Sponsored by Tatari • June 18, 2026 •
Sam Joachim, senior director, client services, Tatari
Every brand running a CTV campaign is chasing efficiency — lower CPMs, tighter targeting, faster iteration. This makes streaming sponsorships look like the last thing a marketer would want to budget for, with higher CPMs, non-cancellable commitments and premium inventory that costs more than anything else in the plan. In theory, it feels like a brand awareness play for companies with big budgets to spare.
The data says something different.
Sponsorships are outperforming most standard streaming buys on the metrics that actually matter: response rates, conversion rates and cost per acquisition (CPA). The “expensive” buy is turning out to be the most efficient one. Understanding why that is means understanding what a streaming sponsorship actually is and what it can do that a standard streaming TV spot can’t.
