Streaming Monetization, CTV Advertising & Ad Tech News

Integral Ad Science (IAS) launched IAS Agent, an AI-powered platform designed for automated campaign performance analysis, in March 2026. This new solution provides real-time recommendations and insights directly within the Signal UI Overview Dashboard, aiming to significantly reduce the time marketers spend on manual data analysis. IAS Agent leverages over 15 years of data and processes 280 billion data interactions daily to deliver precise, actionable insights for campaign optimization.

Viant Technology has partnered with Ad Fontes Media to enable news reliability-based targeting on Connected TV (CTV) via IRIS_ID within Viant's DSP. This integration allows advertisers to identify and activate against news programming based on content reliability and bias. Viant highlighted this as a first-of-its-kind offering in the DSP market.

MoffettNathanson analysts are highlighting the growth of Free Ad-Supported Streaming Television (FAST) channels, specifically Tubi and Roku Channel, as significant competitors for advertising budgets. YouTube's substantial ad revenue of $20 billion in 2025 is also noted, underscoring a broader shift in ad spending within the streaming sector.

Sportradar has extended its exclusive global data and audiovisual betting rights agreement with the All England Club for Wimbledon, continuing its role in providing real-time data to the global betting ecosystem. This multi-year extension, originally secured through Sportradar's 2025 acquisition of IMG ARENA, also covers integrity services and aims to support innovation in fan engagement. Accurate, official data distribution is emphasized for maintaining event integrity and enhancing fan interaction.

Samsung Ads reports that 76% of viewers are undecided on content, spending an average of 10.5 minutes on the home screen, indicating a significant opportunity for advertisers to reach audiences before they choose what to watch. The company's research shows that home screen ad placements increase brand advocacy by 11% and purchase likelihood by 10%. Samsung Ads also launched TotalView, a solution to measure ad exposure and audience reach across both linear and streaming environments, aiming to bridge data gaps for brands.

TiVo's Q4 report indicates an average monthly household entertainment spend of $161, with 54% of subscribers opting for ad-supported tiers and FAST adoption reaching 70%, suggesting a shift in consumer behavior and continued interest in ad-supported models. Paramount seeks to dismiss an antitrust lawsuit regarding its $110 billion merger with Warner Bros. Discovery, while FIFA and DAZN partnered to launch FIFA+ exclusively on the DAZN platform for approximately 8,500 live football events annually. Additionally, Nielsen announced a collaboration with Mediaocean to integrate advanced audience measurement for data-driven linear national TV campaigns within Mediaocean’s Prisma platform.

A Spectrum Reach survey indicates strong demand for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, with 83% of respondents planning to watch and 93% using pay TV or streaming. The survey highlights continued reliance on traditional TV for live sports but also significant mobile/tablet viewership, informing ad spending and platform strategies. FIFA predicts 6 billion engagements globally across TV, streaming, and digital platforms for the tournament.

Criteo has reduced the minimum ad investment for ChatGPT from $50,000 to $10,000 to encourage adoption, while Google has introduced new generative AI performance reports within Search Console. These changes aim to make AI-driven ad channels more accessible and transparent for advertisers. The reports will provide metrics like impressions, pages, countries, devices, and dates for AI-driven search results.

Mohammad Chughtai, Global VP of Strategy and Partnerships at MiQ, discusses how marketers are using programmatic buying and advanced attribution models, including marketing mix modeling (MMM), for live sports streaming. This approach optimizes ad spend and provides advanced measurement for these events, with a focus on private marketplace (PMP) deals over open exchanges. The article highlights the evolution of MMM for more rapid reporting, making it accessible to a broader range of advertisers.

James Deaker of Korukea Media discusses the potential risks of agentic AI in digital advertising, focusing on issues of ownership, governance, and accountability. The conversation highlights past algorithmic failures at Zillow and Amazon as cautionary tales. Deaker emphasizes the need for guardrails as digital advertising companies adopt AI-run systems to avoid company-crushing risks.

Digital advertising experts highlight walled gardens, fragmentation, and measurement as critical pain points in the current marketing landscape. The article emphasizes that the lack of access to audience and outcomes data from walled gardens, including major streaming services like Netflix, impedes efforts toward measurement standardization. Key figures from MiQ, Roku, and Albertsons Media Collective participated in a discussion on this topic.

Apple's Intelligent Tracking Protection (ITP) in Safari blocks third-party cookies and significantly limits the lifespan of first-party cookies, impacting conversion data for pixel-only tracking. This forces streaming professionals and advertisers to adopt server-side tracking, server-side identity, and Conversions API (CAPI) integrations to maintain effective attribution and audience data and mitigate data loss.

Amazon Ads is hiring a Senior Applied Scientist to develop AI-driven media planning and ad measurement solutions. The role focuses on leveraging machine learning and Generative AI to optimize ad spend strategies for advertisers.

GumGum CEO Marcus Startzel argues that the advertising industry's current AI investment is overly focused on infrastructure optimization rather than understanding consumer mindset and achieving brand outcomes. He highlights the risk of repeating past programmatic advertising challenges by prioritizing transaction volume and efficiency over genuine consumer connections. Startzel calls for a shift in AI application towards understanding real-time consumer mindset to deliver more effective advertising.

IAB Tech Lab has announced its 2026 event schedule, featuring 10 workshops, bootcamps, and summits focused on Agentic AI, privacy, and Advanced TV ad operations. These events aim to provide technical guidance on evolving industry standards and monetization strategies in the ad tech space. Key sessions include an 'Ad Ops Workshop for Advanced TV' and a 'Trusted Server Workshop' for server-side ad execution.

Amazon Ads released a guide defining ad inventory, its importance for maximizing revenue and audience targeting, and its role within the broader ad tech landscape among SSPs, DSPs, and ad exchanges. The guide highlights various types of ad inventory, including video, audio, and streaming TV, and details Amazon Ads' services like Amazon Publisher Services and Amazon Publisher Cloud. It also emphasizes Amazon Ads' strategic partnerships with major media companies such as Disney, Netflix, Roku, and Spotify, which leverage AI to optimize ad inventory across their platforms and third-party exchanges.

Triton Digital proposes agentic AI and the Advertising Context Protocol (AdCP) to transform digital audio advertising from fragmented auctions to orchestrated campaigns. This initiative aims to reduce operational friction for publishers, enabling better inventory valuation and audience discovery by moving beyond solely ID-based targeting. Triton, as a founding member of the Agentic Advertising Organization (AAO) and contributor to AdCP, is actively shaping these new coordination standards.

Samsung Ads' "Behind the Screens 2026" report, based on 70 million European smart TVs, reveals increasing CTV fragmentation, with average app launches up 8% in 2025. The report highlights that younger viewers use 21% more apps, shifting loyalty from platforms to content, making the home screen crucial for discovery and advertising strategy. Samsung Ads is a vendor providing advertising solutions for streaming.

Global-M provides SaaS solutions for telecom providers and pay-TV operators to monetize video content. Their platform specializes in video commerce and is currently used by over 25 operators worldwide.

Mediaproxy's LogServer now supports Nielsen CBET (Critical Band Encoding Technology) layer 1 watermarking, expanding on its existing Nielsen NAVE (Nielsen Audio Video Encoder) decoding capabilities. This enhancement allows Mediaproxy to extend its compliance monitoring into the radio market for audience research data. The company is one of the few compliance system manufacturers officially certified by Nielsen.

WTAE-TV, a Hearst Television ABC affiliate, is hiring a Digital Sales Manager to lead digital and cross-platform revenue growth by integrating digital, streaming, and linear solutions. This role focuses on modernizing sales with AI-enabled tools, optimizing targeting and campaign performance, and expanding CTV/OTT and programmatic advertising opportunities. The position requires expertise in advertising technologies and the ability to train sales teams on these advancements.

Netflix's ad-supported tier represents 60% of new Q1 2026 signups where available, becoming a significant growth driver beyond subscriber expansion. The company is actively investing in live sports rights to enhance the value of its ad inventory and bolster this new revenue stream.

JioHotstar has expanded its partnership with Magnite, India's largest premium entertainment destination, by integrating Magnite's SpringServe for advanced ad mediation across its live sports and entertainment portfolio. This collaboration aims to maximize inventory value and ensure ad quality for programmatic advertising at scale, as demonstrated during the recent ICC Men’s T20 World Cup.

Siddharth Dabhade of Lemma discusses the convergence of digital, Connected TV (CTV), and Digital Out-of-Home (DOOH) advertising into a unified consumer journey, driven by programmatic evolution and privacy-safe spatial targeting. He highlights key trends such as the collapse of the linear funnel, retail media migration, and cognitive customer experiences, while also outlining the future of adtech with AI-driven contextual delivery and unified cross-screen measurement. Dabhade also addresses the need for structural changes in the Indian ad market to improve accountability and scalability.

InMobi and Scope3 have launched a sell-side AI agent on Scope3’s Interchange to represent and sell InMobi’s premium ad inventory, including its Glance smartphone lock-screen platform. This deployment aims to streamline ad transactions through autonomous agentic workflows, moving beyond traditional programmatic auctions by using the open-source Ad Context Protocol (AdCP). The agent and protocol protect brands from price wars and centralize campaign data, with predictions of widespread adoption in digital ad spend.

Antenna reports that ad-supported streaming plans have surpassed 110 million subscribers in the US and accounted for 78% of net SVOD additions over the past nine quarters. Ad-supported tiers now represent 48% of subscriptions among premium SVOD services offering an ad plan, indicating the mainstream adoption and importance of these models for growth and subscriber retention.

Many smart TVs are reportedly utilizing Automatic Content Recognition (ACR) to capture screenshots every half-second, primarily for targeted advertising based on viewing habits. This pervasive data collection impacts viewer privacy and advertising strategies across connected TVs. Viewers can typically opt out of this tracking via privacy settings on their smart TVs.

Nexxen and V, a smart TV operating system formerly known as VIDAA, have partnered to offer advertisers targeted soccer ad campaigns on V smart TVs for the 2026 tournament. This collaboration utilizes V's first-party viewership data and Nexxen's demand-side platform to enable precise ad delivery on Connected TV (CTV). The partnership aims to streamline ad buying for brands targeting sports fans during high-traffic viewing periods.

Apple announced that its App Store facilitated over $1.4 trillion in developer billings and sales in 2025, with 90% of transactions being commission-free. This total included $149 billion from digital goods and $151 billion in in-app ad revenue, which can directly affect revenue strategies for streaming apps. Apple also highlighted that 40 of the top 100 apps had consumer-facing AI capabilities, showing stronger billing growth, potentially signaling new AI initiatives at WWDC.

Kaylee Serena Calderolla has launched Filtr, a new feature for her Wipr ad blocker, designed to block ads in iPhone, iPad, and Mac applications using Apple's new URL filters. This innovation allows for device-level ad blocking beyond web browsers, potentially impacting app monetization models by preventing ad serving at the network level. Filtr is the first app to utilize this new Apple feature for widespread in-app ad blocking.

The 2026 Fifa World Cup is projected to generate record revenues, with significant contributions from broadcasting rights and sponsorship deals, totaling an estimated $8.9 billion. Notably, US broadcasters Fox and Telemundo anticipate $850 million in advertising spend, with Fox streaming matches on Fox One DTC and Tubi. Fifa aims to maximize revenue through updated broadcast arrangements, including deals with streamers like DAZN and YouTube-based CazéTV, and new sponsorship structures.

Roblox is opening up advertising to users under 13 for the first time, partnering exclusively with SuperAwesome for this segment. The ad strategy will focus on direct deals, contextual targeting, and strict compliance with COPPA and GDPR, utilizing new age verification and user tiers. This move aims to monetize a significant portion of Roblox's daily active users while prioritizing child safety and regulatory adherence.

IPL 2026 attracted ₹5,200 crore in ad revenue despite an 18.8% decline in linear TV ratings, as advertisers shifted focus to digital platforms and Connected TV (CTV). The change reflects evolving audience consumption habits, with a significant increase in digital engagement and multi-screen viewing. Brands focused on deeper integrations and measurable outcomes across various platforms, including CTV and mobile.

LG Ad Solutions research highlights the increasing effectiveness of smart TV home screens in film discovery, influencing 35% of UK cinema-goers and driving 56% of transactional VOD purchases. The study emphasizes the growing monetization potential for operating system providers and streaming platforms through home screen advertising and promotion. This trend reinforces television as the most influential medium for film discovery, outperforming social media by a significant margin.

Stellantis partnered with Integral Ad Science (IAS) and Publicis Media to integrate attention measurement into its media strategy, analyzing over 13 billion impressions across 19 countries. This large-scale program, which included continuous measurement, analysis, and research, resulted in a 165% increase in engagement on high-attention inventory and a 33% rise in ad recall. The initiative helped Stellantis refine media allocation strategies by prioritizing high-attention environments for premium storytelling and lower-attention for repetition and efficiency.

AMC Global Media – UK is launching a dedicated FAST channel for "The Walking Dead Universe" in early June across multiple UK platforms. This initiative expands AMC's FAST presence and aims to monetize library content, capitalizing on the mainstream adoption of FAST services in the UK. This highlights the growing importance of FAST as a distribution and monetization model for media companies.

Karl Holmes, GM of Disney+ EMEA, reported 80% ad revenue growth in the U.K. and a 25% increase in the EMEA customer base since early 2025. He highlighted the success of the ad-supported tier launched in late 2023 across 15 European countries, with over 1,000 brands participating. Holmes outlined content, brand affinity, and industry partnerships as key priorities for continued growth.

ThreatFabric reports a rise in malware-laden unofficial IPTV apps, particularly targeting football fans in Spain seeking free content. These apps, often masquerading as RojaDirecta, exploit user desire to bypass official app stores, leading to increased fraud risks including banking malware infections. The article highlights the broader impact on banks, telecom providers, and streaming platforms and calls for stronger cross-industry collaboration for fraud prevention.

JioHotstar secured 50 brand partners, including 11 marquee sponsors, for the digital premiere of the film "Dhurandhar 2." This initiative is positioning the movie release as a large-scale integrated marketing opportunity across various mediums. The overwhelming advertiser interest highlights the rising commercial appeal of premium digital premieres for the platform.

Frodoh World CEO Russhabh R. Thakkar asserts that OTT home screens, or 'first screens,' represent highly engaged ad opportunities for SVOD platforms without interrupting content. This approach involves integrating native, pixel-to-pixel ads within the content discovery flow to unlock new ad revenue while preserving ad-free viewing experiences during content playback. Thakkar highlights that while CTV ad revenues are growing, first-screen inventory is largely untapped, offering brands guaranteed visibility in a premium, ad-free environment.

This article is a collection of disparate news items. It reports on new research from the 4As and DBC indicating AI is slowing junior hiring in advertising agencies, potentially creating a future talent crisis. It also highlights EDO data showing NBA Knicks games boost ad effectiveness by 32% and covers executive appointments at KERV.ai, Buttermilk, and Infolinks.

TiVo Ads has partnered with Tunnl to integrate TiVo's privacy-compliant TV viewership data into the Tunnl Platform. This collaboration aims to provide marketers with enhanced audience insights and planning capabilities, especially for local and regional programming. The integration expands Tunnl's data coverage and allows advertisers to operationalize TiVo's viewership data for more impactful campaigns.

Brands are allegedly using Reddit to astroturf content, aiming for AI summaries and chatbots to boost brand visibility, a practice intensified by AI tools. Concurrently, a report from the ANA indicates a rise in principal media, which raises transparency concerns among advertisers due to agencies reselling inventory with undisclosed profits. This trend is fueled by an obsession with ad performance.

The article critiques the W3C's proposed "Attribution Level 1" standard, arguing it mistakenly equates attribution with advertising effectiveness, which could misallocate ad spend and harm the open web. It highlights that attribution systems primarily observe rather than causally measure incremental business impact, potentially overcrediting lower-funnel channels. The author urges the W3C to revise its language to clearly distinguish attribution inputs from causal effectiveness measurement.

In 2025, Indonesia is projected to lead TikTok Shop's Gross Merchandise Value (GMV), followed by the United States and Thailand. This highlights the growing importance of shoppable video platforms for streaming industry professionals.

Start.io is seeking an experienced Product Manager to lead and own its SDK monetization product, focusing on programmatic advertising within mobile applications. The role involves designing product roadmaps, engaging with clients to translate needs into strategic decisions, and collaborating with cross-functional teams. Key requirements include at least four years of product management experience with expertise in programmatic SSPs/DSPs and mobile ad-tech SDK monetization.

Rumble is seeking a Senior Product Manager to lead the strategy and roadmap for its advertising platform. The role focuses on modernizing its programmatic ad stack, including SSP/DSP integrations, auction decisioning, and data foundation, to unify self-serve and omni-channel experiences. This strategic hire indicates Rumble's significant investment in expanding its monetization capabilities and ad business.

Xapads Media is hiring a Senior Manager, Ad Operations, based in New York, to lead programmatic monetization primarily using Google Ad Manager 360 (GAM 360). The role focuses on optimizing ad delivery and yield across app, web, and CTV environments, managing demand partners, and troubleshooting technical ad integration issues. Key responsibilities include managing SSAI/CSAI workflows and VAST protocols within CTV monetization setups.