CTV Advertising Growth
Connected TV advertising is growing at an impressive pace. In 2026, CTV ad spend will reach $38 billion (+14% YoY).
By 2028, CTV advertising will reach $46.89 billion, surpassing traditional linear TV ($45 billion).
Streaming Dominance
Why is CTV growing so fast?
- Streaming captured 47.5% of all TV viewing (December 2025)
- Cord-cutting continues — traditional pay TV loses subscribers
- Younger audiences watch streaming, not linear TV
- Programmatic buying removes barriers for small advertisers
Programmatic & AI Creative
Programmatic buying and AI-generated creative have removed the barrier for small businesses to advertise on TV:
AI Creative
Generate hundreds of personalized ad variations in minutes.
Programmatic
Automated buying with real-time optimization.
Targeting
Audience and contextual targeting like digital ads.
Measurement
Attribution and outcome tracking.
Role of Metadata in CTV Targeting
Programmatic ad targeting requires program-level metadata for contextual and brand-safe placement:
Advertiser Pain Point
Advertiser wants to target "family comedies 6-8 PM" → without enriched metadata (genre, mood, rating) this is impossible.
Required metadata for CTV ad targeting:
Universal IDs
TMS/Gracenote-compatible IDs for measurement.
Genre Taxonomy
Sports, news, comedy, drama, documentary.
Mood Tags
Happy, sad, tense, romantic, inspiring.
Content Ratings
Age ratings for brand safety.
EPG Service Solution
EPG Service provides enriched metadata for CTV ad targeting:
Universal Content IDs
Global content identifiers (TMS/Gracenote-compatible) for cross-platform measurement and attribution.
Genre Taxonomy
Standardized genre classification: sports, news, comedy, drama, documentary — for consistent targeting.
Mood Tags
Emotional mood tags: happy, sad, tense, romantic, inspiring — not genres.
Content Ratings
Age ratings and content warnings for brand safety.
Cast & Celebrity Data
Actor information for affinity targeting.
Need contextual CTV targeting?
EPG Service provides enriched metadata for programmatic CTV advertising: genre, mood, ratings, cast data.
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