The future of CTV will be defined by what we can trust
Opinion – The Future of TV: Global Series
CTV is a powerful channel but there is a question about how its growth will be sustained. Clearer visibility into supply and more reliable performance insight will help, according to Integral Ad Science’s Nick Welch
Connected TV has reached an inflexion point.
Investment is still rising, audiences are no longer in question, and more inventory is becoming available across platforms. The channel has secured its place in modern video strategies. From the outside, that progress looks straightforward.
But look closer, and the picture becomes more complicated. The way CTV inventory is bought, measured, and delivered is not always transparent, and that lack of clarity – often referred to as the ‘black box’ of CTV – is starting to shape how confidently advertisers are willing to invest.
Data from IAB Europe supports this, finding that 18% of market participants do not know the extent of their programmatic activity in CTV, underlining how difficult it can be to track how inventory is actually being bought and sold.
The next phase of growth will depend less on expansion and more on transparency and confidence at the content level.
Clearer definition needed
CTV has long been associated with premium content, offering a viewing experience that is closer to traditional television than other digital formats, which has shaped how advertisers value it.
As the market expands, that perception is harder to sustain without question.
Not every environment delivers the same level of quality, and the differences are not always easy to identify. Without clarity, buyers can lose sight of where their ads appear, leaving them vulnerable to unsuitable content or opaque reselling.
This becomes more significant as investment increases. CTV creative is often of higher value, and campaigns carry greater weight. When the surrounding context is unclear, the risk extends beyond inefficiency to affect how a brand is experienced by the viewer.
Advertisers need linear-like transparency – the ability to know exactly which programme, genre, and rating their ad ran alongside – to restore the confidence they’ve come to expect from traditional television.
The measurement challenge
Part of the difficulty comes from how CTV has developed. The channel combines elements of broadcast television with digital infrastructure. This combination introduces complexity, as a single impression may pass through several platforms before reaching the screen.
For instance, an ad might be served through a demand-side platform, routed via multiple exchanges or supply-side platforms, and finally delivered through a streaming app or smart TV environment.
Each step plays a role in delivery, but not all of them offer the same level of transparency.
That structure makes measurement more complex than it first appears. Some of the signals advertisers depend on in other channels are either missing or only partially visible in CTV.
In practice, this leaves teams with an incomplete view of performance, struggling to avoid issues such as device spoofing or ad fraud.
There is often a patchwork of self-reported signals that are hard to act on and impossible to compare across platforms. Metrics such as consistent device-level identifiers, detailed placement data, or real-time engagement signals may be limited in certain environments.
In European markets, there is additional complexity due to regulatory constraints on utilising device-level identifiers and cross-platform tracking, which further widens the measurement gap in performance.
Not all CTV content carries the same weight.
Because inventory labelled ‘CTV’ can encompass anything from premium TV shows to display ads in gaming apps, advertisers must look beyond the broad category to ensure their spend is optimised for the specific content type that drives their unique KPIs.
As more budget flows into the channel, those gaps become harder to ignore. Advertisers are expected to make larger commitments without always having the level of insight they would expect elsewhere. Over time, that imbalance can create market stagnation.
From visibility to accountability
Addressing this requires a more detailed approach to measurement. Advertisers need to understand exactly where an ad appeared and how that environment performed.
AI is starting to address this. Deep content and supply chain analysis enable greater assessment of content, offering a clearer picture of the context surrounding each impression. This helps determine whether placements align with brand expectations and ensure they are running in fraud-free, brand-suitable environments.
At the same time, large-scale processing enables analysis of performance across vast volumes of inventory. Patterns begin to emerge that would otherwise go unnoticed, giving advertisers a proactive decision-making guidance system.
This changes the nature of measurement. It brings a level of precision that allows teams to move beyond assumptions and work with an independent measurement framework.
When that level of detail is available, it becomes easier to link media quality with real business outcomes, ensuring that media quality acts as an engine for growth – whether that outcome is attention, engagement, or conversion.
Why supply path clarity matters
The way inventory moves through the supply chain is another important factor. As programmatic routes expand, more intermediaries, such as demand-side platforms, supply-side platforms, ad exchanges, resellers, or data providers, can become involved in a single transaction. Each step can reduce transparency and introduce inefficiency.
For advertisers, this raises a simple but important question: where is their investment actually going?
Without a clear answer, it becomes difficult to optimise spend or identify where value is being lost. In a channel built on the promise of quality, that lack of visibility can weaken confidence.
Greater clarity around supply paths helps address this. When advertisers can trace how impressions are delivered, they are better placed to support environments that meet their expectations.
Building trust into the next phase of CTV
As CTV continues to mature, trust will play a more central role. Advertisers need confidence in where their campaigns appear and how performance is being measured
This cannot be solved by any one part of the ecosystem alone. Progress depends on closer alignment between publishers, platforms, and technology providers – particularly around shared measurement standards.
There are signs that this is beginning to happen.
More attention is being given to content-level transparency and to creating a clearer understanding of media quality across different environments. These efforts are helping reduce uncertainty, enabling marketers to make more informed decisions and protect and scale their CTV investment strategies.
A more accountable future for CTV
CTV remains a powerful channel. Audiences are engaged, and the format offers a depth of attention that is difficult to replicate elsewhere. Growth is certain. The question is how that growth will be sustained.
A more accountable approach to measurement will be central to that. Clearer visibility into supply, along with more reliable performance insight, will shape how advertisers allocate spend.
The future of CTV is still taking shape. What is becoming clear is that scale alone will not define success. Advertisers will place their confidence in environments they understand, where quality can be assured, and performance can be trusted.
Nick Welch is senior director, programmatic and sell-side development, EMEA at Integral Ad Science