CTV

PubMatic has its supply-path optimization initiative, its strategy to introduce direct deals for CTV and online video, to thank for its quarterly revenue growth.

Disney Advertising links up with Walmart Connect to let advertisers match Walmart’s and Disney’s first-party data for audience-based bids on Disney+ and Hulu inventory.

Disney is on track for its combined streaming offerings to reach profitability by the end of this year. Continued growth will hinge on bundling its streaming properties and its management of sports media.

Amazon unveiled three new interactive ad units for Prime Video, all of which are shoppable, ahead of its TV upfront debut.

NBCUniversal’s upfront pitch centers on advanced audiences, attribution and the fact that it built Peacock with advertising features baked in, rather than retrofitting it to support an AVOD model (unlike newer entrants to the ad-supported streaming competition).

Using Samba TV’s ACR data, StackAdapt is launching two features to help clients attribute and forecast incremental reach directly to streaming, compared to linear alone.

TV buyers predict that streaming publishers will heed their demands for greater flexibility, more programmatic execution and improved measurement during this year’s upfront season.

Paramount Global is reeling from shareholder pushback against a pending merger with private equity-backed production company Skydance Media. In the meantime, it’s hoping to impress advertisers with streaming subscriber and advertising growth.

Google used its NewFronts stage to unveil updates to DV360 that should make it easier for advertisers to manage campaigns across Google and other connected TV publishers.

The IAB projects digital video ad spend will rise to $63 billion in 2024, representing a 16% increase from last year. Of the three video ad categories the report breaks out (social and online video and CTV), the clear winner is social video.

Netflix grew its overall revenue by 15% year over year, largely driven by account growth, thanks to anti-password sharing tactics. It also unveiled new ad measurement options for advertisers.

Moonbug Entertainment, a content studio whose portfolio includes kid favorites such as CoComelon and Blippi, is trying to bring some form of ad measurement to children’s content through a new partnership with iSpot.

YouTube announced a new feature that allows advertisers to buy ads within YouTube Shorts specifically for particular content categories.

Television commerce, or T-commerce, is similar to shoppable TV: both refer to buying something you see on television. But shoppable TV is far more nascent – and also has different implications on attribution.

Yahoo is expanding its identity solutions to CTV media to make it easier for digital marketers to incorporate CTV within their digital media plans.

TV inventory shrinks as supply paths proliferate. To help organize the chaos, video ad server Innovid launched a new SPO product called Harmony Direct to give media buyers the shortest path possible to CTV ad supply.

LinkedIn has new connected TV ad placements to help its B2B marketers target audiences off-platform, while they’re streaming shows and movies.

Driver Studios, which has a COPPA-compliant ads business, is expanding its targeting to include more adults via a new partnership with privacy startup Qonsent.

Seedtag announced a product called Contextual TV designed to help its clients apply contextual targeting tactics to their streaming ad buys.

Disney just took the next stop on its journey to automate as much of its ad sales as possible by the end of this year with the release of DRAX Direct, an expansion of its real-time ad exchange.

NBCUniversal is making its annual case for bigger streaming ad budgets at One24, NBCU’s annual ad tech and data dog and pony show, which took place in New York City this week.

Streaming services that monetize with ads must prioritize engagement first and foremost. But programmers and investors alike named engagement as one of the top challenges of streaming profitability.

Self-serve CTV ad platform Vibe.co announced its $22.5 million Series A round, which it will use to bolster its machine learning and measurement chops to help SMBs give CTV a try.

Paramount touted its tailwinds during its Q4 earnings call, including a new partnership with Walmart that gives it access to the retailer’s shopper data.

Total ad spend from deals transacted through Magnite’s platform topped $5 billion for the full year, representing nearly 20% YOY growth, while full-year CTV ad spend was also up 20%.

If Walmart’s pending acquisition of Vizio makes it past regulators, the retail media giant will get to reap the rewards of a profitable data and ads business that strengthens its position as an adversary to Amazon.

Warner Bros. Discovery is in a tight spot with double-digit TV ad revenue declines – and its core streaming service, Max, hasn’t picked up the slack … yet.

Future Today, a streaming platform with a portfolio that includes content for kids, wants to rebrand itself to marketers and agencies as a “family-friendly” programmer that also has content designed for viewers over 13 years old.

Walmart buys smart TV maker Vizio to boost its ads business with streaming inventory, viewership data and, of course, shoppable TV ads.

Loop Media is squarely focused on monetizing out-of-home streaming in public venues such as bars and restaurants. But it takes legwork to convince advertisers to give “sorta CTV” a try.