A JamLoop survey indicates that 73% of marketers plan to increase their spending in the upcoming 2026 Upfront season. This budget shift is directed toward premium live event CTV advertising.
Ad tech rebuilt itself around identity resolution and clean rooms once third-party cookies disappeared. Coverage here spans SSAI, programmatic CTV, ad-supported tier economics, frequency capping, and the measurement approaches replacing the old playbook.
A JamLoop survey indicates that 73% of marketers plan to increase their spending in the upcoming 2026 Upfront season. This budget shift is directed toward premium live event CTV advertising.
Amazon Prime Video advertisers now have the ability to automatically customize their ad messaging. This new feature allows ads to adapt based on the viewer's prior exposure to a specific brand or product from the advertiser.
An article posits that Connected TV (CTV) delivers a 30% higher Return on Investment (ROI) compared to other media in a marketing mix, yet remains undervalued in media planning. It suggests that marketers are not prioritizing CTV despite its proven effectiveness.
This article discusses whether Dynamic Ad Insertion (DAI) in broadcast television, specifically ATSC 3.0, has the potential to transform revenue models. It suggests that while DAI could improve monetization by enabling targeted ads, broadcasters have historically profited from the inefficiencies of traditional ad sales.
BrightEdge data indicates that advertising on Connected TV (CTV) platforms significantly increases branded AI searches, specifically on ChatGPT and AI Overviews. This trend is noted as upfronts approach, suggesting potential impact on advertising strategies.
Amazon announced a new ad product called Dynamic TV Creative, which provides creative optimization for interactive CTV ads. This product was unveiled prior to their Monday evening upfronts presentation.
An iSpot survey indicates that while many marketers plan to either maintain or reduce overall budgets, over 50% intend to increase their investment in streaming and CTV advertising.
Netflix's recent price hike of its standard ad-free plan to $19.99 highlights a shift in streaming economics, where highly engaged ad-supported subscribers can generate more revenue than ad-free users. This model, driven by viewership-based ad sales and consumer resistance to higher subscription costs, is becoming a primary driver for new subscriber growth across streaming platforms. Companies like Netflix are actively working to close the revenue gap between ad-free and ad-supported tiers, aiming for indifference in subscriber value as ad revenue becomes a key monetization priority.
Moloco, an AI advertising solutions firm, is launching Moloco Ads for Performance CTV to enable app marketers to measure connected TV app marketing performance. The new product aims to provide tools for tracking and optimizing app advertising campaigns on CTV platforms.
A report from iSpot highlights that nearly half of marketers consider business outcomes critical in media negotiations, with shifts noted towards streaming and social media during Upfronts. This indicates a growing focus on demonstrable ROI for advertising spend.
Amazon Prime Video is expanding its advertising efforts by leveraging its growing portfolio of live sports rights, including the NFL's Thursday Night Football, NBA, WNBA, and NASCAR. The platform aims to create "event-type moments" that combine live sports with entertainment content, particularly around key dates like Black Friday, with the goal of attracting advertisers by offering a younger audience demographic compared to linear TV.
Digital video ad spending is projected to grow 11% year-over-year in 2026, reaching $81.9 billion in the US and accounting for 61% of total TV and video ad spend, surpassing linear TV's 39%. Social video ad spend also continues to lead connected TV (CTV) ad spend, with advertisers prioritizing platforms offering tighter attribution. Marketers are advised to blend video planning, using linear TV as supplemental, CTV for premium content, and social video to support campaign goals, while addressing CTV's measurement gaps.
Seven's group managing director, Gereurd Roberts, discusses the industry trend of paid streaming services adopting ad-supported tiers, drawing a parallel to the traditional free-to-air broadcast model.
Viant acquired TVision for $40 million to bolster its AI-powered ad platform by integrating TVision's audience measurement and attention data. The acquisition aims to enhance Viant's ability to challenge "walled gardens" in the advertising sector and attract performance marketers.
Buyers are reportedly increasing their scrutiny of signals within Connected TV (CTV) programmatic ad inventory. This trend reflects an evolving focus on the components included in ad purchases within the streaming TV ecosystem.
MNTN launched QuickFrame AI 3.0, an enhanced version of its AI-powered platform for generating TV commercials. The update introduces new features designed to produce CTV-ready video ads efficiently.
Social video ad spending is projected to grow faster than Connected TV (CTV) ad spending this year. This trend is attributed to advertisers following users who increasingly consume video content on platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram, according to IAB estimates.
Universal Ads has partnered with Koddi, a commerce media platform, to enable brands to activate retail media campaigns on connected TV (CTV). This integration allows advertisers to measure the effectiveness of CTV ads in driving direct product sales.
The article advocates for leveraging both first-party and third-party data within CTV to enhance data strategies. Matt Bryan suggests that a combination of these data types, referred to as 'living data,' is optimal for powering total TV advertising.
Competing trade bodies are emerging to influence the future direction of programmatic advertising, particularly in response to the potential impact of agentic media. This development involves various industry players forming camps to either seek consensus or drive disruption in the programmatic landscape.
Amazon Ads generated $17.2 billion in revenue in Q1 2026. Amazon said the business was powered by new AI-powered tools and expanded reach across streaming and shopping.
YouTube ad revenue rose 11% in the first quarter of 2026 versus the same period in 2025, according to the article. The headline says the figure came close to $10 billion, and also notes that Alphabet reached 350 million paid subscriptions.
Roku's $3-per-month ad-free Howdy SVOD has surpassed 1 million subscribers in eight months since launch, according to Antenna estimates. The article also notes that the service reached 1 million paid users in roughly six months.
A new white paper from Parks Associates and Philo, "Unified Streaming: Unlocking Next-Gen Advertising," finds that content aggregation is a key retention tool, with 33% of US pay-TV subscribers citing it as a reason for their subscription. The research also indicates that vMVPD subscribers are significantly more interested in interactive and shoppable ad formats compared to non-vMVPD users. For instance, 51% of streaming TV subscribers are interested in clicking on items in ads, versus 27% of non-users.
Magnite has partnered with Walmart Connect to power Walmart Connect's "Connect Select" marketplace. This collaboration aims to enhance programmatic CTV advertising at scale through curated marketplaces. The partnership focuses on enabling advertisers to leverage Walmart Connect's data within a programmatic environment.
Digiday's Future of TV Briefing says ad tech's push for pod bidding is moving connected TV toward an ad model used in live sports in 2026. The article is a newsletter briefing and does not provide additional details in the excerpt shown.
Teads and LG Ad Solutions have renewed and expanded their connected TV partnership. The agreement provides Teads with access to LG's HomeScreen advertising inventory in markets across the Asia-Pacific region and Europe.
Pinterest has acquired TVScientific, a company specializing in TV attribution and analytics. The acquisition is aimed at connecting purchase intent data from Pinterest's platform with Connected TV (CTV) advertising to provide performance-based measurement for advertisers.
Universal Ads has added linear TV inventory to its platform, allowing brands to access both linear and streaming inventory owned by Comcast. The addition is designed to offer advertisers broader reach through a self-service interface.
Magnite has unveiled new AI-powered intelligent assistance and agentic execution capabilities designed to enhance decision-making for media owners and buyers. These new tools aim to deliver greater efficiency across the advertising ecosystem. The announcement includes activations with Disney Advertising, Spectrum Reach, Kepler, and MiQ.
Magnite is developing innovative AI solutions to improve advertising efficiency and streamline complex processes within the ad ecosystem. These solutions aim to enhance the intelligence and intuitiveness of advertising. The article highlights Magnite's focus on these advancements.
TiVo is launching a new advertising initiative that leverages performance data from its footprint across both home entertainment and automotive platforms. The strategy, highlighted by TiVo Ads President Matt Milne, aims to provide advertisers with access to what the company describes as a large-scale, highly engaged audience that is difficult to reach through traditional connected TV advertising alone.
Stagwell announced a strategic partnership with FreeWheel to build a unified advertising technology platform for the converged TV market. Powered by FreeWheel's infrastructure, the platform aims to provide advertisers with direct and predictable access to premium CTV, linear, and live sports inventory. The integration is designed to enable faster campaign activation and increased transparency in advertising operations.
A TAM Sports report on the first 31 matches of the IPL 2026 reveals a significant divergence in ad strategies between platforms. Connected TV (CTV) captured 39% of the digital advertising share, attracting digital-first brands, while Linear TV advertising remained dominated by FMCG companies.
Meta is reportedly preparing to extend its Facebook Audience Network to Connected TV (CTV) screens. The move is positioned as a strategy to fuel the company's next wave of advertising growth.
Senior executives from WPP Media, Google, and CBS have joined the advisory board of an unnamed startup working in programmatic advertising, media, and data. The new venture is developing a 'Cultural Relevance Score'. The formation of the board with representatives from major ad, tech, and media companies signals industry interest in the new metric.
Australian retailer JB Hi-Fi is the latest major retailer in the country creating its own in-house advertising network, part of a broader trend threatening traditional media. These retailers are leveraging their technology and customer data to compete directly for advertising dollars that have historically gone to free-to-air television networks.
The Trade Desk announced a strategic partnership with DramaBox, a short-form drama series platform. This collaboration makes DramaBox's video advertising inventory available for programmatic purchase through The Trade Desk's demand-side platform. The announcement positions the deal as a way to grow premium video inventory on the open internet.
DoubleVerify has received Media Rating Council (MRC) accreditation for its video viewability reporting on TikTok in Australia. The company is reportedly the first measurement vendor to achieve this specific certification in the Australian market. The accreditation allows advertisers to utilize DoubleVerify for third-party verification of video ad viewability on the TikTok platform.
According to Ryan Shepard, SVP at NBCUniversal, connected TV advertising has moved from being an incremental reach play to a 'performance era'. He argues that streaming platforms must now prove their value to advertisers by delivering measurable business outcomes and demonstrating return on investment, moving beyond the initial goal of just reaching cord-cutters.
Bell Media has launched its 2026 Upfront Digital Offer, providing preferred rates and discounts on advertising inventory across its digital portfolio, including Crave, Tubi, TSN, RDS, and its Connected TV footprint. Available until June 4, 2026, the offer includes discounts of up to 35% on digital investments, with fixed rates for platforms like Tubi ($20 ROS). Advertisers with a minimum spend of $100,000 receive a complimentary outcomes measurement report, created in partnership with Environics Analytics and Loblaw Advance™, to track sales lift and ROAS.
At a TVNewsCheck panel at NAB, executives from NBCUniversal, LG, Nielsen, and Chronicle Studios discussed the industry's shift from viewership metrics towards measuring audience attention, engagement, and advertiser outcomes. Nielsen detailed its plan to move to a one-minute viewing qualifier for local TV measurement, down from five minutes, aiming to align with digital standards. The panel also covered challenges in content discovery, with Chronicle Studios presenting agentic AI as a solution for finding audiences on large platforms like YouTube.
Ad-tech company Seedtag has launched NeuroX, a neuro-contextual advertising exchange for agencies, publishers, and brands. The product uses Seedtag's proprietary AI, Liz, to analyze web and connected television content for interest, emotion, and intent before an ad impression is traded. The platform is positioned as a cookieless alternative to identity-based targeting and offers multiple activation methods including managed service and open marketplace buying.
AMC Global Media is expanding its partnership with Magnite, making its unified linear and streaming ad inventory programmatically available via a single access point powered by Magnite's ClearLine. AMC is also using Magnite’s Live Scheduler to optimize live linear addressable inventory across its linear networks, FAST channels, and AMC+. The partnership aims to streamline media buying workflows and simplify access to AMC's content.
Setplex announced it has won an NAB Show Project of the Year Award for its deployment with UVOtv, a free, ad-supported streaming platform for diaspora audiences in North America. The platform, built on Setplex's Zapflex technology, offers over 700 live channels. It uses a proprietary AI ad-detection system to replace original ad breaks with localized North American inventory in real time with a reported 98% accuracy.
Belgian telecommunications provider Mobile Vikings has launched a new subscription management platform powered by Bango's Digital Vending Machine. The platform, integrated into the 'My Vikings' customer portal, enables subscribers to bundle, manage, and pay for third-party digital services, including a streaming service implied to be Disney Plus, on a single bill. The partnership aims to reduce subscription complexity for Mobile Vikings' digitally-native customer base.
Amazon is reportedly planning to launch an ad-supported tier for its Prime Video streaming service, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal. Discussions for the new tier have been ongoing for several weeks. The report also states Amazon is in talks with Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount Global to offer ad-supported versions of their streaming services through Prime Video Channels.
AI ad tech companies Olyzon and Swivel have partnered to facilitate 'agent-to-agent' media buying, with connected TV (CTV) as the initial focus. The system connects Olyzon's buyer agents with Swivel's seller agents, using the Ad Context Protocol (AdCP) to automate the process of finding and negotiating ad placements, bypassing traditional programmatic workflows. French pharmaceutical company Pierre Fabre Group is an early adopter, testing the technology for a US-based CTV campaign for its Eau Thermale Avène skincare line.
Fox has launched Fox AdStudio, an AI-based advertising platform focused on outcomes-based measurement and cross-property reach, including Tubi. Concurrently, Tubi has released a native ChatGPT app to enable conversational discovery, combining large language models with its deep-learning recommendation systems. Tubi's initiative leverages data from its 100 million monthly users and over 1 billion monthly viewing hours.
YouTube is testing a new 'side-by-side' ad format for live streams which has been observed by users. The format presents ads in a separate video player below the active stream, intended to be less interruptive than traditional ad breaks. According to user reports cited in the article, the ads currently have autoplaying audio, which can disrupt the viewing experience.
James Varndell · Bitmovin