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CTV advertising will grow 13% in 2025, reaching $26.6 billion and becoming 43% larger than the online video segment ($18.6 billion). CTV has achieved 鈥渕ust-buy鈥� status for 68% of marketers planning media investments, highlighting its growing importance. Funding for CTV comes largely from redirected budgets, with equal portions (36%) shifted from linear television and social platforms.

CTV measurement enhancements are enabling programmatic鈥檚 value prop. As CTV gains share of converged TV budgets, programmatic will, too. This year, over 90% of CTV display ad dollars will transact programmatically, and programmatic pathways will account for virtually all growth in the CTV market through the remainder of our forecast period in 2026.

Despite CTV ad spending鈥檚 rapid growth, in 2026, Meta alone will still account for over $10 billion more in video ad spending ($48.77 billion) than all of CTV combined ($37.70 billion). The CTV ad market is far more diffuse than the social network landscape, with only three companies accounting for more than 10% of CTV ad sales in 2026.

A better CTV experience could drive longer viewing sessions and encourage creators to produce content tailored for the big screen. Our take: YouTube is positioning its CTV offering as a primary screen experience, not just a fallback when users don鈥檛 want to use their phones or laptops.

CTV is making up ground in the UK鈥檚 programmatic space. We currently track programmatic CTV advertising spend only for the UK. Given the country鈥檚 digital advertising maturity, the space is becoming increasingly predominant in the programmatic field. Mobile remains dominant, but CTV has overtaken desktop鈥檚 share. The original strength in programmatic video predates any significant CTV influence.

Advertising spend is moving away from upper-funnel efforts like connected TV (CTV) and social branding campaigns, and instead flowing toward channels that deliver clearer returns鈥攏amely, search, retail media, and creator-led performance-oriented content. CTV advertising, once a fast-growing digital channel, is now expected to see the sharpest decline if tariff conditions worsen.

CTV faces the widest range of plausible outcomes. The tariffs may have only a minor impact on the CTV advertising market. CTV remains one of the fastest-growing ad channels we track. As consumers watch their wallets and spend more time at home amid a tough economic environment, CTV streaming platforms could find themselves well-positioned. It鈥檚 also possible that CTV ad spending will nearly flat-line.

CTV upfront spending outlook has been reduced. Previously, we expected CTV upfront ad spending to increase 24.9% in 2025. CTV will hold up stronger than linear TV. But it too will take a hit. In the worst-case scenario, upfront CTV ad spending will be flat this year. But in most scenarios, we expect growth of at least $1 billion.

Another strong quarter for The Trade Desk: International growth and CTV surge, boosted by data-driven advertising and the new Kokai platform.

Shoppable connected TV (CTV) is more likely to resonate with younger audiences. Nearly 18% of 18- to 34-year-olds have made a purchase through shoppable media on CTV, compared with just 10.0% of general audiences. QR codes in TV ads are the most notable and least intrusive type of shoppable media, according to consumers.

Connected TV (CTV) is gaining share of programmatic display budgets. Although mobile is still on top, CTV will widen its lead over desktop and laptop computers. Programmatic pathways will be responsible for all growth in the CTV market through 2026, the end of our forecast period. Closed and private ecosystems are still on the rise.

Among devices, mobile remains dominant, and CTV has almost caught up with regular TV. Time spent with digital media via CTV will match time spent with traditional linear TV by next year. Time spent with CTV will grow 6.9% this year, reaching 2:29 per day.

In North America, connected TV (CTV) is carving out a slice of programmatic display ad spending. In the US, CTV is gaining share at the expense of desktop and laptop computers (16.7% for CTV versus 12.7% for desktop/laptop in 2025); mobile鈥檚 share will hover around 70%, where it鈥檚 been since 2018.

Part of the CTV boost is due to large US streamers flooding the Canadian market with CTV inventory. Click here to view our full Canada CTV viewership forecast. CTV has surpassed linear TV in terms of viewership. In 2024, 28.3 million viewers of all ages used CTV compared with 28.0 million adults who watched linear TV (live or recorded), according to our estimates.

While HBO hasn鈥檛 integrated these partnerships into the show itself, they could be a preview into how retail and Connected TV (CTV) will continue their convergence. 62.7% of US consumers discover new brands or products from TV, and well over a third (38.7%) searched online to consider buying something that they saw on TV, per a September 2024 蘑菇AV survey conducted with Shopsense AI.

As YouTube doubles down on long-form CTV content, Vimeo鈥檚 move positions it as both a platform and partner for serious creators ready to scale on their own terms鈥攁nd become less reliant on other platforms.

YouTube鈥檚 push into connected TVs (CTVs) has earned it the top spot in TV use with 11.6% of viewing share in February, a 5 percentage point increase from December, per Nielsen. However, Spotify dominates in the audio streaming space. Our take: Video podcasts are the next frontier for audio and video streamers alike, and unique features and less-expensive subscription options can help fuel adoption.

The platforms are also pushing serial video鈥攁nd CTV. In 2024, YouTube updated its CTV app to allow creators to organize videos into episodes and shows. While the TikTok-to-CTV trajectory will be longer, TikTok is reportedly considering adding TV-like dramas to the platform. That鈥檚 shifting more 鈥淭V鈥� viewing to social platforms.

With AI-powered targeting, robust mediation tools, and a growing footprint in ecommerce and connected TV (CTV), the company is positioning itself as a key challenger in the digital ecosystem. However, evolving privacy regulations and advertiser demands for transparency present ongoing challenges.

In smart home devices, connected TVs (CTVs), watches, and headphones, the rollout will be more gradual, with further details planned 鈥渋n the next few months,鈥� Google said on its blog. A race to the finish: Big Tech companies have had mixed success with AI voice assistants. Meta is ahead: It added voice to its genAI assistant in September.

Viewers are increasingly switching to CTV, and streaming will remain a critical touchpoint because it is relatively resilient to broader spending pullbacks. AVOD and FAST will prove to be vital marketing channels mostly insulated from recessions.

This year鈥檚 Olympics were a major opportunity for marketers, both on TV and connected TV (CTV) and on social media. The Games only come around every two years, but the marketing lessons are applicable long after Paris鈥檚 crowds have cleared. From a push for generative AI (genAI) to athletes becoming creators in their own rights, here are five takeaways from the Summer Olympics.

Retail media ad spend on connected TV (CTV) is growing quickly in the US, increasing 45.5% YoY in 2025, 蘑菇AV forecasts. Nine in 10 US marketers plan to promote their creator partnerships via retail media networks in 2025, according to an October 2024 LTK survey.