CTV/OTT
Connected TV Guide: Content, Metrics and Ads
Ankitesh Thakur
Connected TV (CTV) is the most rapidly growing major ad network in the US among all types we monitor. CTV is expected to increase by 18.8%, reaching an estimated $28.75 billion by 2025. .
Audience segmentation, insight-driven data, screen-based viewing, and interactive features have fueled the rise in CTV’s popularity. Integration with retail and social media can increase CTV spending, particularly when advertisers seek new ways to include first-party information in their strategies for attracting audiences. You should learn about CTV.
CTV advertising shows commercials on TV screens, including smart TVs and internet-connected devices like Fire Sticks and game consoles. Viewers see CTV ads through streaming services, connected devices, and TV alternatives like YouTube TV and Hulu with Live TV. However, CTV does not stream on devices unrelated to television.
By June 2025, U.S. adults will spend 2 hours 15 minutes daily watching CTV—more than desktops, less than mobile. CTV beats desktop viewing (1 hour 30 minutes) but still trails mobile usage, which hits 3 hours 15 minutes daily. The gap that exists between CTV and mobile devices is shrinking.
The amount of time spent watching CTV continues to grow, along with its advertising potential. Although CTV ad spending is expected to slow—from 18.8% growth in 2025 to 13.3% in 2026—forecasters as of March 2025 still anticipate that CTV will capture one in every ten U.S. advertising dollars by 2026.
CTV ads can be more appealing than linear TV ads because they can be more easily targeted and evaluated.
Target Audience : CTV enables accurate audience segmentation based on demographics and viewing behaviors. Retailer-streamer collaborations provide enhanced first-party data, improving CTV targeting capabilities beyond what social platforms currently offer advertisers.
Analytics: CTV lets advertisers observe trends in real-time and can improve performance and decision-making.
Interactivity: Certain CTV platforms support interactivity, allowing users to click ads, explore details, or make purchases directly on-screen. Interactivity places CTV viewers closer to the conversion funnel, unlike traditional linear TV with limited engagement or direct-action features.
CTV has been boosting television ad spending. These ads are growing faster than in the US, and linear TV advertising is decreasing. “CTV is catching up with linear TV, but [a point of inflexion] is not likely to happen until probably toward the end of this decade,”.
Linear TV remains relevant for massive live events like the Olympics, World Cup, or U.S. elections coverage. Most major live sports events are now available on CTV platforms, although availability and coverage differ by provider.
There’s not a single way to purchase CTV commercials.
Advertisers can buy inventory directly from CTV manufacturers, enabling multi-app placements but limiting spot-level ad control. Fragmented buying processes restrict faster CTV ad spending growth, largely due to varying ad access methods and control limitations.
When purchasing CTV ads on different platforms, marketers must ensure that their ads are diverse and don’t become repetitive so viewers don’t get the exact commercial multiple times across various platforms.
US CTV advertising through programmatic displays expenditure will be $24.44 billion by 2025 by a December 2024 projection. It’s an increase of 23.1 % over 2024. US CTV ads for programmatic video spending will hit $24.01 billion by 2025, an increase of 23.3 % year-on-year.
The increase in CTV ads is being sent towards upfronts partly because of Amazon Prime Video’s newest advertisement tier. More live sporting events are also available via streaming platforms and services such as TikTok, according to the Digital Video Forecast and Trends report for the quarter ending 2025. The forecast for upfront advertisers is $13.84 billion for CTV videos in 2025 and increase to $17.29 billion by 2026. In the beginning, CTV spending is forecast to comprise 48.9 % of CTV spending in 2025.
CTV provides a measurement advantage over linear because it’s simpler to monitor an individual’s experience from the first impression to the point of purchase. However, since different streaming platforms exist inside their enclosed gardens, monitoring an individual campaign’s success by tracking the same customer across multiple networks could be difficult.
For shoppable ads, your ROI on advertising spend is more easy to monitor, as they go beyond the brand’s name to result in results. However, for advertisements that do not quickly result in one-to-1 conversion, attention indicators like the completion rate of videos can be helpful within the same context.
Within Gen Z, linear viewership has been declining by about a couple of million yearly and could fall to 40 million in 2024, according to an estimation. Yet, Gen Z’s CTV viewing is growing, reaching 55 million viewers by 2025.
US CTV viewership will increase to over 80% by 2025 for people aged between 25 and 54 and 75% for those aged 12-17, according to prediction for September 2024. On the other hand, just under 50 % of those from 0-11 and 65 or older are CTV viewers.
Streaming media increasingly offer ad-supported tiers, but other races receive benefits equally. Disney+ and Netflix are relatively new to the ads-supported CTV game and, therefore, can afford to develop and expand, and Amazon added ads to Prime Video in January 2024.
Hulu: An April 2025 forecast projects it will dominate U.S. CTV advertising with $3.39 billion in revenue. With a well-established advertising tier and a live TV service, Hulu beat many of its competitors when creating its CTV offering.
YouTube: YouTube US CTV ad spending of $3.39 billion according to the forecast. YouTube has been proactively building up its CTV capabilities and has witnessed a steady increase in spending.
Amazon: Amazon has a couple of CTV ventures, including fire TVs, Prime Video, and Freebee. Before January 20, Prime Video did not include external advertisements. As Amazon builds its advertising platform, it could quickly become a strong contender by leveraging its vast media and retail data.
Roku: Roku is No. 4; however, its percentage in US CTV ad spending decreases as the field becomes more congested.
Netflix: Netflix, Disney+, and Max are relatively new to ads-supported streaming. Our estimates suggest that Netflix’s advertising revenues will reach $800 million by 2025.
Disney+: Another newcomer, Disney+, has the benefit of drawing on some of its peers, such as Walt Disney Co. property Hulu’s expertise in advertising. Advertising revenues of Disney+ are expected to be $750 million by 2024.
Max: Analysts predict that the combined HBO Max and Discovery+ network will generate $430 million in U.S. ad-supported TV revenue by 2025.
Apple TV+ : Apple TV+ doesn’t have an ad-supported option yet. However, it is partnering with Major League Soccer (MLS), providing a dedicated league subscription streaming service, dubbed MLS Season Pass, accessible only through Apple TV, where viewers can access all games from any device at any date.
The term “Over-the-top” (OTT): OTT video is a term used to describe video streaming delivered via the internet. It is a way to bypass the usual distribution process via a set-top box.
Ad-supported free streaming TV is free of charge and includes ads like Freevee.
Ad-supported TV-on-Demand: Streaming television, which includes advertisements for ad-supported content, like Hulu’s level.
Smart TV: TV connected to the internet, and on which users can stream CTV content.
Connected TV is reshaping how advertisers reach audiences—blending the scale of traditional TV with the precision of digital. With growing viewership, rising ad spend, and new buying options, CTV presents a powerful opportunity for brands ready to adapt. As platforms evolve and measurement improves, CTV will only become more central to the future of video advertising.
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