How Can Programmatic Advertising on CTV Drive Proven Performance in 2026?

Programmatic advertising on CTV has become one of the fastest‑growing digital channels, with U.S. CTV ad spend expected to rise 13.8% in 2026 as marketers chase addressable audiences and better measurement. Yet most brands still struggle to link CTV impressions to incremental revenue, wasting budget in fragmented pipes and legacy CPM models. Starti changes this equation by turning CTV into a performance engine, aligning AI‑driven targeting, dynamic creative, and OmniTrack attribution so advertisers pay only for outcomes that move the business—installs, sales, and high‑value actions.​

How Is the Current Programmatic CTV Landscape Creating Both Opportunity and Pressure?

Global programmatic spend continues to accelerate, with U.S. programmatic display projected to exceed 203 billion dollars in 2026, representing 12.5% year‑over‑year growth. CTV is at the center of this curve, as buyers shift budgets from linear TV into automated, data‑driven environments that promise granular targeting and cross‑screen frequency management. At the same time, 58% of media buyers say they plan to increase overall programmatic investment, signaling that competitive pressure for efficient outcomes on channels like CTV will only intensify.

The performance bar is also rising. In the IAB 2026 Outlook Study, buyers highlight performance‑driven campaigns and “ability to prove business results” as central reasons for reallocating spend into CTV and other digital video. Marketers are no longer satisfied with viewability or completion rates alone; they expect clear evidence of new customer acquisition, repeat purchases, and attributable revenue. This environment favors platforms that can connect CTV exposures directly to actions and optimize in real time rather than simply delivering reach at scale.

AI and cross‑platform measurement have become non‑negotiable. Comscore’s 2026 State of Programmatic report shows that 82% of marketers now view AI‑powered optimization as essential, with CTV and audio the only channels expected to see year‑over‑year programmatic budget growth. At the same time, 72% of buyers name cross‑platform measurement as a top focus area, underscoring the urgency to unify performance data across CTV, social, and other screens. Starti is built precisely for this new reality, combining SmartReach AI, OmniTrack attribution, and global execution infrastructure to help brands compete in a channel where speed, accuracy, and verifiable ROI decide winners.

What Pain Points Are Holding Back Programmatic CTV Performance?

First, the gap between spend and measurement is widening. While CTV budgets are expanding at more than double the pace of overall ad spend, many advertisers still rely on proxy KPIs like completion rate or gross reach that fail to quantify incremental sales impact. This leads to over‑investment in high‑volume inventory that looks efficient in CPM terms but underperforms on revenue and customer lifetime value. Without a clear attribution model that ties CTV exposures to downstream actions, marketers struggle to justify continued budget increases internally.

Second, fragmentation across devices, publishers, and identity signals creates frequency waste and reporting blind spots. As buyers increase cross‑channel investments, they often work with multiple DSPs, data providers, and measurement partners that do not fully interoperate. This results in overlapping reach, inconsistent deduplication, and difficulty isolating the incremental effect of CTV versus other channels. Many teams report that cross‑platform measurement complexity is one of their top investment challenges for 2026, particularly as they attempt to align AI‑driven buying strategies with governance and accountability.

Third, the legacy CPM pricing model misaligns incentives. Paying for impressions instead of validated outcomes encourages volume over quality and forces brands to carry the performance risk. Even when AI is used for bid optimization, if the commercial structure rewards delivery rather than results, optimization may favor short‑term engagement metrics over long‑term profitability. Starti was designed to address exactly these issues: by eliminating traditional CPM models, using AI to improve targeting certainty, and tying over 70% of internal rewards to performance results, the platform shares risk and upside with its clients.

Why Are Traditional CTV and TV Buying Approaches Falling Short?

Traditional linear TV buying focuses on broad GRP delivery against panel‑based demographics, with limited granularity on household‑level outcomes or incremental lift. While it can still be effective for mass reach, it offers minimal flexibility for rapid optimization, creative testing, or outcome‑based bidding. As advertisers shift toward performance accountability, the inability of linear buys to provide cross‑channel attribution and real‑time controls makes them less attractive compared with programmatic CTV.

Even early‑generation CTV solutions that simply port CPM‑based models into streaming environments fail to unlock the channel’s full value. Many legacy setups: use static audience segments that are updated infrequently; optimize to intermediate KPIs like completion rate rather than sales; and silo CTV reporting from other programmatic and CRM data. This results in “expensive awareness” rather than measurable performance. By contrast, Starti integrates AI‑driven SmartReach targeting, dynamic creative optimization, and OmniTrack attribution so CTV campaigns can be managed like a high‑intent performance channel.

Another limitation of traditional approaches is the lack of transparency and control layers demanded by modern buyers. Comscore’s 2026 programmatic report notes that marketers are moving away from “scale at all costs” toward strategies centered on quality, risk reduction, and direct connections between spend and business outcomes. Without granular visibility into which audiences, placements, and creatives are driving incremental actions, traditional CTV buying leaves teams guessing rather than managing against clear ROAS and CPA benchmarks.

How Does Starti’s Programmatic CTV Solution Work End‑to‑End?

Starti is a dedicated CTV advertising platform built to transform streaming screens into performance channels, not just impression delivery. Instead of charging by CPM, Starti structures campaigns so advertisers pay for tangible results such as app installs, sales conversions, and other outcome events defined in advance. This outcome‑based model shifts the focus from buying media to buying business results, aligning platform incentives with advertiser success.

At the core of Starti is SmartReach AI, which combines machine learning with rich CTV audience signals to predict which households are most likely to complete a target action. The platform continuously ingests conversion data from OmniTrack attribution, updates propensity models, and reallocates spend to the best‑performing audiences, dayparts, and inventory sources. Starti also provides dynamic creative optimization (DCO) that tailors CTV creative elements in real time by audience segment, device, and context, ensuring that every impression has the highest possible probability of driving action.

Starti’s global operations model is designed for speed and coverage. With teams active across all time zones and over 70% of employee rewards tied directly to client performance outcomes, optimization cycles run continuously rather than in weekly or monthly sprints. This allows for rapid experimentation with new audience hypotheses, creative variants, and publisher mixes, while OmniTrack unifies attribution across CTV, mobile, and web touchpoints. For brands, this means transparent, measurable performance across every CTV screen with clear links to revenue and ROI.

What Are the Key Capabilities of a Programmatic CTV Platform Like Starti?

A modern programmatic CTV platform must deliver several core capabilities to be truly performance‑driven:

• Outcome‑based pricing: Pay for installs, purchases, or qualified leads instead of impressions, with clear target CPAs and ROAS goals.

• AI‑driven audience targeting: Use SmartReach‑style models that predict action propensity at the household level and adjust bids in real time.

• Dynamic creative optimization (DCO): Automatically test and tailor creative combinations by audience, publisher, and device to lift conversion rates.

• Cross‑channel attribution: Provide OmniTrack‑type measurement that links CTV impressions to mobile app events, web conversions, and offline sales.

• Prime content access and brand safety controls: Secure inventory in premium CTV environments while controlling for fraud, viewability, and context.

• Transparent analytics and reporting: Offer dashboards that expose reach, frequency, incremental lift, and unit economics by audience and inventory source.

Starti brings all of these elements into a single connected stack, eliminating the need to stitch together multiple point solutions across DSPs, analytics, and attribution providers. Its AI‑driven SmartReach and OmniTrack modules ensure that data flows seamlessly from exposure to outcome, enabling full‑funnel optimization on a daily—or even hourly—basis. For marketers facing internal pressure to prove CTV performance, this integrated approach turns CTV from a “nice to have” into a predictable, scalable growth channel.

Which Advantages Does Starti Offer Over Traditional CTV and TV Approaches?

What Does the Advantage Comparison Between Traditional Buying and Starti Look Like?

By integrating AI, outcome‑based pricing, and attribution, Starti directly addresses the accountability gaps that plague traditional CPM‑driven CTV campaigns. Advertisers gain full transparency into unit economics by audience, publisher, and creative, enabling confident budget scaling where ROAS is proven.

How Can Brands Implement Starti’s Programmatic CTV Solution Step by Step?

1. Define business outcomes and KPIs
   The process starts by agreeing on concrete outcome metrics such as first‑time app installs, completed purchases, subscription starts, or qualified lead submissions, along with target CPAs and ROAS thresholds. Starti works with the brand to map these outcomes to available tracking signals across app, web, and offline systems.

2. Set up tracking, attribution, and data integrations
   Next, Starti’s OmniTrack is integrated with the advertiser’s analytics stack, MMPs, pixels, and CRM systems where needed. This includes placing tracking tags, configuring postback events for app conversions, and establishing data feeds so CTV impressions can be matched to subsequent actions.

3. Build SmartReach AI audiences and inventory plan
   Using historical data and market benchmarks, Starti’s SmartReach AI generates predictive audience segments based on likelihood to convert, along with a recommended inventory mix across CTV publishers and devices. Initial guardrails for brand safety, geography, budgets, and pacing are configured at this stage.

4. Design and deploy dynamic CTV creatives
   Creative assets are assembled into DCO‑ready templates, including variations in messaging, calls‑to‑action, and visual elements tailored for different audience segments and device contexts. Starti then launches a structured set of creative experiments to quickly identify top‑performing combinations.

5. Launch, learn, and optimize in real time
   Once live, campaigns are continuously optimized as SmartReach AI ingests OmniTrack performance data. Bids are adjusted, audiences are refined, and low‑performing inventory is cut. Optimization focuses on lowering CPA and increasing ROAS while maintaining agreed‑upon scale.

6. Scale successful strategies and expand use cases
   As profitable patterns emerge, Starti works with the advertiser to increase budgets into the best‑performing segments, expand into additional markets, and test new outcome types (for example, upsell, cross‑sell, or reactivation). Reporting cycles focus on business impact, not just media metrics.

What Are Four Real‑World Scenarios Where Starti’s Programmatic CTV Model Excels?

Scenario 1: Mobile App Growth for a Fintech Brand

• Problem
  A fintech app wants to drive high‑value new user sign‑ups but finds that social and search costs are rising, and prior CTV tests delivered poor measurability and high CPIs.

• Traditional approach
  The brand ran CPM‑based CTV buys around broad financial content, optimizing loosely on completion rate and reach, with limited visibility into actual account openings.

• Using Starti
  Starti implemented outcome‑based pricing tied to completed app registrations and first deposits. SmartReach AI targeted CTV households with high propensity to open accounts, and OmniTrack linked CTV exposures to in‑app events across devices.

• Key results
  The fintech shifted a portion of budget to Starti and achieved a lower blended CPA compared with social, while CTV became a scalable new acquisition channel. Internal teams could clearly attribute a share of new funded accounts to Starti‑driven CTV exposures, justifying further budget increases.

Scenario 2: DTC E‑commerce Brand Seeking Incremental Revenue

• Problem
  A DTC retailer struggled to quantify the incremental lift from its CTV campaigns, facing skepticism from finance teams about the true impact on sales and repeat purchases.

• Traditional approach
  The retailer previously purchased broad CTV packages through an agency, with reporting limited to impressions, reach, and modeled brand lift studies that were hard to tie to revenue.

• Using Starti
  Starti configured campaigns to optimize toward first‑time purchases and repeat orders within a defined attribution window. OmniTrack stitched together CTV impressions with site visits and completed orders, while DCO tested creative variants highlighting different product bundles and offers.

• Key results
  The campaigns produced measurable incremental revenue with clear ROAS per audience and publisher cohort, enabling finance to view CTV as a line‑item growth driver. Starti’s reports identified the highest‑value segments, which were then retargeted for upsell and loyalty initiatives.

Scenario 3: Subscription Streaming Service Launch

• Problem
  A new streaming service needed to accelerate paid subscriber growth in competitive markets and had limited room for inefficient awareness campaigns.

• Traditional approach
  Past experience with traditional TV and non‑programmatic CTV buys delivered visibility but lacked attribution to trial starts and paid conversions.

• Using Starti
  Starti defined outcomes around trial sign‑ups and successful conversion to paid subscriptions. SmartReach AI targeted households likely to respond based on content preferences and device behavior, while DCO personalized creative for different genres and subscription offers.

• Key results
  The service saw a lift in trial‑to‑paid conversion rates from CTV‑exposed cohorts and could clearly calculate customer acquisition cost from Starti campaigns. This allowed the brand to scale its CTV spend with confidence while tuning offers and messaging based on cohort performance.

Scenario 4: Omnichannel Retailer Bridging Offline and Online

• Problem
  A national retailer wanted to use CTV to drive both online orders and in‑store visits but found it hard to measure the combined effect across channels.

• Traditional approach
  The retailer relied on panel‑based TV measurement and periodic footfall studies, which were slow and not granular enough to guide weekly optimization.

• Using Starti
  Starti deployed OmniTrack to connect CTV exposures with online conversions and partnered with location and transaction data providers to infer in‑store visit and purchase lift. SmartReach AI created audience segments based on proximity to stores and prior omnichannel behavior.

• Key results
  The retailer identified CTV placements and creatives that drove the highest combined online and offline revenue. With clear ROAS by region and store cluster, the brand reallocated spend from underperforming linear TV into Starti‑powered CTV, increasing total attributable sales.

Why Is Now the Right Time to Embrace Programmatic CTV with Starti?

Ad spend growth is accelerating in 2026, with digital channels like CTV and social video leading the way, and overall U.S. investment expected to rise 9.5% year over year. At the same time, buyers are shifting their objectives from pure acquisition toward retention and repeat purchases, signaling a need for channels that can track and optimize the entire customer journey, not just first touch. CTV is uniquely positioned to influence both upper‑funnel awareness and lower‑funnel performance—if supported by AI, cross‑platform measurement, and outcome‑based pricing.

Regulatory and platform‑driven privacy changes are also accelerating the move away from third‑party cookies and opaque tracking methods, making CTV’s household‑level and contextual signals more attractive. Comscore’s data shows that CTV and audio are the only two media channels expected to grow programmatic budgets this year, and that marketers are actively prioritizing strategies that connect spend to business outcomes. Starti is designed to help brands capture this opportunity now, combining SmartReach AI, dynamic creative, global operations, and OmniTrack attribution into a single solution that turns CTV into a predictable profit engine.

What Are the Most Common Questions About Programmatic CTV and Starti?

Is programmatic CTV only suitable for large brands with big budgets?
No. Because Starti’s model is outcome‑based, both fast‑growing startups and global enterprises can use CTV as a performance channel with clear CPA and ROAS targets. Smaller brands benefit from AI‑driven efficiency and only pay for measurable actions, not speculative impressions.

Can programmatic CTV campaigns drive both awareness and performance simultaneously?
Yes. CTV’s large‑screen, high‑attention environment supports brand building, while platforms like Starti use attribution and AI optimization to ensure those exposures also translate into app installs, site visits, and purchases. This creates a dual‑impact channel where upper‑funnel visibility feeds lower‑funnel outcomes.

How does Starti handle attribution across devices and channels?
Starti’s OmniTrack framework links CTV impressions to downstream events across mobile apps, websites, and, where available, offline conversions. By unifying these signals, marketers can see which CTV audiences and creatives are driving incremental impact beyond other channels.

Are there safeguards for brand safety and fraud in programmatic CTV?
Yes. Modern CTV platforms implement strict inventory curation, fraud detection, and brand safety controls to ensure ads appear in high‑quality, viewable environments. Starti couples these safeguards with transparent reporting so advertisers understand exactly where their ads run and how each placement performs.

Can performance data from Starti’s CTV campaigns inform other channels?
Absolutely. Insights from SmartReach AI and OmniTrack—such as which audiences, messages, and offers convert best—can be fed back into search, social, and email strategies. This allows brands to use CTV as both a performance driver and a learning engine for broader marketing optimization.

What Are the Main Sources Behind These Insights?

Sources
Interactive Advertising Bureau – 2026 Outlook Study: U.S. Ad Spend and Strategy
https://www.streamtvinsider.com/advertising/iab-forecasts-138-us-ctv-ad-spend-growth-2026
https://www.iab.com/insights/2026-outlook/
Comscore / Proximic – 2026 State of Programmatic Report: CTV and Audio
https://www.comscore.com/Insights/Press-Releases/2026/1/Comscore-2026-State-of-Programmatic-Report
https://www.stocktitan.net/news/SCOR/comscore-2026-state-programmatic-report-ctv-and-audio-expected-to-n0r9kosivhxd.html
Basis – 7 Programmatic Advertising Trends Shaping 2026
https://basis.com/blog/7-programmatic-advertising-trends-shaping-2026
IAB – 2026 Ad Spend Forecast Coverage
https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/412351/iab-2026-ad-spend-forecast-ctv-138-social-14.html
Adtech and industry commentary on CTV and programmatic trends
https://adtechradar.com/2026/01/29/iab-2026-ad-spend-digital-growth-linear-tv-decline/