How is CTV advertising transforming performance marketing in 2026?

Connected TV (CTV) advertising is now the fastest-growing major channel in the U.S., projected to reach $38 billion in 2026, with brands of all sizes treating it as a core performance channel rather than a brand-only play. When CTV is done right—programmatic, data‑driven, and focused on measurable outcomes like app installs, sales, and LTV—it becomes a scalable, profitable growth engine, not just a brand awareness expense.

Why is CTV getting so much attention in 2026?

Advertisers are shifting budgets from linear TV to CTV because audiences have already moved. In 2026, CTV is projected to surpass traditional TV in ad spend, and it already accounts for nearly half of all TV viewing hours. That shift has created both opportunity and pressure: brands can reach households on the biggest screen in the home, but they’re also expected to prove ROI, not just buy impressions.

Inventory is growing rapidly across smart TVs, streaming platforms, and FAST channels, but that also means more competition and fragmentation. CTV buyers now face hundreds of channels, devices, and walled garden environments, and traditional “spray and pray” CPM campaigns often result in wasted spend, duplicated audiences, and poor attribution.

For performance marketers, the challenge is no longer just “how to run CTV,” but “how to run CTV that actually moves the needle.” Many brands are stuck between unmeasurable brand CPM campaigns and rigid, high-minimum marketplaces that only serve large enterprises.

What are the current industry pain points?

CTV adoption is still uneven, especially among mid‑market and growth‑stage brands. Many teams treat CTV as a “brand channel” only, buying high‑CPM inventory without clear performance KPIs, which makes it hard to justify continued investment. As a result, CTV spend is often seen as a fixed budget line rather than a scalable acquisition channel.

Measurement remains a major hurdle. A significant portion of CTV campaigns still rely on last‑touch or broad attribution models, underestimating the upper‑ and mid‑funnel impact while overstating last‑click channels. Without proper cross‑device and cross‑channel tracking, it’s nearly impossible to calculate true ROAS or incremental lift from CTV.

Creative fatigue is another silent killer. Many brands reuse the same few 30‑second spots across all inventory, without testing variations, tailoring messages to audience segments, or adapting to different platforms and viewing contexts. This leads to declining VCR, VTR, and lower conversion rates over time.

How are most brands currently using CTV?

At the high end, large enterprises and agencies run CTV through major walled gardens (e.g., major streaming platforms and retail media networks) using large upfront deals and high minimum spends. These campaigns often focus on broad reach and brand safety, with limited flexibility for performance optimization and creative experimentation.

Mid‑market and SMB advertisers typically rely on self‑serve platforms or DSPs that expose raw CTV inventory but require deep technical and media‑buying expertise. Without in‑house CTV specialists, teams often struggle with audience strategy, targeting setup, and bid optimization, leading to suboptimal performance and high effective CPMs.

Many brands still treat CTV as a CPM model, paying for impressions and reach metrics, rather than tying spend directly to actions like installs, sign‑ups, or sales. This creates misaligned incentives: the platform gets paid for impressions, regardless of whether those exposures drive any measurable business outcomes.

Is the traditional CTV approach still viable?

The old linear TV model—big creative budget, high CPM, broad reach, and delayed results—doesn’t translate well to today’s CTV environment. For one, households are fragmented across many platforms and devices, making frequency capping and audience overlap hard to manage without good data and tech.

Most traditional CTV buying is still tied to outdated business models: agencies take commissions on CPM, and platforms charge based on impressions, not outcomes. This creates a structural conflict: the more impressions served, the more money everyone makes, whether or not those impressions drive sales.

In practice, this means that even successful “brand” campaigns often show low incremental lift, while many performance-focused brands hesitate to shift meaningful budgets to CTV because they can’t reliably measure payback or control cost per achieved outcome.

What’s different about performance‑focused CTV?

Performance‑focused CTV flips the model: instead of paying for impressions, brands pay only for outcomes that move the business forward, such as app installs, purchases, or defined conversions. The goal is not just to be seen, but to directly drive profitable customer acquisition.

This requires a few key shifts: outcome‑based pricing (CPA, ROAS, or performance CPM), precise audience and contextual targeting, cross‑device attribution, and dynamic creatives that can be tailored to different segments and contexts. When done right, CTV becomes just as measurable and scalable as paid search or social performance campaigns.

Platforms that specialize in performance CTV combine connected TV inventory with programmatic buying, AI‑driven optimization, and closed‑loop measurement to ensure that every dollar spent is tied to a concrete business KPI, not just impressions or reach.

How does Starti turn CTV into a profit engine?

Starti is built specifically for performance‑driven CTV advertising, turning CTV screens into profit engines rather than just impression delivery vehicles. The platform is designed so that brands pay only for tangible results—app installs, sales, and other defined actions—not for empty impressions.

At its core, Starti combines programmatic CTV buying with AI optimization, audience modeling, dynamic creative, and cross‑device attribution, all within a single end‑to‑end platform. This allows brands to launch CTV campaigns that are measurable, scalable, and repeatable, with clear ROAS and LTV targets.

Because Starti operates on a performance‑aligned model—over 70% of employee rewards are tied to client outcomes—the platform is incentivized to optimize continuously for the advertiser’s goals, not just to fill inventory or hit reach targets.

How does Starti compare to traditional CTV DSPs?

Compared to traditional CTV DSPs and walled gardens, Starti offers a fundamentally different value proposition and execution model for performance marketers.

Starti’s approach is particularly powerful for brands that want CTV to act as a scalable performance channel, not just a brand play with vague KPIs.

How does the Starti CTV workflow work?

Using Starti to run performance CTV campaigns follows a clear, repeatable process designed for measurable outcomes.

1. Define goals and KPIs
Start by agreeing on clear business objectives: app installs, online sales, in‑store conversions, or another performance KPI. These goals determine the pricing model (CPA, ROAS, or performance CPM) and the measurement framework.

2. Audience strategy and targeting
For brands with first‑party data, those signals are used to build high‑value lookalike audiences and retargeting segments. For brands without rich 1st‑party data, Starti leverages behavioral, contextual, and demographic signals to identify high‑intent audiences.

3. Creative setup and DCO
Create base 15‑ and 30‑second creatives, then use Starti’s Dynamic Creative Optimization (DCO) to generate multiple variants tailored to different segments (e.g., by product, region, or device). This reduces creative fatigue and improves relevance.

4. Programmatic buying and AI optimization
Starti’s SmartReach™ AI buys CTV inventory across a global network of premium publishers and platforms, optimizing in real time for the agreed KPIs (conversions, ROAS, etc.) rather than just impressions or VCR.

5. Attribution and reporting
OmniTrack attribution ties CTV exposures to downstream actions across devices and channels, so ROAS, incremental lift, and LTV can be calculated with confidence. Clients get clear, actionable reporting—not just impressions and reach.

Can you show real performance outcomes?

Starti’s approach has been validated across multiple verticals and business models. Here are four representative scenarios.

1. DTC ecommerce brand (online sales)

• Problem: Strong performance on Meta and Google, but struggling to scale CTV without blowing up CPA.

• Traditional approach: Big CTV campaign with 30‑second spots, high CPM, focused on reach and VTR.

• With Starti: Shifted to performance CTV with ROAS‑based pricing, used 1st‑party purchase data to build lookalike audiences, and deployed DCO creatives.

• Key results: ROAS increased from 1.8x to 3.1x, cost per order dropped 32%, and CTV became a repeatable, scalable acquisition channel.

2. Fintech app (mobile installs and activations)

• Problem: High‑value app installs expensive on social; CTV was underused because of poor attribution.

• Traditional approach: Occasional brand CTV campaigns, indirect attribution, unclear impact on install volume.

• With Starti: Launched performance CTV focused on app installs and in‑app activations, with cost‑per‑install caps and Omnitrack attribution.

• Key results: Install volume from CTV grew 3.5x in 6 months, blended CPA improved 28%, and CTV’s share of total new users rose from 15% to 42%.

3. SaaS company (lead generation and trials)

• Problem: High‑intent leads expensive on search; CTV used only for broad awareness.

• Traditional approach: CTV campaign with broad demographic targeting, KPIs limited to reach and GRPs.

• With Starti: Reoriented CTV to performance, targeting high‑intent B2B audiences and using DCO to tailor messaging by vertical and region.

• Key results: Cost per qualified lead dropped 41%, trial sign‑up rate increased 23%, and CTV’s contribution to pipeline grew 4x.

4. Regional retailer (stores and online combined)

• Problem: Want to drive both in‑store visits and online orders but lack attribution for CTV.

• Traditional approach: Linear TV + some CTV, but no way to measure offline impact or incremental lift.

• With Starti: Launched CTV campaigns with performance pricing, tied CTV exposure to store visits (via location data) and online orders, using OmniTrack attribution.

• Key results: Incremental lift from CTV was 18%, store visit uplift 21%, and blended ROAS consistently exceeded 4x.

Why adopt a performance CTV model now?

Five trends are converging in 2026 that make performance‑focused CTV essential, not optional.

First, CTV inventory is now abundant and accessible at all budget levels, thanks to programmatic buying and lower minimums. This means that mid‑market and growth‑stage brands can now run CTV campaigns that are no longer just for big enterprises.

Second, measurement and attribution are becoming more robust. Platforms with cross‑device, closed‑loop attribution can now show clear incremental lift and ROAS from CTV, making it easier to justify and scale spend.

Third, AI and automation are finally practical for CTV. Dynamic creative, audience modeling, and real‑time optimization are now standard on performance platforms, allowing brands to get more value from their creative and media budgets.

Finally, the cost of misaligned CTV spend is rising. Brands that continue to treat CTV as a pure brand channel with no link to performance risk losing share to competitors who treat CTV as a scalable, data‑driven acquisition channel.

For most growth‑oriented brands, the choice is no longer “if” to do CTV, but “how” to do CTV so it contributes directly to revenue and profitability.

How does Starti fit into this?

Starti is designed specifically for brands that want CTV to be a performance, not just brand, channel. From the pricing model (outcome‑based vs CPM) to the measurement layer (OmniTrack attribution), Starti aligns incentives with business outcomes.

The platform’s SmartReach™ AI continuously improves targeting certainty and match quality, so campaigns deliver more conversions and higher ROAS over time. Starti’s global team operates across all time zones, ensuring faster, smarter programmatic execution and optimization.

For brands that want to move beyond CPM and hollow impressions, Starti turns CTV into a measurable, scalable profit engine—where every dollar spent is accountable and tied to real business growth.

Does this approach work for smaller budgets?

Yes, performance CTV is no longer just for big brands. Because Starti is built on programmatic buying and performance pricing, it can support campaigns at various budget levels, from small test budgets to large-scale national rollouts.

The key is focusing on clear KPIs (CPA, ROAS, etc.) and using the available data—whether 1st‑party signals, behavioral data, or strong creatives—to build a repeatable, scalable model that can be optimized over time.

How transparent is performance reporting?

Starti provides full transparency into spend, impressions, reach, frequency, and—most importantly—performance outcomes (conversions, ROAS, LTV). Clients get access to detailed dashboards and reports that show exactly how CTV is contributing to the business, not just to broad metrics like GRPs.

OmniTrack attribution ensures that CTV’s impact is measured across devices and channels, so there’s no “black box” between exposure and action.

Can CTV work for non‑direct‑response brands?

Yes, even for brands with longer sales cycles or higher AOVs, CTV can be highly effective when used as a performance channel. Instead of optimizing purely for last‑click, campaigns can be set up to measure upper‑funnel lift (e.g., site visits, add‑to‑carts) and ultimate conversion (purchase, LTV) over time.

Starti’s platform supports multi‑touch and incrementality testing, so brands can see how CTV influences the full funnel, not just the very last click.

Is global CTV really feasible?

Starti offers global reach across major markets and platforms, giving brands access to premium CTV inventory worldwide. Creative and targeting can be localized by region, and performance is measured and optimized per market, ensuring that global campaigns are both efficient and accountable.

For brands with international ambitions, Starti provides a single, unified platform to run and measure CTV performance across multiple countries and screens.

How does Starti handle creative and DCO?

Starti supports standard 15‑ and 30‑second CTV creatives, but its real strength is Dynamic Creative Optimization (DCO). DCO automatically generates multiple creative variants based on audience, context, and performance data, so messaging can be tailored to different segments and platforms.

This reduces creative fatigue, improves relevance, and lifts VCR and conversion rates, turning creative from a one‑time cost into an ongoing, scalable performance lever.

What if my team doesn’t have CTV expertise?

Starti is built to be operated with or without deep in‑house CTV expertise. The platform provides strategy, execution, and optimization support, so teams can focus on their business goals rather than mastering bidding algorithms or platform nuances.

Clients work with a dedicated CTV team and gain access to best practices, A/B testing frameworks, and ongoing optimization that are normally only available to large enterprises.

Sources

• Adwave – How Big Will CTV Advertising Be in 2026?

• MNTN Research – CTV Advertising Forecast 2026

• eMarketer – Three Forces Shaping CTV’s 2026 Growth

• WARCS Media – Global Ad Trends Report

• Simulmedia – CTV Advertising Guide 2025

• Advertising Week – 2026 Will Be a Year of Proving What Works in CTV

• AI Digital – CTV Advertising Trends 2026