Connected television is projected to grow 14% in 2026, faster than the overall advertising market, according to IAB. But continued growth depends on proving that CTV delivers business results, not merely audiences and impressions.
CTV can solve two industry problems at once. First, it can prove the outcomes-based value of premium brand advertising, including its incremental effect on sales. Second, it can advance advertising measurement by making randomized experiments, the strongest evidence for causality, a routine campaign capability.
Search and social won with attribution. Retail media owns closed-loop marketing. CTV can claim the open ground: proving that premium brand advertising drives sales through credible causal evidence.
CTV is uniquely suited to do it. It combines the high-impact, high-attention, sight-sound-and-motion experience of television with digital delivery, addressability and the ability to vary exposure across households and geographies.
Brand advertising faces a credibility test
