and Amazon DSP also offer self-serve entry points. The minimums dropped sharply in 2024 as streamers competed for ad-supported subscribers and opened inventory to programmatic auctions.
How is CTV measured without cookies?
CTV uses IP-based household attribution, device graphs, and content recognition instead of cookies. DSPs match the household IP at ad exposure to a website visit or app install on a phone in the same home. Per Nielsen, household-level matching reaches 70 to 85 percent accuracy when paired with a clean device graph.
Is CTV better than YouTube for video advertising?
Different jobs. CTV delivers TV-grade reach on a big screen with sound on and no skip button, ideal for awareness and consideration. YouTube delivers intent-rich performance video at lower CPMs with direct response tooling. Most performance plans run both, with YouTube on direct response and CTV on incremental reach.