CTV Revolution: Insights and Forecasts for 2025

The landscape of television is evolving, with CTV and streaming reshaping how audiences engage with their beloved programs. This Christmas, Netflix’s exclusive NFL broadcasts attracted an average of over 30 million viewers per game during its doubleheader. (Comparatively, last year’s Christmas triple-header on CBS averaged just under 29 million viewers.) Notably, it was last year when advertising expenditures for digital video officially exceeded those for traditional linear television. Here’s how this transformation is poised to impact viewers and marketers by 2025.

Increased Live Content on CTV

In the coming year, the momentum for live content on streaming services is set to expand, encompassing more than just sports.

“By 2025, streaming services are likely to diversify their offerings beyond live sports, introducing more scheduled viewing options such as comedy specials, concerts, political broadcasts, and even more quirky events like hot-dog-eating competitions,” stated Kevin Krim, CEO of ad measurement firm EDO. “Award ceremonies could become exclusive to streaming platforms, and the return of weekly scripted programming releases may boost audience retention. These live occurrences underscore streaming’s unique capability to foster cultural moments, uniting audiences in real time and attracting advertisers aiming to leverage these shared experiences.”

Advertising Strategies with CTV at the Forefront

“The rapid migration of viewers from traditional TV to streaming has established connected TV (CTV) as a vital element of contemporary advertising,” remarked Adam Roodman, GM at Yahoo DSP. “As streaming services broaden their ad-supported options, advertisers will gain enhanced control over reach, frequency, and targeting, making CTV an essential platform for engaging on-demand consumers.”

Major streamers like Netflix and Amazon Prime are increasing their ad-supported tiers, providing advertisers with more opportunities to place contextually relevant ads.

“The CTV landscape is evolving swiftly, offering the potential to advance from basic app-level targeting to more sophisticated approaches like contextual and emotional targeting based on the content’s tone,” added Jon Schulz, CMO at programmatic advertising company Viant Technology. “These developments enable more intelligent, secure, and quantifiable campaigns that yield superior outcomes.”

Explore further: CTV Ads Outperform Mobile and Desktop in Viewer Engagement

The Ascendancy of SSPs

“The growth of digital video and CTV is set to continue its significant rise in 2025, offering SSPs (supply-side platforms) the opportunity to connect supply with demand,” explained Chris Hogg, Chief Revenue Officer at Lotame, an adtech firm that bridges the gap between SSPs and DSPs (demand-side platforms).

“As SSPs enhance their curation capabilities, simplifying the process for purchasing CTV inventory directly, and as agencies slowly pivot towards audience-focused targeting as opposed to conventional contextual methods used in linear buying, the dynamic in the digital video market will increasingly favor SSPs,” Hogg noted. “Parent companies utilizing data-sharing technologies will further this trend, allowing them to unify audiences across their brands for deeper and more scalable targeting.”

Leveraging AI for Ad Personalization

Streaming is encroaching on linear TV’s historical dominance over live sports, which is a positive development for advertisers, as streaming offers them personalized approaches that linear TV cannot provide.

“[CTV] will emerge as a crucial channel, with its growing viewership fostering more targeted and trackable campaigns,” explained Sujatha Gopal, Chief Technology Officer at the Communications, Media, and Information Services Business Unit at TCS. “Platforms offering free ad-supported TV (FAST) and OTT (over-the-top) services will also experience substantial ad-driven revenue opportunities.”

Gopal elaborated: “AI-driven software will fine-tune advertisements in real time, allowing for dynamic adjustments that convey personalized messages. Such tailored ads are more likely to attract clicks, translating into improved returns on ad spend (ROAS).”

“Audiences demand live sports that unfold in real time,” stated Oz Etzioni, CEO and co-founder of digital marketing company Clinch. “As the appetite for live sports escalates, so does the investment in the technology that facilitates it. When audiences are willing to pay for live sports content, they signal a desire for increasingly relevant and personalized advertising experiences.”

Consolidation of Major Shows and Unique Offerings through FAST

“As established giants in the media sector divest from traditional cable networks, we will observe a consolidation in how consumers access premium CTV content,” noted Aaron Grote, VP of digital products at digital marketing agency Stirista. “The most sought-after content will be channelled through fewer, larger distribution platforms, resulting in a lopsided ecosystem dominated by a select few major players with fewer mid-tier participants.”

“Many forecast a shift back to a cable-like bundling structure; however, younger generations are pushing for more flexible, app-centric consumption patterns,” commented Julie Clark, SVP of media and entertainment at TransUnion. “Emerging avenues with FAST channels, such as Tubi, will be essential for engaging consumers in more agile and innovative manners.”

Utilizing Clean Rooms to Address CTV Data Issues

“Measurement will be pivotal, but which metrics are reliable?” queried Travis Howe, Vice President and global head of new product solutions at Samsung Ads. “The real heroes will be the clean rooms rather than the measurement organizations…Successful campaign optimization will hinge on a trifecta collaboration between brands, clean rooms, and CTV partners with verified data to generate meaningful, measurable outcomes.”

Explore further: A Beginner’s Guide to Data Clean Rooms