ON EVERY SCREENPlan a brief
Layered streaming screens connected by a bright signal line

Live signal CTV / STV / OTT

THE AUDIENCE
MOVED.
YOUR PLAN
SHOULD TOO.

A sourced field guide to the screens, formats, and buying practices reshaping television advertising.

See the signal Follow the buyer's path

01 / Market signal

Television did not disappear.
It became addressable.

Connected television combines the sight, sound, and motion of the largest screen in the home with digital audience controls, measurable delivery, and more precise outcomes.

Filter metrics

12 metrics shown

07
60%+
Digital share of TV and video spend

of U.S. TV and video ad spend is projected to be digital video in 2026

IAB, May 2026 outlook

Figures describe different populations, periods, and platform data sets. Open each source for methodology and scope.

02 / Presentation route

A 10-minute argument.
Six clear moves.

Run the core path in eight minutes, or add examples and methodology context to extend it toward fourteen. Each chapter answers the next question a buyer is likely to ask.

  1. 01

    The shift

    Viewing and investment are moving toward digital video.

    0:45–1:15
  2. 02

    The reach

    Streaming adds households that a traditional TV plan can miss.

    1:00–1:40
  3. 03

    The canvas

    Addressable, interactive, and sequential formats create more ways to respond.

    1:15–2:00
  4. 04

    The moment

    Premium programming and live sports keep television culturally immediate.

    0:50–1:30
  5. 05

    The proof

    Reach, frequency, attention, and outcomes can be read as one chain.

    1:15–2:00
  6. 06

    The plan

    Outcome, audience, creative action, and evidence shape the brief.

    1:15–2:00

03 / What buyers mean

Three terms.
One viewing shift.

STV

Streaming TV

The viewing behavior: long-form television delivered over the internet, on any compatible screen.

CTV

Connected TV

The device: a smart TV or television connected through a streaming player, game console, or set-top box.

OTT

Over-the-top

The delivery method: video transmitted over the internet instead of through traditional cable or satellite infrastructure.

04 / Capability stack

Five jobs.
One connected system.

01 / Find the audience

Addressable households

Use household, content, behavioral, and market signals to move beyond broad demographic delivery.

Benefit: reduce avoidable waste while preserving television scale.
02 / Control delivery

Cross-publisher reach

Coordinate exposure across streaming publishers instead of optimizing each supply path in isolation.

Benefit: redirect repetition toward incremental households.
03 / Earn attention

Relevant full-screen creative

Pair premium video with sequential messages and context that reflect the viewer and the moment.

Benefit: make the television impression more useful and memorable.
04 / Create action

Interactive commerce

Use QR prompts, product galleries, overlays, and shoppable units to make the next step immediate.

Benefit: connect awareness to a measurable response path.
05 / Prove outcomes

Exposure-level measurement

Connect delivery to visits, scans, store activity, sales, or brand-lift evidence.

Benefit: give brand and performance teams one accountable view.

05 / Why it matters

Viewing time moved faster than budgets.

In 2024, U.S. adults spent 17.9% of their media time with CTV, while the channel received 7.4% of total media ad spend. The gap is a planning signal, not a promise of performance.

Read the Innovid report

06 / Buyer's path

From audience signal to business outcome.

Effective CTV buying is a connected system. Each decision shapes the reach, experience, and evidence that follows.

  1. 01

    Define the signal

    Start with the business outcome, audience, market, and moment that matter.

  2. 02

    Map the household

    Resolve audience signals into privacy-conscious household and device groups.

  3. 03

    Choose the screen mix

    Balance premium CTV, OTT, and companion channels around the viewing journey.

  4. 04

    Control exposure

    Coordinate reach and frequency across publishers instead of optimizing in silos.

  5. 05

    Read the outcome

    Connect exposure to visits, scans, sales, or brand lift, then improve the next flight.

07 / Visual coverage

One household.
Many response paths.

The television starts the story. Mobile, audio, web, and commerce surfaces can continue it when the experience is planned as one connected journey.

08 / Buying practices

Scale the signal.
Not the waste.

Inventory

Start with quality

Prioritize transparent supply paths, premium programming, and context that earns attention.

Frequency

Coordinate exposure

Innovid measured an average 7.09 frequency across campaigns in 2024. Manage repetition across the full buy.

Completion

Let the message land

Thirty-second CTV spots reached a 95.84% completion rate in Innovid's 2024 platform data.

FIELD
NOTE 09

Selected research

The opportunity is large.
The methodology still matters.

This showcase brings together market-level estimates, measured TV usage, household survey data, and platform delivery benchmarks. Those numbers should not be treated as interchangeable. Use them as directional evidence, then evaluate inventory, audience, and measurement against the specific brief.

Nielsen ↗IAB ↗Parks Associates ↗Innovid ↗Nielsen Q1 2026 ↗IAB 2026 outlook ↗Comcast Advertising ↗Roku + Dentsu ↗
A signal converging through a sequence of connected screen frames

Signal ready

Put every screen
in play.

Build a connected television brief around reach, relevance, and evidence.

Plan a brief