CTV & video · also called Connected TV, smart TV advertising
CTV (connected TV)
CTV (connected TV) is any television connected to the internet, such as a smart TV, streaming stick, games console or set-top box, and the advertising shown in streaming apps on it.
CTV brings digital advertising to the living-room screen. When you watch a streaming app on a smart TV, Roku, Fire TV stick, Apple TV, Chromecast or games console, the ads are usually selected and delivered by ad tech rather than scheduled by a broadcaster, which means they can be bought programmatically, targeted and measured.
CTV combines TV's big-screen, lean-back impact with digital features: household-level targeting, frequency capping, real-time bidding and outcome measurement. Ads are typically unskippable video in ad pods, often inserted server-side via SSAI, and delivered using VAST. Supply comes from FAST channels, AVOD services and ad tiers of SVOD platforms.
CTV's high prices attract fraud. Because TVs do not run browsers and many ads are stitched on servers, it is harder to verify the device and app, which enables SSAI spoofing, app spoofing and device spoofing (see CTV fraud). Buyers mitigate this with app-ads.txt, direct paths, verification and IAB Tech Lab CTV guidelines. CTV is not the same as OTT, which describes the delivery method, not the screen.
Think of it like this
CTV is like the family TV getting a digital brain: it still sits in the living room, but now it chooses which adverts to show each household.
An example
A car brand in the US buys CTV ads on a FAST channel targeted to households in three states that recently visited dealer websites, capping each household at four exposures a week.
Related terms
OTT (over-the-top)
OTT (over-the-top) means video and audio content delivered over the internet directly to viewers, bypassing cable, satellite or broadcast distribution, and watchable on any device.
SSAI (server-side ad insertion)
SSAI (server-side ad insertion) stitches video ads directly into the content stream on a server before it reaches the viewer, creating seamless, TV-like playback that ad blockers find hard to detect.
CTV fraud
CTV fraud is ad fraud targeting connected TV and streaming inventory, such as spoofed apps, fake devices, SSAI spoofing and infected streaming boxes, exploiting CTV's high prices and harder verification.
FAST (free ad-supported streaming TV)
FAST (free ad-supported streaming TV) channels are free, linear-style streaming channels with scheduled programming and ad breaks, delivered over the internet to smart TVs and apps.
Household ID
A household ID is an identifier representing a home and the devices in it, rather than one person, used mainly in CTV and addressable TV for targeting, frequency capping and measurement.
Addressable TV
Addressable TV is the ability to show different ads to different households watching the same programme, based on data about each household, across set-top boxes, smart TVs or streaming.
Sources: IAB Tech Lab CTV standards, IAB Tech Lab CTV Ad Format Portfolio