Digging into CTV’s 3 Biggest Challenges in 2025
CTV has become an integral part of nearly every brand advertiser’s media plan. The past several years have seen an explosion of streaming and connected TV options for consumers, bringing seemingly endless options for buyers. Even the biggest annual event in television advertising, the Super Bowl, streamed on Tubi this year.
Yet this bounty is not without continued complications. The latest forecasts have streaming TV ad revenue growing by 13% this year, on pace to top linear revenues before the 2020s are over. The only way this is possible is if some of the biggest questions and challenges are solved relatively quickly. These include persistent issues that can stymie growth, including scale, targeting, and a lack of buyer education.
Achieving Scale
The issue of reach has dogged CTV since its earliest days. It’s widely accepted that linear TV’s biggest draw has always been its unparalleled scale. Almost as important is the fact that linear TV’s scale was easily purchased through more centralized means. As linear viewership loses share to addressable linear and CTV, the audiences are now a bit more complicated to reach.
Live sports content is becoming more common on CTV, which helps, but there still aren’t many opportunities for brands to achieve consistent scale through streaming.
Consumers spend more time with CTV today and the landscape is far more fragmented than linear TV ever was. The apps, platforms and publishers that viewers use to access programming are siloed, making it more difficult for buyers to get the scale they’re after. Different platforms and publishers will also use different identifiers, further complicating the ease in which buyers can have their ads displayed across media.
This complicates the use of data, which is the lifeblood of modern marketing. Scaled audiences are only good if they are accurate, which necessitates that inventory and data can both scale. No advertiser wants to see out-of-market delivery when they strive for a clear vision of targeting from the jump. The industry has seen incredible growth in these areas. If the experts are correct in their prediction around CTV consolidation happening this year, these issues will likely resolve through the interoperability of identifiers and transparency in the ecosystem. In the meantime, CTV buyers can maximize scale through a diversified targeting strategy that utilizes quality demographic, viewership, and subscriber data along with frequent campaign optimization.
Precision Targeting
While consumer attention is the primary reason brands are eager to invest in CTV, there are several secondary factors. One is the combination of digital targeting within the TV environment and engagement. Yet for all the talk about sophisticated, digital-like audience targeting across CTV, many brands are still making purchases solely on demographics. Some are using their first-party data to do this, but there is an opportunity to get more sophisticated. As more users flock to this channel, more data becomes available fueling advanced audience insights and improved targeting based on viewing behavior, subscriptions and purchases, lifestyle choices, and more.
Meanwhile, biddable CTV is growing, and many brands still prefer direct deals with only the top-tier streaming platforms. This strategy guarantees placements on premium platforms but doesn’t necessarily take advantage of everything streaming and the delivery format has to offer.
Brands are clamoring for the ability to deliver more sophisticated audience targeting, advanced measurement capabilities, and omnichannel integrations. More importantly, they are looking to do this with a focus on privacy-conscious ad solutions. All the talk around third-party cookies on traditional browsers has made brands aware that they need future-proofed targeting solutions in place when they make significant investments in CTV. For those investments to continue to scale up over the next five years, brands need precision without privacy risks.
Lack of Education
While scale and targeting capabilities are ongoing issues, there have been developments in these areas that may satisfy some brands – yet many brands aren’t aware of what’s possible. The lack of education may be the biggest stumbling block when it comes to CTV ad buying’s future. Brands can’t spend money on something if they don’t know it exists, let alone how it works.
There certainly are brands taking advantage of the audience and targeting capabilities in CTV. But the fractured nature of buying CTV has kept many from adopting newer strategies. When it comes to the programmatic application in TV, many buyers have a rudimentary understanding. The space has become extremely complex with data fragmentation causing obstacles with universal view-through. Not to mention the evergreen challenge of measurement and attribution.
This lack of understanding is keeping advertisers away. Many are still reliant on remnant linear TV to keep costs down, rather than looking at the potentially high ROI that comes with targeted CTV inventory. This has led to brands and agency holding companies creating or acquiring their own technologies and platforms to address the learning curve and facilitate media buying.
The year it comes together
CTV’s issues are plentiful, but they are not insurmountable. This year is already shaping up to be one of major innovations in the CTV space, with reports that many companies are pivoting away from cookieless solutions and instead focusing their product roadmaps on CTV.
This will likely be the year that CTV really enters its prime. Understanding the data that fuels CTV success will be a core catalyst for overcoming prevalent scale, targeting and educational challenges. Savvy advertisers can get ahead of the curve and the competition by embracing a data-centric strategy, positioning themselves to lead as the market evolves.
[Editor's note: This is a contributed article from Alliant. Streaming Media accepts vendor bylines based solely on their value to our readers.]
Related Articles
Streaming Media Connect 2025's featured a fascinating Keynote Fireside Chat featuring NPAW VP Sales Global | DXI Bruno Giner and Media Universe Cartographer Evan Shapiro. The discussion focused on the importance of data in the streaming industry and NPAW's strategic approach to it, emphasizing the need for democratization and unification of data across departments to improve business outcomes.
05 Mar 2025
The rapid growth of FAST channels in 2024 shows no signs of slowing, with ad-supported streaming set to dominate as its popularity rises worldwide and the gap between ad-supported and ad-free tiers widens. But with the space evolving so quickly, one question lingers: how long can this momentum last? FAST Channels TV has just released its What to Expect from FAST in 2025 Trends Report, and Russell Foy, CEO of FAST Channels TV, outlines how FAST platforms can remain competitive in this rapidly developing streaming space.
27 Jan 2025
The convergence of advanced technology and the growing influence of big tech has set the stage for 2025 to become a pivotal year for businesses. As industries evolve, companies must break free from outdated models and embrace cutting-edge innovations to truly engage and empower their audiences. This shift isn't just an opportunity—it's a necessity for those looking to thrive in today's user-driven landscape. Forward-thinking strategies, driven by collaboration and AI, can help M&E companies not just stay afloat but lead in 2025 and beyond.
06 Jan 2025