Connected TV's Measurement Problem: Why Your CTV Strategy Needs a Reality Check
Platform-reported CTV metrics are creating false performance signals—brands with proper measurement will achieve 50% better ROI
Connected TV advertising is booming, but the measurement and attribution challenges are creating a false sense of performance that's leading to massive budget misallocation.
The Attribution Black Hole
CTV promises the targeting precision of digital with the impact of television, but the reality is far messier. Cross-device attribution, household-level targeting, and the walled garden nature of most CTV platforms make accurate measurement nearly impossible with current tools.
Brands are making CTV investment decisions based on platform-reported metrics that often don't align with business results. The lack of standardized measurement across CTV platforms makes it difficult to compare performance or optimize budget allocation.
The Reach vs. Precision Trade-off
Broadcast TV still dominates reach, yet 50% of people say most of their TV watching is streaming, creating a complex media landscape where brands must balance reach and precision across multiple viewing environments.
The most successful CTV strategies recognize that streaming and broadcast serve different purposes in the marketing funnel and require different measurement approaches and optimization strategies.
Building Better CTV Measurement
The solution requires combining platform data with first-party customer data to create a more complete picture of CTV performance. Brands need to implement incrementality testing, cross-platform attribution modeling, and brand lift studies to truly understand CTV impact.
Forecast: Brands that develop sophisticated CTV measurement capabilities will achieve 50% better ROI by 2026, while those relying on platform-reported metrics will continue to overspend on underperforming campaigns.