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Netflix wants to turn your TV into a game console: By ditching AAA ambitions and betting on casual, connected TV games controlled by phones, Netflix is playing the long game to capture Gen Z gamers.

Partnerships between retail media networks (RMNs) and connected TV (CTV) platforms are giving brands access to better data, more shoppable ad options, and a full-funnel approach that drives results. These collaborations can make targeting smarter, shopping easier, and measurement clearer, helping advertisers prove their effectiveness.

Streaming TV keeps growing, but so does the challenge of reaching viewers. With audiences constantly switching between platforms, old TV advertising methods fall short. A more precise, audience-first approach—borrowed from search and social marketing—is helping advertisers keep up.

CTV inventory has surged, but the linear TV ad market remains much larger.

LinkedIn expands ad strategy: CTV and event ads are driving 6-7x ROI, helping B2B marketers reach engaged audiences.

New pre-home- screen video ads are sparking backlash as Roku’s monetization push clashes with users’ expectations for a paid device experience.

A third of CTV/OTT advertisers say inconsistent measurement standards is their biggest challenge, while 32% say the same about disparate reporting across multiple buys, per Advertiser Perceptions’ survey. A single CTV service can have up to 114 different supply paths, according to Benes.

Historically, brands used upper-funnel channels like connected TV (CTV) for brand awareness, while relying on lower-funnel tactics such as retail media to drive conversions. But with shoppable CTV ads, brands can do both, leveraging retail media network (RMN) data to target consumers across CTV platforms, connecting the moment of discovery directly to the point of purchase.

Samsung GameBreaks turns ads into games: A new CTV ad unit lifts brand recall by 53% and signals a shift toward high-engagement, opt-in formats.

Marketers can use this to recognize high growth areas of investment strategies and acknowledge the uncertainty shown in TikTok investments as a potential nudge to diversify their social ad spend.

Google and Meta landed slightly below expectations in Q3, allowing a collection of hungry competitors to inch ahead. But overall, the ad industry remains healthy. Sports events drove streaming and CTV to record gains, and retail media continues to be the sector’s fastest-growing ad channel.

Connected TV (CTV) is now an integral part of retail media. Media networks can offer rich third-party data, while CTV platforms have advanced targeting capabilities and an engaged audience. But just how big is the opportunity?

Fragmentation and too many providers is a concern for marketers, with 39% of CTV/OTT advertisers citing transparency in ad placements as an issue, per the Advertiser Perceptions study. A lack of standardization in measurement across streaming platforms also can make it difficult for advertisers to gauge the impact of a campaign. 5. The CTV landscape is continuously evolving.