Better transparency is critical for increasing CTV investment, says DoubleVerify

“Addressing transparency issues in CTV is critical for increasing investment.”

That is according to David Goddard, SVP, business development for publishers at DoubleVerify (and member of the Board of Directors for IAB Europe), whose company surveyed global marketers and found that 68% require transparency to justify the high cost of CTV advertising.

DoubleVerify provides digital media measurement, data and analytics solutions, and the survey is contained in its May report: Trends in the Modern Streaming Landscape – 2025 Global Insights. It also found that only half of CTV impressions offered full app transparency in 2024, although transparency is consistently improving.

The report shows that in H2 2022, 46% of CTV impressions came with full app transparency. By H2 2024 this figure was 51% and in Q1 2025 it hit 64%.

Goddard points out that investment is still rising in connected TV but says this will become a more powerful channel as transparency and viewability measurement improve and these provide the basis for greater clarity on the quality of media and its performance.

“The question is how we ensure streaming TV fulfils its potential, which is massive,” he said. “We will help by enabling optimisation for better quality environments and performance.”

The Modern Streaming Landscape report makes it clear that lack of transparency, viewability and fraud all continue to drive media waste and undercut performance today. It also explains how this landscape is improving, partly thanks to increased adoption of third-party tags by advertisers, with publishers accepting them.

Content-level insights

According to Goddard, content-level insights are one of the ways CTV can attract even more budget. This goes beyond stating the app where ads are placed and signals the content within the app, which makes it easier to avoid adult ratings, for example.

This advance has been pioneered at NBCUniversal (since a March 2024 announcement) where ratings, genre and programming details are among the insights offered. “We think transparency at a content level is critically important,” Goddard says.

In its survey data, the Modern Streaming Landscape report found that 65% of global marketers would pay a premium CPM for ad placements alongside live, professionally-produced content, giving an idea of how better content signalling could also boost publisher revenues.

Goddard has observed a trend for more CTV suppliers to offer multi-publisher programmatic inventory that does not reveal which publisher inventory is bought. This is one example of where protections are needed for buyers.

“You can have reputable broadcaster and [Smart TV device] OEM content inside these [inventory pools], which use a placeholder ID instead of a bundle ID [typical of a publisher app] but we help advertisers avoid bidding on these if they want to.”

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Transparency is the first step towards better all-round measurement, and the second challenge for CTV – perhaps surprisingly – is viewability. The DoubleVerify report reveals that “TV Off” remains an issue, although a much reduced one.

This is where an ad within a video stream running in an app continues to play even when the TV screen has been turned off.

“When functioning properly, the ‘TV Off’ signal sent by the TV should prompt the app to pause or stop playback when the TV is not in use. But not all apps respond to the TV Off signal,” the report explains.

Goddard points to the complexity of the CTV environment, with apps working with various operating systems and devices. “We work with even the larger broadcasters to improve viewability for our clients, but we do see adverts being served when the TV is off,” he reveals.

The practical approach to improving this is improved software programming of streaming apps, so more CTV environments pass Fully On-Screen (FOS) testing.

Ads still served with TV off

In July 2024, 11% of all CTV inventory was served to apps with TV Off issues but by December of that year (the busiest ad placement month) this figure dropped to 3%.

With the TV screen on, the vast majority of CTV ads are fully viewable, but Goddard warns there are exceptions.

“In our labs we have found device, app and hardware variations where lower-quality CTV apps have shown ads that were limited to the top corner of the television screen or were not 100% on the screen. You cannot assume it is all viewable.”

Among its solutions, DoubleVerify provides an MRC-accredited solution that proves the TV is on and that ads are fully on screen. This includes quartile measurement to determine if an ad meets the IAB’s viewability standard.

One recent development that will help verification and viewability measurement is the IAB’s Open Measurement SDK (OM SDK), which communicates directly with a video player and sends measurement signals to the Open Measurement Interface Definition (OMID), which is an API (application programming interface). Measurement providers use tags to collect the signals.

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OM SDK-enabled signals can include ad container geometry, playback events and much more. We recently reported how DPG Media has made it more likely that advertisers will buy its live and linear addressable TV inventory – including sports – by implementing this standard.

The DoubleVerify report states that robust CTV viewability enables advertisers to optimise for environments with the most viewable inventory, “which are more likely to yield successful outcomes.” That means improved budget efficiency.

It also declares that “Transparency is essential for advertisers looking to optimise performance and ensure media quality in streaming environments.”

Goddard makes it clear that DoubleVerify is firmly focused on these higher-level outcomes. “What we are hearing from clients [advertisers] all around the world is the desire to define media quality so they can find impactful reach. How does premium streaming TV compare with other video: does it have a stronger impact and how do they measure that?”

DoubleVerify’s DV Authentic Attention metric helps gauge the likely impact of media, making it one building block in linking transparency and viewability to outcomes.

The company is also developing a content-scoring methodology for streaming TV that enables advertisers to maximise their reach while maintaining alignment with their media quality standards at the programme level. This is expected to improve confidence in the performance of campaigns.

Native home screen ads

Goddard points out that native home screen ads on Smart TVs (or other connected TV devices) are an important new inventory source – and DoubleVerify is treating these as part of the wider CTV landscape.

DoubleVerify is expanding its measurement to include these, with insights on viewability, on-screen time and a focus on fraud protection.

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While transparency and viewability challenges are being addressed, the DoubleVerify report contains a strong warning on the need for continued progress.

“Our data shows a 66% year-over-year increase in CTV impressions in 2024. Streaming is undoubtedly rich with opportunity for advertisers, but it’s not without its growing pains.

“As investment surges, persistent issues around transparency, viewability and fraud – all factors that contribute to media waste – remain significant challenges within the CTV ecosystem.

“Without protections in place, advertisers stand to lose an average of $700,000 per billion impressions on CTV inventory that was not served in a fraud-free, viewable, safe and suitable environment.”