CTV Advertising Insights

LinkedIn quietly launched a whole new channel to engage with your audience that is 10x cheaper than Sponsored Content and almost no SaaS brand is using it yet. Here’s how it works (and the data to back it up): Enter, Connected TV (CTV) ads by LinkedIn. LinkedIn CTV allows SaaS marketers to advertise on smart tv’s directly from the LinkedIn platform (historically this has been only available via programmatic ad vendors). The unlock here is that you can advertise to your exact TAM and/or ABM accounts. CTV on LinkedIn allows you to apply the first principle of Directive’s Customer Generation™ methodology: “1st Party Data Unlocks Customer Growth” without needing to use a programmatic vendor like DV360 or The Trade Desk (large spend only + fees + contracts) who also have poor-to-non-existent account level targeting. You can now advertise to the exact title of your persona at the exact account you are trying to win across popular TV networks like: - Peacock - Hulu - YouTube TV Gone is the era of blackbox advertising on programmatic. No longer will you have to wish and wonder if your ideal customer actually received your ads, instead of a million bot farms. Here’s a quick insight into our initial data from launching on CTV for @ Directive last week: - 4,161 individual accounts reached - $78 cost/1,000 reached accounts - $39 CPM Compare this to advertising your videos via Sponsored Content where we have a CPM of $324! Or, compare this to even retargeting on Sponsored Content with an image ad where we have a CPM of $413! If you believe in your brand and want to tell your story, there’s no better way to start pulling people into your brand promises. Don’t confine your marketing to the LinkedIn feed alone. Go meet buyers where they’re at. Sitting at home watching TV — without the ability to skip your ad. Want us to do this for you? Take a call with my team -> https://lnkd.in/eZ3pjYG7

Wow—what a week at the 2025 Upfronts & NewFronts. If you needed proof that the industry is shifting faster than ever, here it is. The Captains of these ships are steering incredible America’s Cup style races. Four themes jumped out: 1. Data & AI take center stage • Fox One / OneFOX: FOX launched two marquee products. FOX One unifies news, sports, and entertainment streaming. OneFOX (powered by AdRise) brings AI-driven planning, predictive modeling, automated cross-channel activation, and real-time measurement. • Amazon Ads: Amazon leaned into live sports + shoppable ads. Their new AI pause ads insert context-aware creative during natural breaks, tied to real-time Amazon signals. Their Publisher Cloud clean room offers rich audience blending with Amazon’s targeting graph. • Netflix Ads Suite: Netflix now reaches 94M global monthly ad-tier users. Their ad suite includes brand lift tools, programmatic, data-matching, and generative-AI creative that integrates brands into the worlds of their shows. Paramount Personas: 80 off-the-shelf audience segments built with first-party + partner data (smrtr, Coles 360, Samba TV, Circana), enabling both reach and precision. 2. Sports is still king—now tech-enhanced • NBCU’s February: Super Bowl, Olympics, NBA All-Star—all boosted with interactive Peacock features like Catch-Up Key Plays and Courtside Live. • Disney/ESPN: Unified under one ESPN banner, with pass-through ads, CTV-specific units, and real-time AI-powered creative tools (Magic Words, Experience Composer). 3. Self-service is going premium • Comcast Universal Ads: A self-serve workflow targeting the “next 100K” advertisers with creative-to-measurement AI tools. • WBD’s NEO & DemoDirect: One platform to buy all inventory—linear, streaming, FAST—making premium video more accessible and less complex. 4. The “TV vs. Digital” divide is dead Buyers expect: • Agility (programmatic TV, flexible flighting) • Precision (predictive models, real-time outcomes) • Scale (live + on-demand + CTV) Amazon blends commerce + content. Netflix adds scale, premium storytelling + generative AI creative. Bottom line? The winning formula is content + data + tech, wrapped in flexible buying. Legacy players like FOX, Disney, NBCU, and Paramount are building true convergence. But pure-plays like Amazon and Netflix are setting new standards. If you’re still thinking in “linear vs. streaming” silos, it’s time to evolve. Can’t wait to see how brands activate these AI-powered, measurement-rich opportunities in 2025. Let’s push the envelope. TVREV John Halley Stephano Kim Krishan Bhatia Ryan Gould Rita Ferro #streaming #data #advertising #upfronta #CTV

📺 For years, we talked about the promise of CTV. Not just as a digital upgrade to linear, but as a way to unlock TV for more advertisers—mid-sized brands, regional players, even B2B. That last one always felt like a stretch. TV was broad, expensive, and impossible to measure. B2B marketers stuck with white papers and webinars. But then CTV happened. And CTV behaves more like digital. Now? Thanks to data from companies like LinkedIn and data from companies like iSpot, you can target by job title. By industry. Even department. You can track actual reach and frequency against defined audience segments—in real time. You can swap out creative mid-flight. And yes, you can still deliver that emotional punch TV is famous for. Because at the end of the day, B2B buyers are still people. And people respond to stories that make them feel something. It’s not about driving a lead tomorrow—it’s about showing up with impact so that when the buying moment does come, they already know who you are. We’re finally seeing B2B brands get that. Slowly, but surely. And it’s going to change the way we think about “advertising on TV.” CTV isn’t just for Coke and Toyota anymore. Download our newest TVREV Special Report to learn more. 👇

Last Tuesday, I watched a $1M software deal die in real time. The champion texted the AE afterward, "My team killed it. They loved the product, trusted the ROI, but said you felt too 'risky' for a company our size." Six months of perfect demos. Strong case studies. Pricing that made sense. But they'd been focused on one person while eight others were making the real decision. In B2B, deals often die from collective anxiety. Your champion can love your solution, but if the CFO, IT director, and three VPs have never heard of you, you're asking them to bet their careers on a company that feels invisible. What we call "trust" in B2B is actually cumulative familiarity across a buying group. It's not one person feeling confident, it's 6-8 people independently thinking, "Oh yeah, I've seen them around. They seem solid." This is where many B2B marketers leave money on the table. We optimize for the champions and decision makers while the real decision happens in rooms we're not invited to. Connected TV (CTV) helps solve for this. That CFO who questioned your pricing? Last night, they saw your 30-second spot during their favorite show. No laptop multitasking. No ad blockers. Just your brand message on a 65-inch screen while they're mentally relaxed. Your IT director saw your retargeting banner during their morning research. Your LinkedIn ad during lunch. Your CTV spot during their evening unwind. That's not multiple touch points. That's one familiarity campaign reaching different decision-makers in different mindsets. Our data at LinkedIn for Marketing shows this opportunity: - 94% of LinkedIn's professional audience can be reached via CTV, - 71% of CTV viewers aren't accessible through traditional TV, - CTV campaigns are 4.3x more effective at reaching B2B targets. Psychologist Robert Zajonc proved that mere exposure creates preference. We don't need to consciously process your message. Seeing your brand repeatedly in different contexts builds what behavioral economist Rory Sutherland calls "subconscious safety signals." When your champion walks into that second meeting, something's different. Your brand doesn't feel new anymore. It feels familiar. "Oh yeah, I've been seeing their ads everywhere" carries more weight than any case study. Because buying groups evaluate solutions and risk. Start building familiarity across ecosystems. Map your buying group. Understand where each decision-maker consumes content. Then orchestrate exposure across channels so by the time they meet to decide, you're not the unknown risk, you're the obvious choice. Because in B2B, trust is built through strategic, repeated presence across the moments that matter. #B2BMarketing #CTV #Trust #LinkedInMarketing

Here are a few reasons why CTV will be the performance channel to rival Google and Meta: 1. The TV ad format is far, far superior to traditional/legacy "programmatic" offerings (display, OLV, etc.): 99% viewability, large screen format, sound, 95%+ completion rates, 100% share of screen. Display may be a larger market today, but that does not mean it's good — for example, a viewability standard that revolves around 50% of ad pixels in view for one second is absurdly awful compared to TV (and for decades, this "standard" was one pixel for one second, which is orders of magnitude worse than absurdly awful).  2. The superior TV ad format drives superior user engagement, and engagement drives performance. But we haven't been able to prove that...until very recently. 3. TV attribution measurement and analytics have come a long way and (on some platforms) are far more transparent (and verifiable) than Google or Facebook while offering far more control. Marketers can now connect the dots between TV ad exposure and outcomes (sales, etc.) on a deterministic basis and understand (and prove) incremental ROAS for TV at a granular level. This is less and less possible on the Google Display Network and Facebook. 4. There are self-serve CTV buying and measurement tools available today that are actually easier to use than search and social, with better transparency and control.  Given the above and the data supporting superior performance (ROAS, etc.) available via TV, I expect Performance TV to not only conquest Facebook and Google advertisers but surpass search as a performance channel within 5-7 years. And that transition is already taking place. #performancetv #CTV

CTV isn’t just growing...it’s fragmenting. And Amazon DSP is stitching it back together. In 2025, advertisers are chasing premium inventory across a dozen platforms: Fire TV, Roku, Disney, Freevee, Twitch, Hulu, FAST apps, and more. The challenge? Each environment comes with its own access rules, data gaps, and pricing layers. That’s where Amazon DSP is changing the game. Amazon has quietly built a unified bridge to the entire CTV landscape curating deals across both Amazon-owned properties and third-party streaming partners. With Amazon DSP, advertisers can: Tap into exclusive inventory on Fire TV, Twitch, and Freevee Access negotiated PMPs with major publishers like Disney and Roku Layer in first-party shopping and streaming data to target with precision Measure outcomes beyond impressions to product views, cart activity, and purchases Activate across CTV, display, audio, and more from a single platform While other DSPs piece together fragmented supply, Amazon DSP offers scale, simplicity, and strategy with the added advantage of commerce-driven results. The CTV ecosystem isn’t getting any smaller. But with the right platform, navigating it doesn’t have to be complex. Amazon DSP is no longer just an ad tool. It’s becoming the most connected command center in streaming. #amazondsp #programmaticads #streamingtv

This morning, AdExchanger published an insightful piece highlighting a critical challenge in the Connected TV space—premium publishers increasingly bundling their streaming inventory in opaque ways that limit advertiser visibility. Rather than providing app and show-level transparency within the bid stream—where it can be actioned—advertisers are often left with fragmented, one-off reports that offer little opportunity for strategic optimization. By adopting these black-box models, publishers are inadvertently undermining their own value. Their most significant asset—the premium content they produce—is being devalued when advertisers cannot effectively align their investments with the programming that resonates most with their audiences. The reality is that advertisers are willing to pay higher CPMs for impressions with full content transparency because it allows them to make more informed decisions and, ultimately, drive better performance. This principle has long been the foundation of linear TV, where show-level buying had created a thriving, demand-driven ecosystem rooted in transparency and accountability. At Rain the Growth Agency, we’ve seen firsthand how transparency fuels success in CTV. By leveraging show & channel level data and aligning our digital buying strategies with the programming that has proven effective in our clients’ linear campaigns, we’re driving significant performance gains. And are willing to pay higher cpms than we otherwise might. We’re working with partners like Spectrum Reach, Samsung Ads, fuboTV Network & DIRECTV which provide the transparency needed at the show & network level to make data-driven investment decisions that maximize ROI through our custom algorithms & buying strategies. A notable example is Alexander Groysman at Spectrum Reach, who has led the charge in developing one of the most comprehensive and well-structured content metadata sets in the industry. His work has set a new standard for transparency, enabling advertisers to better understand performance at a granular level and optimize their spend accordingly. As streaming networks attempt to replicate the playbook of tech companies, they risk overlooking a crucial difference: they are not technology companies. They lack the same product offerings, incentives, and advertiser appeal that drive digital platforms’ success. In chasing the tech model, they may ultimately lose what has always differentiated them—high-quality, trusted content that brands are eager to invest in when they can do so with confidence and clarity. Publishers who prioritize transparency stand to gain the most, while those who don't risk leaving money on the table and eroding advertiser trust. It’s time to rethink the approach before it’s too late. Link to article in comments.

We can’t break down the walls of the walled gardens, but we can free their hostages. Comcast is launching Universal Ads to lure SMB advertisers to its streaming properties. You need three things to make streaming work for SMBs: 1. Creative automation. 2. Buying Simplicity. 3. Outcomes. The third one is tough. It’s what Meta and Google have done so well: deliver outcomes (conversions). SMBs will not take the time to learn the ins and outs of programmatic digital advertising and they certainly won’t spray and pray for outcomes. You need to show them performance. The key for streamers to compete on performance will be incrementality. Let’s say CAC is $10 on Meta. The dirty secret is that they don’t drive a lot of net new customers. You see that when you run a holdout experiment on those platforms with a control group. You might get more sales out of the same customers, but you don’t get a lot of net new customers. You’re reaching the 5% of people who are already in-market for your product. The problem with Google and Meta is that if all you do is spend money on that 5% of customers who are already in-market for your product, the number of potential customers in the future eventually diminishes, and CAC continually go up. Streamers can win by selling incrementality, which is a differentiated story and outcome. Our data shows CTV is the no. 1 channel for actually driving net new sales and acquiring net new customers. Streamers need to help advertisers understand that the Meta and Google faucets will eventually run dry, whereas CTV will actually grow their businesses. Show that you're beating Google and Meta on incremental sales, and dollars will flow from SMBs and, probably more importantly, the ecommerce and DTC segment of the market. These are the brands that predominately live in the walled gardens but need a set of champions to break them out. Creative automation, Buying Simplicity and Outcomes that drive net new customers and incremental sales will free the hostages from the walled gardens.

MNTN’s S1 revealed that 92% of their advertisers are first-time TV advertisers. That’s a big signal for CTV streaming. We usually frame CTV’s opportunity around a $90B market, with ad dollars shifting from $60B in linear to $30B in CTV. But this MNTN stat suggests something bigger: CTV isn’t just replacing linear, it’s attracting entirely new budgets from search and social. What’s fueling this? Performance advertisers looking for measurable results SMBs and mid-market brands finally able to afford TV as barriers to entry fall We have seen a recent wave of companies, specifically target this shift: MNTN, tvScientific, Vibe, and even legacy players like Comcast with their new Universal Ads platform. Instead of CTV just eating linear dollars, it could absorb potentially hundreds of billions of ad dollars from search and social.

The CTV advertising gold rush has everyone fooled. Everyone's talking about how Connected TV will save traditional advertising and finally put a dent in digital dominance. want to know how to win the CTV advertising battle ? (even if you're not the biggest player). After watching this industry shake-up unfold, here's the exact framework that separates winners from the noise. I call it 'REACH.' R - Recognize the Real Opportunity Stop chasing the same SMB clients everyone else wants. The 44% of users browsing across platforms for 10+ minutes are your goldmine. E - Embrace Multi-Platform Strategy Single-platform thinking is dead. Roku and Magna data proves brands get 18% more attention with cross-platform exposure. A - Analyze Streaming Behavior People add 4 new services and quit 4 services on average. Plan for this churn-and-return pattern. C - Capitalize on Breadth and Scale With identical viewability rates across free and paid streaming (around 75%), your advantage isn't in the platform type but in strategic reach. H - Harness the Triangulation Effect The magic happens when you connect audiences across multiple touchpoints ↳ streaming services, FAST channels, and traditional TV. With just this strategic shift, you can outperform platforms with bigger budgets and flashier features. So try REACH for the next quarter and watch what happens. The future belongs to those who think beyond single platforms. Ready to stop fighting in the crowded space and start winning the real game? ✍️ What's your biggest CTV advertising challenge right now? ♻️ Share this to help others navigate the CTV landscape. 💚 Follow me for more strategic media insights.