Television advertising is undergoing a major transformation. Audiences have shifted from traditional linear TV to streaming, which has caused consumer behavior to change and has made CTV advertising as important and complicated as ever. Viewers are no longer tied to live TV schedules or single platforms, making it harder for brands to apply a one-size-fits-all approach.
At the center of this shift is connected TV (CTV) advertising. By combining the vast reach of linear TV with the impact, precision and control of a digital channel, CTV is redefining what TV advertising can achieve. For marketers, this creates new opportunities to reach audiences more intentionally but also introduces new layers of complexity.
Keep reading to learn more about how the TV landscape has evolved, what connected TV actually is, why it matters and how to build a smarter CTV strategy.
The decline of linear television and rise of streaming has changed trends for both consumers and advertisers. CTV ad spending will increase 35% between 2026 and 2030, and nearly half of marketers are already shifting budgets away from linear TV to CTV. At the same time, consumers today are subscribed to an average of 4.5 streaming platforms.
In fact, many movies, TV shows and specials are only available via streaming now. At the 2026 Academy Awards, Netflix original movies won seven Oscars. Cultural phenomena like KPop Demon Hunters, Stranger Things and The Pitt are not available to watch on linear television.
But what does all of this mean for TV advertising? To put it simply, brands are missing out on a large part of the population if they only invest in linear TV advertising. The audiences that are reachable through streaming advertising will only grow in the coming years as new services launch and build their content offerings and consumers continue to subscribe.
Meggie Giancola, Head of Media Solutions at Epsilon, sums this up well: “As [CTV] continues to scale from a consumer ecosystem lens, the need for us to harness the power to have it do more than just spray and prey is critical so that we can be thoughtful marketers and manage overall brand and company ROI.”
This shift has given rise to what’s now known as advanced TV, an evolved television ecosystem shaped by streaming platforms, connected devices and new ways to reach audiences beyond linear.
As streaming continues to reshape how people watch TV, marketers are rethinking how they show up on the biggest screen in the home. That’s where connected TV advertising comes in.
Connected TV delivers in-stream video advertising on broadcast-quality content through an internet-connected device to the biggest screen in the household, the TV. To understand how CTV works, it helps to break down the broader Advanced TV advertising landscape.
AdvancedTV: This is an umbrella term for all types of technology beyond traditional linear TV delivery models. It includes OTT, connected TV, addressable TV and data-driven linear TV.
Connected TV/OTT: OTT, standing for “over the top,” refers to streaming content delivered via an internet connection rather than a traditional cable or broadcast provider. Connected TV (CTV) refers specifically to the devices that deliver TV via the internet, either as a smart TV or devices such as Roku, Amazon Fire and Apple TV.
Addressable TV: A method to deliver targeted ads on digital TVs to different viewers while they’re watching the same program.
Data-driven linear: A network direct solution that allows optimization against a target audience.
In this short video, Shannon Fazendin, VP, PMX Lift, gives you the full picture on Advanced TV and explains why it’s an efficient and effective advertising channel.
Part of what makes connected TV advertising so successful is that it is a part of the broader programmatic advertising landscape. Programmatic advertising is an audience-first approach to media buying. It offers brands an automated, data-driven way to access online ad space in real time based on signals received indicating if an individual is the right person to serve a message to or not.
At the core of this process is a digital auction that determines who gets to show an ad to which person in a specific ad slot at what price. These ad opportunities are evaluated and purchased in milliseconds. For more information on the programmatic ad landscape, continue reading here.
The main value of programmatic CTV advertising lies with the individual being the center of the buying process. It shifts the focus from buying ad placements within specific shows or networks to reaching defined audiences wherever they are streaming. Instead of planning around content alone, advertisers can use data signals to identify the viewers most likely to be relevant and deliver messages accordingly.
There are also benefits for marketers. Programmatic CTV advertising lets brands:
CTV advertising for linear, digital and performance marketers
As connected TV continues to evolve, marketers need more than just access to premium inventory. They need a CTV marketing strategy that makes sure every impression is intentional, measurable and aligned to real business outcomes.
But a successful advanced TV strategy isn’t built on one single tactic.
In other words, a modern CTV strategy should be the result of multiple components working in tandem to create a cohesive, data-driven approach. These include:
A strong identity solution is what makes everything else in a CTV strategy work. Unlike other digital channels, the TV screen is often shared among household members, which makes it more difficult to understand who you’re actually reaching with your ads. As Moe Ismail, Senior Vice President of Product Management at Epsilon, puts it, “Without identity, you cannot target effectively, you cannot frequency cap effectively and you certainly can’t measure. So, it’s crucially important that you get this right.”
That’s why identity needs to be approached differently in CTV. Many providers rely on basic identifiers like IP addresses or emails, but these can be unreliable and not represent real audiences. A stronger approach connects multiple signals rooted in more stable data, like physical addresses, to create a more accurate view of both households and the individuals within them.
When identity is done right, every other aspect of a campaign becomes more powerful. Marketers can reach the right audiences with greater precision and reduce wasted impressions, ultimately turning CTV into a more reliable, performance-driven channel.
The next core pillar of a modern CTV strategy starts with a simple shift: prioritizing audiences over inventory. Many platforms still operate within closed ecosystems that focus on where ads run rather than who sees them, but this approach often leads to reach that looks strong but lacks real impact.
Instead, leading strategies are built around the audience. By using signals like behaviors, interests and purchase intent, brands can reach viewers across the content they’re actually watching and not just within a single platform. When audience precision and quality inventory work together, brands can deliver messaging in the right moments, not just the right places.
Reaching more people isn’t enough to have a successful CTV strategy. Instead, marketers should focus on reaching the right people the right number of times. Fragmented streaming environments can make this challenging, especially without strong identity and deduplication practices in place.
Showing too few ads can limit awareness and impact, while overserving the same household can be a common pet peeve for consumers and an inefficient use of media spend for brands. By managing reach and frequency more intentionally, marketers can reduce wasted impressions, maintain a better viewer experience and ensure their messaging has enough consistency to drive results.
Just as the methods for delivering ads have evolved with the rise in streaming, so have viewers’ expectations for the quality of those ads. Instead of a single static message designed to reach everyone, connected TV advertising uses data to align messaging to specific audiences or moments. This approach allows brands to create more meaningful connections with viewers while still maintaining the scale that television is known for.
Also important is the ability to carry these CTV ads over to other channels to allow your messaging to fit a brand’s broader campaign strategy. When CTV creative is designed to work alongside other channels—such as online video, display and audio—brands can deliver more cohesive experiences as consumers move from screen to screen. It is important to not think about this channel in a silo but rather incorporate it into the digital marketing mix so that campaigns feel more connected.
With the right approach to CTV advertising measurement, marketers can understand how campaigns are actually driving real business outcomes instead of just gaining impressions.
Effective CTV attribution connects ad exposure to actions through conversion tracking. This allows brands to see not just what happened but what actually moved the needle through incremental lift driven by CTV compared to other channels.
A successful CTV strategy will also consider cross-channel measurement, so marketers can understand how CTV works alongside the rest of their media mix. This will give credit where it’s due and uncover how channels work together to drive results. The result is a clearer, more complete view of performance that can then be optimized.
Another important aspect of CTV is that it shouldn’t operate in isolation. It delivers the most value when it’s connected to the rest of your video and digital ecosystem. The most effective approaches bring CTV into a unified advertising stack, where multiple channels work together to create a more complete view of the customer.
By connecting CTV to the rest of your digital touchpoints, you can ensure your messaging stays cohesive across every screen and channel your audience encounters:
Identity and data integration are central to making this “all-in-one” approach possible. By resolving audiences across devices and environments, advertisers can better understand who they’re reaching and how those audiences engage across channels. This foundation allows CTV to connect with broader digital touchpoints.
In practice, this means your campaigns aren’t just running alongside one another. Your channels can work together using shared data to refine targeting, optimize delivery and enhance performance in real time. Measurement becomes more holistic as well, giving you a clearer view into how each touchpoint contributes to outcomes.
“The number one thing that affects your top and bottom line is your consumers,” says Meggie Giancola. “When you flip the script and focus less on the nuances and the crazy step-by-step process of how you want to execute, where you want to execute, when you want to execute, and go back to that first point—the person—and allow that to be the throughline, it all starts to marry up beautifully.”
The result is a more unified and efficient strategy where CTV strengthens your broader video and digital efforts, rather than operating as a standalone channel.
There are several CTV advertising use cases when moving across different industries. Whether brands are focused on increasing awareness, reaching incremental audiences, driving consideration or supporting performance outcomes, CTV offers the flexibility to adapt strategies based on industry needs and consumer viewing behaviors.
These examples highlight how brands are using CTV to solve real marketing challenges, adapt to shifting viewing habits and create more impactful campaigns. Explore each story to see how different brands from industries are taking advantage of CTV.
Advanced TV advertising marks a permanent shift in how television works. And within this broader advanced TV landscape, connected TV has become one of the most important ways that brands reach audiences on the biggest screen in the home. As linear viewership continues to decline, CTV will only become more central to digital marketing efforts.
What will continue to change is how CTV campaigns are planned, activated and measured. Identity-driven TV advertising will become more important as advertisers look to understand who they are truly reaching in shared household environments. At the same time, advances in automation and AI will make it possible to manage reach, frequency and optimization with greater efficiency and precision.
Because CTV isn’t going away, having a strong long-term strategy will be key. Marketers will need solutions that can continuously adapt to new inventory sources, measurement standards and ways for consumers to engage with content.
This is why choosing the right CTV partner matters. The most effective partners don’t just provide access to streaming inventory. They also help advertisers navigate complexity, connect CTV to other channels in their campaign and optimize toward meaningful business goals. As linear TV advertising continues to be taken over by digital, the brands that treat CTV as a central part of their marketing strategy will be the ones who succeed.
Learn more about how Epsilon can help your brand do all this and more with CTV.