Watch: Your CTV Performance Playbook

You trusted Connected TV (CTV) to deliver growth. You poured in budget. You bought the hype. 

And now? You're staring down ballooning costs, confusing metrics, and results that don't match the promise. 

You’re not alone. 

CTV ad spending is projected to hit $33 billion this year, but many brands still struggle to make Connected TV a reliable growth driver. 

The problem isn't just CTV itself. It's how we're approaching it. 

In this highlight from IndustryDive's "Sharpening the Picture on Connected TV Marketing”, Chief Media Officer Catherine Walstad reveals four strategies to make CTV work harder in 2025. 

 

1. Cut costs through technology. 

Remember when everyone said CTV would democratize TV advertising? Fast forward to today, and we're facing CPMs that are 5-10x higher than linear TV. 

It gets worse. When you buy programmatically, media costs are layered with hidden fees—SSP charges, exchange fees, video serving costs. This means performance marketers face significant ROI challenges. 

Instead of limiting your buys to premium publishers alone, expand into extended media where you can reach similar audiences at a fraction of the cost. Work with a demand-side platform (DSP) that has direct relationships with publishers to access broader inventory at competitive rates, slash fees, and control frequency. 
 

2. Target smarter, not harder. 

Third-party targeting sounds good. Until you realize you’re paying extra to show ads to a teenager streaming on their parents’ account. 

Even worse, tight targeting parameters mean you're missing some of your best prospects who aren't tied to an account. 

This doesn't mean you should abandon targeting. Demographic, geographic, and contextual targeting can all deliver impressive results without eye-watering costs. Plus, your first-party data remains one of your most powerful targeting assets. 

 

3. Never rely on a single metric. 

Imagine spending tens of thousands on a CTV campaign only to receive four completely different performance reports. One says you're crushing it with a 4x return. Another suggests you're barely breaking even. A third indicates you're losing money. Which do you believe? 

This isn't hypothetical. It happens to real brands every day. 

CTV’s fractured world of inconsistent device graphs and measurement standards means marketers live with uncertainty. And fraud? It's a real threat, not a rounding error.  

The path forward is trusting no single metric completely. Combine IP tracking with incrementality testing, employ third-party fraud prevention, and build a portfolio of measurement models that reveals the true picture of your campaign's impact.  

 

4. Think holistically about TV. 

Perhaps most importantly, marketers should stop viewing CTV in isolation. The most effective campaigns integrate all forms of TV advertising. 

Your viewers don't distinguish between streaming and linear TV. They're just looking for compelling content. According to Nielsen, 74% of TV households watch both forms of TV regularly, and nearly a third of "streaming" time is actually spent with linear content delivered through streaming platforms. 

The most successful campaigns embrace this reality, creating a seamless presence across the entire TV ecosystem. Together, linear and CTV work even better. 

The future of television is undeniably streaming. 

But mastering the channel requires new strategies. The potential is there. The audience is watching. Now it's time for marketers to catch up.