Keeping the complexities of marketing channels in mind, Modern Retail+ Research has analyzed strategies and challenges across leading marketing channels — like retail media, influencer marketing and social media — to identify key trends and best practices in our CMO Strategies series. In this installment, Modern Retail+ Research focuses on an analysis of the ad-supported streaming landscape and its role in marketers’ playbooks.

As CTV matures, the streaming ad industry is entering a period of change. Media giants like The Walt Disney Company and Paramount are pursuing mergers that have the potential to reduce market fragmentation and strengthen scale. At the same time, advertisers are reevaluating how they measure success across streaming platforms as performance expectations rise and audience viewing habits shift. Industry-wide, brands and platforms are experimenting with how to best implement AI in CTV.

Modern Retail+ Research’s fifth annual report analyzes the state of ad-supported streaming and the challenges those companies pose to marketers.

Methodology

To map out marketers’ current digital playbook, Modern Retail+ Research distributed three surveys asking 125 respondents a range of questions, including past and upcoming investments, marketing channel tactics and business challenges.