Streaming Monetization, CTV Advertising & Ad Tech News

WunderKIND Ads is promoting non-interruptive Connected TV (CTV) ad units, such as pause ads, with the goal of enabling programmatic buying across various OEMs. Industry professionals from Digitas, Yahoo, and Dentsu discuss the evolution of CTV advertising, including shoppable ads, high-impact units, and the integration of CTV into the retail media ecosystem. This article is the first in a series titled “A Kinder, Gentler CTV.”

Midterm political ad spending for 2026 has reached $3.9 billion through May 29, representing a 47% increase compared to 2022, primarily driven by California's spending of $315.8 million. Projections indicate $2.5 billion of the total political ad spend will go to connected TV (CTV), with approximately 70% of overall political ad expenditure directed towards TV and streaming/CTV platforms.

SiriusXM Podcast Network has partnered with Tubi to distribute its video podcasts, such as "Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend" and "What Now? with Trevor Noah," to Tubi's 100 million monthly active users. This non-exclusive deal includes shared advertising sales, offering new premium ad opportunities for brands across CTV, web, and mobile platforms. The collaboration aims to expand the reach of SiriusXM's video podcasts and provide Tubi audiences with more content, with more shows expected to be added.

Agoda and The Trade Desk have partnered to leverage Agoda's first-party travel data for programmatic advertising across Asia-Pacific. This collaboration enables brands to target travelers across Connected TV, streaming platforms, and mobile before booking, significantly enhancing ad precision and cross-channel marketing. The partnership aims to facilitate cohesive, data-driven ad campaigns for brands operating in APAC's travel and hospitality sectors.

Bell Media is expanding its Connected TV Live offering by integrating TELUS TV+ set-top box inventory, aiming to add over 1 million CTV-enabled households by 2026. This expansion provides advertisers with increased national reach in Canada, particularly in Western markets, utilizing existing buying processes. The new inventory is fully integrated into Bell Media's ad packages, including programmatic options, designed for seamless advertiser access.

Disney is making advertising a core revenue driver by focusing on ad-supported streaming, live sports, and enhanced ad technology. This strategy aims to combine its portfolio for advertisers, growing digital ad revenue faster than linear TV declines. Projections anticipate continued growth in Disney+ U.S. digital ad revenue through 2028, with advertising becoming a larger share of the platform’s total income mix.

European National Olympic Committees (NOCs), including Germany's DOSB and the British Olympic Association (BOA), are shifting their sponsorship strategies for events like Istanbul 2027 to focus on year-round athlete storytelling and digital activations. This move aims to provide partners with continuous relevance beyond the Games window and involves increased in-house content production and social media engagement. The European Games are positioned as a key opportunity for this new commercial approach and Olympic qualification.

TNT Sports chose to put the UEFA Champions League final behind a paywall to drive HBO Max subscriptions, resulting in seven million legal viewers in the UK and 16.2 million illegal streams. This decision by Warner Bros. Discovery to maximize short-term revenue highlighted the tension between subscription growth and increased piracy, impacting the long-term valuation of sports rights for UEFA.

OTT platforms are increasingly adopting contextual advertising strategies to better align ad messages with viewer emotions and content genres. This shift is reportedly enhancing ad effectiveness, with VDO.AI data showing click-through rate improvements of up to 55%. As ad-supported tiers evolve, these smarter strategies are transforming them into more significant revenue generators.

Mobile financial service provider bKash has integrated direct subscription capabilities and cashback incentives for South Asian OTT platforms including Chorki, Hoichoi, and Bongo. This initiative aims to enhance the accessibility and affordability of digital entertainment for users in Bangladesh by simplifying mobile payment gateways for subscriptions. Specific cashback offers are detailed for Hoichoi and Chorki until mid-June 2026.

Forrester reports on the maturation of creative advertising technology, shifting from fragmented productivity tools to integrated systems focused on performance. This change enables streaming advertisers to link creative decisions to media outcomes and utilize generative AI for automated production, testing, and optimization. The firm notes that while past DCO efforts were limited, GenAI is driving a new phase where value shifts toward creative strategy and intelligence.

NFL ad revenue reached a record $5.9 billion in 2025-2026, marking a 7% year-over-year increase, with streaming-exclusive games contributing 13% of the total revenue. Separately, Peacock is implementing shoppable full-screen Pause Ads for "Love Island U.S.A.," a format it claims leads to increased ad memorability and foot traffic. ESPN also extended its rights deal with the Women's National Football Conference for two years.

Magnite highlights its hybrid infrastructure strategy, combining owned on-premise data centers with cloud elasticity to manage adtech demands. This approach enables the company to efficiently process baseline programmatic advertising volumes while scaling up for unpredictable surges during live CTV events. Magnite states that its $130 million investment in CapEx for on-premise infrastructure underpins this strategy.

Keynes has launched Kortex, an agentic AI platform designed to provide granular transparency and real-time optimization for CTV advertising campaigns. The platform utilizes task-specific AI agents to analyze cross-platform data from sources such as Shopify and Google Analytics, helping brands like Tuckernuck refine audience segmentation and creative assets. Kortex aims to enhance understanding of CTV ad performance by offering detailed visualizations and insights into campaign effectiveness across different devices, times, and regional contexts.

Spotify and Netflix have reportedly struck a multiyear deal worth up to $100 million for exclusive rights to the video version of Jay Shetty's podcast, "On Purpose." Under the agreement, video episodes of the podcast will move to Netflix and Spotify starting July 13, transferring content exclusivity previously held by iHeartMedia.

Google's Display & Video 360 Help center provides information about co-viewing metrics for Connected TV (CTV) advertising. Co-viewing refers to multiple people watching ads on a CTV device together, leading to increased impressions and reach for video ads, which Google measures using real-time and census-level surveys with statistical methods.

DoubleVerify announced a partnership with TVision to enhance Connected TV (CTV) attention measurement for advertisers. This collaboration combines DV's ad exposure data (viewable time, screen share) with TVision's viewer presence and eyes-on-screen attention signals to offer a holistic and scalable attention measurement solution. The integrated offering is expected to be available for a closed beta in the second half of 2023, with a broader market release to follow.

PubMatic is hiring a Senior Manager for Product Marketing focused on Commerce Media, Data Partnerships, and Curation. The role is described as strategic and builder-oriented, concentrating on rapidly growing capabilities in programmatic advertising.

Comcast is seeking a Senior Product Manager specializing in programmatic ad-decisioning and optimization capabilities. This role involves partnering with Data Science to design and implement advanced machine learning solutions within their advertising technology stack.

The article provides an educational guide detailing what a Demand Side Platform (DSP) is, how it functions within programmatic advertising, and its role in media buying. It also covers the benefits of using a DSP and differentiates it from a Supply Side Platform (SSP).

Carl Lefever explains how programmatic video ads can make advertising accessible for organizations like camps that may not be able to afford traditional TV advertising. The article highlights that programmatic solutions offer a way for these entities to utilize video ads.

Walmart Connect is expanding access to its first-party data and closed-loop measurement for advertisers beyond its owned properties. This allows advertisers to activate Walmart audiences and measurement when buying media inventory on third-party platforms, starting with VIZIO inventory through Yahoo DSP via Magnite's supply-side technology.

FreeWheel announced its return to Cannes Lions in 2026, detailing an agenda of content sessions focused on advertising advancements, the future of TV, and the application of AI in advertising technology. The event will feature discussions with executives from major media companies including Comcast Advertising, NBCUniversal, Fox Ad Sales, ITV, Channel 4, Sky, Paramount Global, and Xumo. Topics include building new solutions on the FreeWheel ecosystem, TV leadership panels, AI's impact on media and advertising, and global media campaign execution.

LiftLab is offering a marketing measurement solution for omnichannel brands that addresses the challenges posed by iOS ATT restrictions and cookie deprecation. This solution aims to provide attribution in a post-identity graph environment.

Teads conducted an omnichannel advertising campaign for BYD's Shark 6 pick-up in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, utilizing CTV InStream and InRead placements. The campaign aimed to increase brand awareness and consideration among automotive enthusiasts by highlighting the vehicle's features, resulting in increased interest, attribution, consideration, and purchase intent across screens.

This article states that AI is enabling marketers to predict consumer behavior, optimize ad placements, personalize content delivery, and improve conversion rates. This AI application helps global brands intensify their battle for online consumer reach within the digital advertising market.

Disney's advertising head, Rita Ferro, is focusing on building out Disney's ad tech platform. She is also leveraging Disney's intellectual property and international businesses to enhance advertising efforts.

This YouTube Help article details how creators can manage mid-roll ad breaks in videos 8 minutes or longer, including options for manual, automated, or combined placement methods. It also provides guidance on using ad slot quality feedback to optimize ad placement for better viewer experience and creator earnings. Instructions are provided for both new uploads and existing videos, as well as setting channel-level defaults for mid-roll ads.

Dentsu executives Beth Ann Kaminkow and Will Swayne discussed the integration of AI into their processes and its implications for the upcoming 2020 upfronts. The discussion focused on how AI will adapt and be utilized within their media buying strategies.

The article explains what pause ads are and how they function as a non-disruptive advertising method within streaming video content. It details their appearance during content pauses and their utility for brands to reach viewers without interrupting the viewing experience.

Starti AI details how its technology can power shoppable Connected TV (CTV) ads, specifically mentioning application for the World Cup 2026. The company highlights the use of VAST/VPAID protocols for interactive ad rendering and IP-based household-level targeting compliant with GDPR and CCPA/CPRA. This indicates a focus on interactive ad experiences and privacy-compliant targeting within the CTV advertising ecosystem.

Roku is seeking a Sales Planner to join its Revenue Operations team in Chicago. This role focuses on maximizing ad revenue yield through supply optimization and strategic pricing, supporting global advertising growth.

Nexus Clouds describes its unified demand-side, supply-side, and data management solution designed to provide audience intelligence for advertisers and publishers. The platform aims to enable precision targeting, omnichannel reach across devices including CTV, and real-time optimization using AI-powered campaign adjustments.

Amazon Ads defines 'BuyerSeat' as an identifier used to exchange deal information between Supply-Side Platforms (SSPs) and the Amazon DSP in programmatic advertising. This concept is fundamental to how programmatic deals are managed within the Amazon advertising ecosystem.

Evrideo highlights its cloud playout and master control solution to enable cable networks to implement advanced monetization strategies such as dynamic ad insertion (DAI), addressable advertising, and programmatic fill. The company positions these capabilities as out of reach for most traditional cable networks despite being standard on major streaming platforms. This solution aims to bridge that gap for hybrid linear and OTT channels.

Magnite has launched a new media buying agent, a sell-side platform product aimed at advertising clients. This new offering launches with a direct connection to Disney's advertising inventory, allowing buyers to access Disney's ad opportunities through Magnite's platform.

DataCops offers a first-party analytics and conversion-intelligence platform designed to overcome challenges from ad blockers, ITP, and bots by running on a client's subdomain. The platform aims to recover lost session data, validate traffic, filter out bots, and provide clean conversion data to ad platforms and CRMs. DataCops positions itself as a solution to data fragmentation and inaccuracies caused by third-party tracking, aiming to improve attribution and ad spend efficiency for marketers.

Google is hosting a "DV360 Performance Workshop 2026" on June 3, 2026, in London, designed for invited participants to gain hands-on knowledge in Demand Gen and Display campaigns on DV360. The workshop aims to supercharge performance using Gemini.

Amazon Publisher Services (APS) is expanding its 'Signal IQ' capabilities to improve advertiser performance across web, mobile, and streaming television by enabling publishers to better leverage data signals. The update includes new tools for signal coverage reporting, A/B testing of revenue lift from signals, a revised Mobile SDK for third-party bidders, and a new AI-powered assistant called "Publisher Supply AI" for dashboard analysis. APS is also expanding "Shopping Insights" from streaming TV to web and mobile, and "Amazon Publisher Cloud" will support consideration objectives in addition to awareness.

Optable and Unity collaborated to create "Audience Hub," a platform designed to monetize Unity's gaming audience of 256 million gamers in North America for brand advertisers. This platform converts gaming signals into privacy-preserving audiences for activation across mobile, CTV, DOOH, and off-network inventory, leveraging secure data collaboration for matching first-party data without exposing raw information.

The Trade Desk's Rob Hazan discusses the industry shift towards dynamic ad podding in streaming TV advertising. This programmatic approach aims to improve efficiency by allowing buyers and sellers to transact on entire ad breaks rather than fragmented individual impressions. The company is advocating for the adoption of podding and transaction IDs to reduce ad duplication and compute costs, with an expected acceleration starting August 31.

FreeWheel published a blog post advocating for supply-side curation at the ad server level to improve programmatic buying in streaming. The article highlights how executing curation at this stage enables differentiated, data-rich packages using premium inventory, unique metadata, and unified decisioning for advertisers. FreeWheel cites benefits such as more efficient access to inventory, precise audience targeting through normalized identifiers, and streamlined efficiency by reducing intermediaries.

Nexxen has introduced a programmatic activation capability for native Smart TV advertising inventory through its Nexxen DSP, making it the first to market with this global offering. This innovation allows advertisers to programmatically target viewers on Smart TV home screens, bypassing the historically manual process due to a lack of ad specification standardization. Initially, native Smart TV ad supply from VIDAA, covering Hisense and Toshiba, will be exclusively available in Nexxen DSP, with plans to expand to more OEMs.

Netflix is projected to achieve $3 billion in ad revenue in 2026, driven by its ad-supported tier accounting for over 60% of new sign-ups and a 70% year-over-year increase in its advertiser base to over 4,000 buyers. The company plans to introduce new ad formats, including interactive video ads and AI-blended creative, and expand programmatic buying options through integrations with Amazon, Google, The Trade Desk, Yahoo, and AJA.

Antenna reports that ad-supported plans now represent the majority of new subscriptions for most Premium SVOD services that offer them. Ad-supported Premium SVOD subscriptions in the U.S. reached 110 million by the end of Q1'26, up from 53 million two years prior. Disney+ and Hulu saw 70% of their Gross Adds come through ad-supported tiers in Q1'26, while HBO Max and Netflix also showed significant ad-supported gross add growth.

Redseer Strategy Consultants published a report highlighting AI as a new growth catalyst in the $1 trillion advertising industry, projecting its impact on open AdTech ecosystems. The report details how AI is rebuilding the advertising stack to reduce the structural advantages of walled gardens. It also emphasizes India's emerging role in building and owning products that power the next phase of global AI AdTech innovation.

BCi Digital published an explainer detailing HbbTV Addressable Advertising, outlining its evolution, technical approaches (including spot-level vs. break-level replacement), and the implications for ad decisioning and measurement in free-to-air broadcast environments. The article positions HbbTV as a key enabler for broadcasters to implement addressable advertising, combining traditional broadcast with broadband delivery.