The way people watch television has changed. Instead of relying only on traditional broadcast or cable TV, viewers now move between live programming, streaming services, apps, and on-demand content, often without thinking much about how that programming reaches their screen.
Connected TV (CTV) is a big part of that shift. For advertisers, CTV brings together many of the qualities that have always made TV powerful, including sight, sound, storytelling, and a big-screen experience, with more precise audience delivery and measurement.
But CTV comes with its own language and ways of buying advertising. What exactly is CTV? And how can you add streaming to your existing TV advertising strategy?
This guide breaks down the basics so you can understand how CTV advertising works, where the opportunities are, and how CTV can work alongside traditional TV to help you reach more of the people who matter to your business.
What Is CTV?
A connected TV (CTV) is a television that connects to the internet, either directly as a smart TV or through a device such as Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, or Roku. CTV lets viewers stream shows, movies, sports, news, and other programming on their TV rather than receiving all their programming through traditional cable, satellite, or broadcast TV.
Examples of CTV devices include:
- Smart TVs
- Streaming devices such as Roku, Apple TV, and Amazon Fire TV
- Internet-connected gaming consoles
Streaming now accounts for nearly half of all TV viewing in the U.S., reaching a record 48.6% of TV watch time in May 2026.1 Not surprisingly, advertiser investment is growing along with the audience. CTV ad spending is projected to increase 13.8% in 2026.2
For advertisers, all this time spent streaming creates more ways to reach audiences on the TV screen. CTV can help you connect with audiences you might not reach otherwise, reinforce a traditional TV campaign, deliver more relevant messages, and better understand how your advertising performs.
How to Advertise on CTV
Advertising on CTV starts with the same fundamentals as any effective TV campaign:
- Know who you want to reachCTV gives you more ways to focus your advertising on the audiences you want to reach. Instead of choosing an audience based only on a program or time slot, you may be able to build your campaign around factors such as geography, household demographics, interests, or purchases.
- Know how much you want to spendCTV advertising costs vary based on factors such as your audience, market, ad length, inventory, and campaign timing. Setting a budget early can help you decide where and how often your ads should run.
- Create your adBecause CTV ads generally appear on the largest screen in the home, the process for creating a CTV ad is similar to that of a linear TV ad. But because CTV is internet-enabled, you may also have access to different ad formats and more ways to tailor your message and call to action.
- Buy the ad spaceWhen you’re ready to buy CTV inventory, you have a few options. You can buy CTV ad space directly from streaming services, through automated buying tools, or with an advertising partner that can place your ads across multiple services and apps.
- Measure your resultsDid your ad drive more visits to your website or lead to a revenue lift? CTV advertising lets you see more than impressions and reach.
There is no single right way to build a CTV campaign. Your audience, goals, budget, and available inventory all help determine the approach that’s right for your business. Working with an experienced advertising partner can help you get started and unlock the full potential of CTV advertising.
What Is Premium CTV Inventory?
Not all CTV advertising environments are the same. Premium CTV inventory generally refers to advertising opportunities alongside professionally produced shows, movies, sports, and news from established media companies.
Think about an ad appearing during a popular movie, live sporting event, or network TV series. Premium inventory gives you greater confidence in both the quality of the programming surrounding your message and the experience viewers are having when they see it.
Premium programming can also help hold viewers’ attention. Across Comcast Advertising campaigns, 90% of streaming impressions run in long-form video, and 95% of streaming ads are played in full. What’s more, our research shows that unaided recall for ads in premium video environments is 58% higher than for ads in non-premium environments.3
Premium CTV inventory can include network streaming apps, subscription streaming services, live sports and news, and established free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) services. The takeaway for advertisers is simple: Who sees your ad matters, but so does where they see it.
What Is OTT Advertising?
Connected TV and over-the-top (OTT) advertising are closely related, but they don’t mean exactly the same thing.
OTT describes how television and video programming reach you: over the internet instead of through a traditional cable or satellite TV service. OTT content can be watched on a television, phone, tablet, or computer.
For advertisers, OTT can extend a streaming campaign beyond the TV to additional screens and viewing experiences.
What Are the Benefits of OTT Advertising?
OTT advertising gives businesses another way to stay connected with viewers as they move between traditional TV and streaming.
One of the biggest benefits is added reach. Streaming can help you connect with audiences that may not receive, or may not frequently receive, your traditional TV campaign. In Comcast Advertising’s 1H 2025 campaign analysis, 60% of households reached through streaming were not reached by traditional TV.4
OTT also gives advertisers more flexibility to reach audiences across devices, customize messages, adjust campaigns, and measure performance.
That doesn’t mean you have to choose streaming over traditional TV. In many cases, they work better together. Traditional TV can reach large audiences, while OTT helps fill in audience gaps and reinforce your message across additional screens.
OTT vs. CTV: What’s the Difference?
The simplest way to remember the difference is this: OTT describes how content is delivered; CTV describes where it’s watched.
OTT content streams over the internet and can be watched on TVs, phones, tablets, computers, and other internet-connected screens. CTV focuses specifically on streaming viewed on an internet-connected television.
That difference matters when you’re planning a campaign. OTT can extend your campaign across streaming screens, while CTV combines streaming capabilities with the big-screen TV experience.
In practice, OTT and CTV often work together. Knowing the difference helps you understand which screens your campaign includes, how viewers experience your ads, and what you’re measuring when the results come in.
Reaching Audiences With CTV Advertising
CTV isn’t replacing traditional TV so much as it is giving advertisers more ways to use it. A multiscreen strategy can combine traditional TV’s broad reach with the ability to connect with audiences across more of the ways they watch.
Addressable advertising can make that mix even more precise. Instead of relying only on the audience watching a particular program, addressable TV uses audience data to help you deliver your message to the households you most want to reach. And that precision can pay off: Campaigns that included addressable TV in Comcast Advertising’s 1H 2025 analysis converted at a 40% higher rate.5
As viewing habits continue to change, that’s the bigger opportunity CTV creates: It offers more ways to find your audience, more ways to make traditional TV and streaming work together, and a clearer picture of what happens after your ads run.
Whether you want to build awareness, reach new customers, or better understand how your advertising is performing, Comcast Advertising can help you put CTV to work as part of a broader TV strategy.
Now that you have an overview of CTV advertising, put that knowledge into practice. Contact us to start reaching your audience across traditional tv and streaming today.
Sources:
1 Nielsen, “Streaming Embarks on Annual Summer Ascent in Nielsen’s May 2026 Gauge Reports,” July 28, 2026.
2 Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), “2026 Outlook Study,” January 2026.
3 Comcast Advertising, MediaScience Study, May 2023, consumer survey responses, N=284
4Comcast Advertising, “1H 2025 Multiscreen TV Advertising Report,” 2025.
5 Comcast Advertising, “1H 2025 Multiscreen TV Advertising Report,” 2025.