What's Next for CTV Advertising: Comscore's State of Programmatic 2025 Survey
Comscore’s State of Programmatic 2025 offers survey-based data that reveals where advertising budgets are going in 2025 (think CTV), how quickly marketers are turning to cookie-free (48% cookie-free by the end of 2025), and what CTV ads do well (branding) and not so well (performance). It's a free download and well worth your time to retrieve and digest.
CTV's Meteoric Rise
One of the most striking findings from the report is the rapid growth of CTV advertising. The average budget allocated to CTV is projected to double from 14% in 2023 to 28% in 2025, with marketers reallocating funds from linear TV and web and mobile digital advertising to capitalize on this burgeoning channel. This trend is fueled by the increasing popularity of streaming services and the decline of traditional television viewership as consumers cut the cord and embrace digital content consumption.
What This Means for You: Your colleagues are clearly embracing CTV. Before you adjust your budget to keep up with the Joneses, read on to learn more about how they are using CTV.
CTV's Identity Crisis: Branding Powerhouse or Performance Player?
Interestingly, while CTV is experiencing explosive growth, there seems to be a disconnect between its perceived strengths and its potential for performance marketing. A surprising 80% of marketers identify CTV as the most effective channel for achieving brand objectives, yet only 20% believe it's suitable for performance marketing goals, i.e., driving direct sales. This disparity is puzzling, considering that, according to the report, CTV boasts a high percentage of impressions with known IDs (89%), which should theoretically make it a strong contender for performance-oriented campaigns.
Several factors could be contributing to this disconnect. Measurement challenges, the inherent brand-building focus of CTV's immersive experience, creative format limitations, inventory constraints, and lingering industry perceptions may all play a role. As measurement and targeting capabilities for CTV mature and marketers gain more experience with the channel, we may see a shift in how CTV is perceived and utilized for performance marketing.
What This Means for You: 80% of your colleagues think that CTV is a great branding tool, but only 20% see it as a performance marketing tool. This is interesting, given that multiple studies have found QR codes and other interactive ads very effective for driving conversions. Perhaps this is an arbitrage opportunity available for exploiting; it's better to be the only ad with a QR code than one of many.
The Shift Towards Cookie-Free Targeting
Another key trend highlighted in the report is the shift towards cookie-free targeting tactics. With the demise of third-party cookies and the rise of privacy regulations, marketers are actively seeking alternative solutions to maintain targeting effectiveness. By the end of 2025, 48% of marketers expect to primarily rely on cookie-free tactics, such as contextual targeting and first-party data strategies.
As you probably know, contextual targeting lets advertisers reach audiences based on the content they are consuming, while first-party data strategies leverage data collected directly from consumers, ensuring privacy compliance while maintaining targeting precision. When evaluating the survey's conclusion that contextual targeting will be the primary strategy for survey respondents in 2025 keep in mind that Comscore's Proximic service, which sponsored the survey and report, delivers "Contextual Targeting, Reimagined."
The cookie apocalypse is driving the push towards contextual.
This trend is further driven by the decline in ID-based impressions, as 54% of mobile impressions and 36% of desktop impressions lack IDs as of late 2024. CTV impressions also face challenges, with 11% lacking IDs, emphasizing the need for privacy-centric solutions to effectively reach audiences. These shifts reflect a practical response to the growing difficulty of using traditional ID-based methods.
What This Means for You: If you're not already thinking about how to target your ads without cookies, you're behind the curve. Almost half of your colleagues are already using cookie-free tactics. There are a number of different ways to do this, including contextual targeting and first-party data strategies.
Deduplicated Reach and Frequency: Comscore's Ring Around the Collar
Deduplicated reach feels like Comscore's "ring around the collar" moment—a legitimate issue that ties directly into their marketing materials (see here, here, here, and here). By highlighting a problem in the survey that your service (and only your service, as you frame it) promises to resolve, you've managed to position deduplicated reach as a critical differentiator.
While the issue is undeniably important in today’s fragmented advertising landscape, it’s worth noting that most services already provide unique impression counts or tools to manage reach and frequency across platforms. The real challenge—and where Comscore aims to stand out—is in deduplicating reach across disparate ecosystems at scale. This distinction makes it both a marketing pitch and a genuine value proposition for advertisers navigating increasingly complex campaigns.
What This Means for You: Make sure that your programmatic partners are providing you with deduplicated reach and frequency metrics. These metrics are essential for understanding how your campaigns are performing and for optimizing them for success.
Conclusion
Comscore's State of Programmatic 2025 report provides invaluable insights into the forces shaping the future of programmatic advertising. The report's key takeaways emphasize the growing importance of CTV, the shift towards cookie-free targeting tactics, and the increasing focus on deduplicated reach and frequency measurement. Marketers who stay ahead of these trends and adapt their strategies accordingly will be well-positioned to thrive in the ever-evolving programmatic landscape.
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