What is connected TV?
Connected TV (CTV) is television streamed over the internet, on smart TVs and streaming platforms. For advertisers, it brings the impact of the big screen with the buying logic of digital: programmatic access, audience targeting and frequency control.
How it differs from classic TV
- Targeting: audiences by interest, behaviour and household data instead of broad demographic blocks.
- Frequency control: cap how often a household sees the spot, across apps, instead of buying blind repetition.
- Measurement: delivery and reach reported like digital media, with a path towards outcome measurement.
- Entry price: no minimum spot budget from the TV world, so brands can test the big screen without a TV sized commitment.
Why it matters
Attention is migrating from linear TV to streaming, and the advertising money follows the attention. CTV sits between classic TV and online video: TV level attention with digital level measurement, which makes it a natural awareness layer inside a digital plan rather than a separate world with its own rules.
How to use it well
Plan CTV with the rest of the mix, not as a trophy channel. Reuse audience insights from social and search, hold one frequency story across screens, and measure its contribution with Media Mix Modelling, because the people it convinces will rarely click.
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