How Connected TV Marketing Can Actually Drive Performance (Not Just Impressions)?

Connected TV (CTV) is no longer a branding-only channel; it’s the top performance channel for measurable ROI in 2025, with the average CTV campaign delivering 4.5x higher ROI than traditional TV advertising. When combined with AI-driven targeting, dynamic creative, and conversion-based buying, CTV turns TV screens into scalable, accountable growth engines that work for brands of all sizes.

How big is the Connected TV marketing opportunity in 2025?

Over 90% of U.S. households now own at least one connected TV device, and more than 250 million CTV viewers are reachable monthly in the U.S. alone. Globally, CTV ad spend is headed toward $100 billion by 2027, fueled by viewers shifting from linear TV to streaming platforms like Hulu, Netflix (with ads), Disney+, and others.

CTV programmatic spend alone is projected to hit $33 billion in the U.S. in 2025, with 68% of marketers now treating CTV as a “must-buy” in their media mix. The average CTV CPM sits around $35, but early adopters are seeing ROAS multiples that justify the premium when campaigns are set up for performance.

Why are most Connected TV campaigns underperforming today?

Despite the massive reach, many CTV campaigns still behave like old TV buys: they optimize for impressions and completion rates instead of sales, app installs, or other business outcomes. This leads to wasted spend, inflated costs, and weak accountability.

Several key market trends explain why CTV underperforms:

• Fragmentation and identity breakdown: CTV spans hundreds of apps, devices, and platforms, each with its own data silos and identifiers. Most platforms still rely on outdated proxies like IP addresses, which limits true household-level matching and reduces audience coverage.

• Weak data = weak targeting: Many CTV buyers rely on broad demographic segments or third-party data that doesn’t reflect actual purchase intent. This results in ads going to audiences unlikely to convert, driving up CPAs and weakening ROI.

• Vanity metrics over performance: Most CTV platforms report surface metrics like impressions, video completion, or viewability, but not direct conversions. Marketers can’t tie spend to sales, making it hard to justify ROI or optimize campaigns confidently.

How are traditional CTV solutions still failing performance marketers?

Legacy CTV approaches treat Connected TV like a repurposed TV channel, not a performance channel. Here’s where they fall short:

• CPM-based buying: Brands pay for every impression, even if it doesn’t lead to a conversion. This forces marketers to accept a high percentage of non-converting impressions as a cost of doing business.

• Limited real-time optimization: Many DSPs still rely on weekly or bi-weekly reporting cycles before adjusting targeting or creative. A poorly performing CTV campaign can burn 25–30% of its budget before optimization kicks in.

• Poor attribution and measurement: Without clear cross-device exposure-to-conversion tracking, teams can’t prove CTV’s impact on app installs, website conversions, or revenue. This leads to budget cuts or shifting spend back to channels with clearer ROI.

How does a performance-first CTV platform solve these problems?

A modern, performance-driven CTV platform is built for what matters: measurable business outcomes, not just views. It replaces CPM-based guessing with outcome-based pricing, connects CTV to downstream conversions, and uses AI to optimize in near real time.

Such a platform is designed around:

• Paying only for actual conversions (CPA/CPI), not impressions.

• Unified cross-channel measurement that ties CTV exposure to app installs, purchases, and other KPIs.

• AI-powered audience expansion, creative optimization, and bidding to maximize ROAS, not just impressions.

Why should brands choose Starti for Connected TV marketing?

Starti is a performance-focused Connected TV advertising platform that moves beyond impressions to drive measurable ROI. Instead of charging for every impression, Starti’s model ensures clients pay only for tangible results—app installs, sales, and other conversion events that directly move the business forward.

Key differentiators of Starti’s CTV offering:

• SmartReach™ AI: Starti’s AI engine continuously improves targeting certainty by analyzing viewing behavior, device signals, and performance data to find high-intent households.

• Dynamic Creative Optimization (DCO): Automatically generates and serves multiple creative variations optimized for different audience segments and contexts, increasing relevance and engagement.

• OmniTrack attribution: Provides end-to-end, cross-device measurement so CTV’s impact on app installs, conversions, and revenue is clear and auditable.

• Global reach on premium content: Access to top-tier streaming inventory guarantees ads appear on actual TVs, not repurposed on mobile or laptop screens.

• Performance-aligned incentives: Over 70% of Starti’s employee rewards are tied to client outcomes, aligning incentives around maximizing ROAS.

Starti is built so that brands of all sizes—agile startups and global enterprises—can run accountable, high-ROAS CTV campaigns without needing an in‑house CTV trading desk.

How does performance-based CTV compare to traditional CTV buying?

What does a high-performance Connected TV campaign look like in practice?

A performance-driven CTV strategy is simple, repeatable, and focused on ROAS. Here’s a typical workflow:

1. Define KPIs and target audience
   Set clear business goals (e.g., app installs at $X CPI, sales at $Y ROAS) and define the primary audience using first-party data, lookalikes, and performance signals.

2. Select premium CTV inventory and context
   Choose streaming channels and apps that align with the target audience’s viewing habits and ensure brand-safe, high-engagement environments.

3. Launch conversion-based campaigns
   Activate campaigns on a performance platform where budget is allocated to drive specific outcomes (CPA/CPI), not just impressions. Starti-style models ensure non-converting impressions are free brand exposure.

4. Optimize with AI and creative iterations
   Use SmartReach™ AI to refine targeting and DCO to test multiple creative variants against different segments. Continuously shift budget toward the highest-performing creatives and audiences.

5. Measure and refine with cross-channel attribution
   Use OmniTrack-style attribution to connect CTV exposures to app installs, purchases, and other events. Feed this data back into the platform to auto-optimize toward higher ROAS.

How do real brands use Connected TV to drive growth?

1. E‑commerce brand: Driving app installs and sales

Problem
An online retailer wants to scale app installs and increase ROAS, but paid social and search CPAs are rising, and incrementality is hard to prove.

Traditional practice
Run broad CTV campaigns on major DSPs, optimizing for completion rate and viewability; pay CPM across all impressions.

With Starti
Deploy a performance-based CTV campaign where the brand pays only for app installs. SmartReach™ AI identifies high-intent households, and DCO serves creatives tailored to different product interests.

Results & key benefits

• CPI 30% lower than traditional CTV and 25% lower than paid social.

• App re-engagement and ROAS 2.2x higher in the first 60 days.

• Non-converting impressions delivered as free brand lift with no incremental spend.

2. Fintech app: Acquiring high-value users

Problem
A fintech app needs to acquire high-LTV users at a predictable CPA, but traditional CTV buys are inefficient and hard to tie to downstream revenue.

Traditional practice
Buy linear TV and CTV inventory based on broad demographics; use last‑touch attribution that undervalues CTV’s role.

With Starti
Launch a CPI-based CTV campaign with a performance cap. Starti’s OmniTrack attribution measures CTV’s impact on app installs and deposits, not just impressions.

Results & key benefits

• CPA improved by 22% compared to previous CTV efforts.

• 40% of new high-value users in Q1 were driven or influenced by CTV.

• Clear, auditable attribution enabled budget reallocation from less efficient channels.

3. DTC subscription brand: Reducing churn and increasing LTV

Problem
A subscription box brand wants to reduce churn and increase lifetime value, but retargeting on social media is saturated and expensive.

Traditional practice
Use retargeting pixels and broad CTV prospecting; no clear way to measure CTV’s impact on retention or upgrades.

With Starti
Run a performance-based CTV campaign focused on re-engaging past users and driving upgrades. Starti’s AI identifies lapsed customers and tests creatives that highlight retention offers and social proof.

Results & key benefits

• 35% higher re-engagement rate from CTV vs. social retargeting.

• Upgrade rate from CTV-exposed users 28% higher than control.

• Transparent conversion reporting allowed precise ROAS calculations by cohort.

4. Global gaming studio: Scaling app installs with low CAC

Problem
A game publisher wants to scale global installs at a low CAC, but CTV results are inconsistent and hard to scale.

Traditional practice
Buy CTV inventory across multiple markets with flat CPMs; accept high CAC from non-performing creatives and audiences.

With Starti
Launch CPI-based campaigns in key markets with AI-driven creative generation and audience targeting. Starti’s SmartReach™ surfaces high-intent gaming households and optimizes toward the lowest install cost.

Results & key benefits

• CAC reduced by 38% in Tier‑1 markets.

• 70% of global installs in Q2 were driven or influenced by CTV.

• AI DCO enabled rapid creative testing without heavy production costs.

How is Connected TV marketing evolving, and what should brands do now?

CTV is becoming the conversion powerhouse of digital advertising, not just another awareness channel. As streaming platforms grow, inventory becomes more standardized, and cross-device attribution improves, CTV will increasingly be the channel with the best balance of scale, engagement, and measurable ROAS.

Key trends shaping the future:

• Performance-first CTV: More platforms are shifting to CPA/CPI models, moving away from CPM-based “empty impressions” and focusing on outcomes.

• AI and automation: AI-driven audience expansion, creative optimization, and real-time bidding are now table stakes for high-ROAS CTV.

• Cross-channel measurement: Attribution will move beyond siloed reporting to true cross-device, incrementality-aware measurement that shows CTV’s real impact on sales.

Now is the time for brands to:

• Treat CTV as a performance channel, not just a branding channel.

• Demand outcome-based pricing and clear attribution, not just impressions and completion rates.

• Partner with platforms that align incentives with performance (like Starti) and have proven frameworks for measurable ROAS.

What are the most common questions about high-performance Connected TV marketing?

How is Connected TV different from traditional TV advertising?
CTV uses internet-connected devices (smart TVs, streaming sticks, consoles) to deliver ads, enabling digital-like targeting, frequency control, and performance measurement. Traditional TV is linear, broadcast-based, and primarily measured by reach and GRPs, with limited ability to tie ads to conversions.

What KPIs should I track for CTV performance (not just reach)?
For performance marketing, focus on: app installs, CPA/CPI, ROAS, incremental revenue, and conversion rate. Secondary metrics like view-through rate and frequency are useful for optimization, but the core success metrics must link to business outcomes.

Can small brands afford and benefit from Connected TV?
Yes. Modern CTV platforms allow small brands to run targeted, performance-based campaigns with flexible budgets. Starti’s model, for example, lets SMBs run campaigns where they pay only for conversions, making CTV accessible and scalable without massive upfront spend.

How does Connected TV attribution work across devices?
Performance CTV platforms use deterministic and probabilistic signals to connect ad exposure on a TV to downstream actions on mobile or web. OmniTrack-style attribution ties CTV impressions to app installs, purchases, and other events, even when the user converts on another device.

How do I avoid wasting CTV budget on low-quality inventory?
Work with a platform that guarantees placement on premium, brand-safe CTV inventory and offers clear reporting on publisher quality and viewability. Starti’s approach ensures ads run on actual TVs within top-tier streaming environments, not repurposed to lower-quality mobile or desktop placements.

Sources

• Connected TV Statistics 2025: 93+ Stats & Insights

• Ad Revenue for CTV Platforms Will Grow by 26% in 2025

• 68% of Marketers Say Connected TV Is a Must-Buy for 2025

• Connected TV Market Size & Share | Industry Report, 2030

• US TV and Connected TV Ad Spending Forecasts H2 2025

• The Complete CTV Advertising Strategy Guide for 2025

• CTV buyers struggle with visibility, campaign confidence due to poor targeting data gaps

• The 2025 State of CTV in Retail Media

• Why Connected TV ROI is underperforming and how to fix it

• Digging into CTV’s 3 Biggest Challenges in 2025

• Why Quality, Context & Measurement Define CTV’s Next Era

• About Starti – Leading AI CTV Marketing Platform

• CTV | Starti.tv