CTV Roundup

Now that the video ecosystem is converging, buying workflows need to match how consumers actually watch content, says Walton Isaacson’s Albert Thompson.

Returning to the news desk after a year away from CTV beat reporting is like discovering a time capsule with the industry’s core dilemmas. One thing that has changed, however, is the CTV industry’s infatuation with agentic AI.

Let’s close out the year with a roundup of the most impactful CTV stories of the year, from Netflix’s ad surge to Nielsen’s measurement missteps.

Is it too soon to start thinking about New Year’s resolutions? Because I’m setting a goal for myself to start talking to more media planners, agency executives and buy-side experts.

Is it just me, or do third-quarter earnings always seem especially strange?

Ignoring the fact that early pioneers in the space didn’t plan to have ads in the first place (looking at you, Netflix!), even with targeting and personalization, most major players are still thinking of national reach – not local reach – as their default.

High school sports are very different now than when I was a teenager. As is the case with basically all forms of modern entertainment, they’ve faced some disruption by the rise of streaming video – as well as the ads that often follow.

What does it feel like to be a media buyer and planner in 2025? That question launched a fascinating “Ask Me Anything”-style discussion at Cynopsis ScreenShift in New York City on Tuesday.

TiVo has officially halted the sale and manufacture of its once-revolutionary DVR products. Which raises the question: What does TiVo even do anymore, anyway?

If you didn’t happen to watch the main stage of AdExchanger’s Programmatic IO New York this week, then you missed a great (albeit way too brief) conversation about CTV’s programmatic progress.

Marketers are buying more CTV inventory programmatically than ever before. But what about linear inventory?

What will the ad tech industry look like five years from now? The audience at CIMM’s Summit earlier this week weighed in with their predictions.

On Tuesday, Magnite announced it had acquired Streamr.ai, which specializes in developing AI-generated assets for small businesses to use in their CTV campaigns.

To QR or not to QR, that is the question. But here’s a better one: Shouldn’t TV studios first guarantee that the products featured in made-for-TV shoppable moments are ones viewers actually want?

Back when the Pure app first launched in 2012, it was a completely anonymous hookup app. Now, it’s using CTV as a way to explain its rebranded vibe to prospective new users.

CTV advertising platforms often try to sell small businesses on how closely the channel resembles the digital marketing avenues they’re used to working with, like paid social. For Wildgrain, a DTC subscription service for artisan breads and other grain-based foods, this argument proved to be very compelling.

According to Adam Paul, executive director of media alliances at LiveRamp, the old-school programmatic ads – the ones bought across multiple platforms without regard to context or audience – are underperforming on CTV these days.

I didn’t attend WWE’s “Monday Night RAW” event in Brooklyn for love of wrestling. No, I was there to check out the ad content – to the point where I set up a brand-new ad-supported Netflix account from my phone to see where and when the ad breaks actually start.

My YouTube creator obsession has me fascinated by an ongoing trend I’ve noticed in the CTV industry: A lot of companies that produce free ad-supported channels rely on content that already exists on YouTube.

Into every generation, a universally hated children’s television character is born. This, of course, poses a unique problem in a world of smart TV operating systems and content recommendation engines.

Here’s what Head of Performance Media Josh Palau had to say about how Pfizer currently navigates the CTV landscape, including why having your own hands-on-keyboard experts is key and how new ad formats can be slow to accommodate pharmaceutical brands.

There’s something about travel commercials – especially ones produced by tourism boards – that always make me want to pack up and go to whatever fun new location they’re telling me about.

Advertisers love new ad formats, especially on connected TV. Just look at how many platforms announced their own during the IAB NewFronts and TV upfronts last month. But it’s possible to have too much of a good thing.

You’d think the United States Congress would have bigger things to worry about right now than figuring out where and when football games are airing… and yet.

Will programmatic buying inevitably lead to a repeat on CTV of what happened with digital media publishers? We asked Roku, Tubi and NCBU that question on stage at our Programmatic IO event in Las Vegas.

Amid the glitz of TV upfront presentations, advertising executives take the stage to talk about things like new audience targeting capabilities or to ballyhoo new ad measurement partnerships. How, though, are we supposed to focus on brand lift statistics when we can all hear Lady Gaga belting a vocal warmup offstage?

Instead of simply watching ads on the big screen, consumers are now being encouraged to interact with those ads – a shift in marketing that was particularly apparent at the 2025 NewFronts presentations in New York City this week.

Outcomes measurement company EDO is no stranger to large data sets. So I sat down with Kevin in March to learn how he thinks AI will continue to transform programmatic CTV advertising. 

At VideoAmp’s “Vampfront” presentation on Tuesday, I couldn’t help but be reminded of my favorite pop culture vampire stories (in a good way).

A unit of attention doesn’t serve as a useful indicator of interest or resonance among consumers. So what does? Well, consistency certainly helps.