Direct Relief drives 9.4% donor growth using Nexxen first-party data

This partnership signals a maturation in how non-endemic advertisers utilize the programmatic stack to solve cyclical demand issues. By moving away from stale third-party data and toward real-time first-party matching on CTV, Direct Relief successfully transitioned from reactive disaster response to a sustainable, year-round donor model. For the streaming ecosystem, this highlights the growing utility of ID-graph technology in unlocking ‘lower-funnel’ outcomes on the big screen. As signal loss continues to degrade traditional web tracking, expect more lean-budget organizations to shift toward platforms that offer high-refresh first-party data sets over broader, demographically targeted placements. Watch for whether Nexxen expands this specialized nonprofit targeting model to international markets following Direct Relief's recent expansion into Europe.

The success of Direct Relief’s data-driven strategy aligns with broader shifts in the CTV landscape as streaming viewership reached 44.8% of total TV usage in 2025, per Nexxen and Nielsen data from February 2026. This growth is increasingly fueled by free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) channels, where monthly viewership has climbed 12% year-over-year. As linear TV spend continues its projected decline, advertisers are treating CTV as a performance-driven gateway rather than a purely top-of-funnel branding tool.

Technological advancements are accelerating this transition toward outcomes-based buying. Nexxen introduced generative AI integrations into its Nexxen Discovery platform in mid-2025, according to a May 2025 company announcement. These tools, like the nexAI Discovery assistant, permit advertisers to translate behavioral signals into actionable audience segments more rapidly than manual analysis. Major streaming partners, including LG Ad Solutions, have adopted these AI-enhanced layers to bridge the gap between complex consumer data and immediate campaign activation in the DSP.

However, the move toward granular individual tracking faces mounting friction from privacy regulations. Per Advertising Week (September 2024), the industry has seen a resurgence in panel-based measurement as a hedge against the potential loss of IP address tracking, which regulators in the EU and UK increasingly view as personally identifiable information. In this environment, the ability to build and activate proprietary first-party data—as Direct Relief did through its partnership with Kindling Media—has become the primary defense against privacy-related signal loss and the 'transparency tax' often associated with fragmented programmatic supply paths.