CTV

Going viral isn’t great; AI search is a nightmare; and CTV is forcing everyone to get along.

As a queer media trade reporter, I often wonder whether media companies and marketers are interested in trying to form a connection with me based on my queer identity.

Roku’s two content offerings, The Roku Channel and Howdy, are both performing well, the leadership disclosed during a recent earnings call. But streaming numbers aside, the company is finding ways to translate engagement into revenue.

Agency picks can quietly determine a brand’s tech stack; Ad spend is shifting away from the open web; The CW is betting on partnerships, not its own platform.

As connected TV (CTV) matures, advertisers aren’t just raising expectations; they’re resetting them. And increasingly, transparency isn’t a value-add, it’s the cost of entry.

IAS pushes clearer streaming ad visibility; Meta eyes a plug-in CTV play; Too many creators, not enough ad dollars.

Pinterest announced on Monday that the tvScientific platform will now have access to its new parent company’s user audience data for CTV ad targeting.

Nielsen announced a new outcomes-based measurement capability called Predictive Sales Lift. The feature is designed to help media buyers predict sales lift and incremental revenue for video ad campaigns they run via the company’s comprehensive measurement platform, Nielsen One Ads.

It seems like all the streaming services are getting into vertical video these days. But ads aren’t on the menu yet.

How ad tech vendors try to market their tools as unique; Fox’s new AI-based ad platform; and AI models are getting too costly to maintain.

NBCUniversal successfully called its shot with the nickname “Legendary February.”

For the first time, Unity’s gaming audiences will be available for ad targeting outside the Unity platform, with Index Exchange using Unity’s data to curate web and CTV inventory.

Platforms using talent to corroborate sales pitches is nothing new – the TV upfronts have always included publishers peacocking their talent to impress buyers. But YouTube arguably juggles an additional obligation to act in accordance with its self-imposed competitive differentiator: authenticity.

OpenAI has its own tracking pixel; Amazon sellers are boycotting the platform; and DirecTV hops on the CAPI bandwagon.

Paramount might have outlasted and outbid Netflix in the competition to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery, but Netflix is not overly fussed about the loss.

Paramount is merging the ad tech stacks behind Paramount+ and Pluto TV, releasing a new performance product, offering more control over ad placements and introducing dynamic ad insertion in live sports.

One acquisition often begets another. Take Viant, which announced its plan to acquire TVision for $40 million on Wednesday.

TelevisaUnivision is the latest TV publisher to join the self-serve trend that’s rising in popularity across connected TV advertising. Its streaming inventory is now available to buy through fullthrottle.ai’s self-serve platform. The collaboration includes an ad bidder designed to improve both targeting and measurement.

Live sports is one of programmatic’s biggest opportunities, even if the buying process is still kind of a mess. But efforts are being made.

In-store audio ads grow, but attribution and headphones raise doubts; Hidden fees persist as drip pricing draws scrutiny; World Cup ad costs surge.

CTV never fit cleanly into campaign execution models built for RTB-based trading. Whether agentic AI solutions can simplify the complicated CTV landscape for publishers will be their first real test case.

Earlier this year, datafuelX rehired Dan Aversano, one of the company’s co-founders, to take the helm as CEO. Aversano will lead the company through its next growth phase, which revolves around – surprise, surprise! – connected TV and digital expansion.

Measurement and performance are expected to dominate convos at upfronts; Tubi doubles down on AI; and Meta takes down ads encouraging anti-Meta lawsuits.

European TV has never been an easy ad market, with content distributed across different languages, currencies and regulatory frameworks. RTL Group’s total video strategy aims to help global advertisers navigate this fragmented market.

Could Epic’s rough patch mean ads in Fortnite?; TV’s shot to end the reign of direct insertion orders; and publishers learn how to game AI search summaries.

I’m pretty sure I’ve missed the window on becoming a Crumbl fan — but I can still appreciate the “pretty pictures of cookies” on their CTV ads.

An upcoming paper from CIMM doesn’t just demonstrate that differences in media quality can be measured. It also argues that tying media value to short-term outcomes has perpetuated longstanding industry challenges.

In 2011, three media devices captured 87% of consumer attention. Today, that figure has dropped to 65%, according to McKinsey. The fragmentation isn’t slowing down; it’s accelerating. Streaming services, social media, podcasts and gaming now compete for eyeballs, making traditional media planning feel like navigating with an outdated map.

Now that we have not one but two reporters covering the CTV advertising space, we thought we’d try something different and share the roundup newsletter this week!

If you want to protect your margins, your data and your long-term strategy, here are five questions worth asking before you sign anything.