Digging into CTV’s 3 Biggest Challenges in 2025

CTV advertising will dominate most brands' media plans in the next 2-3 years, yet major challenges persist. Suvadip Choudhury of Alliant talks about achieving scale, precision targeting, and the lack of overall education holding buyers back, but he also argues that there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Live Sports Is Driving Innovation in Ad-Tech

If 2024 was the year of live-streaming sports, Dave Dembowski of Operative writes that 2025 is the year of live-streaming ad innovation. With massive audiences that continue to steal from traditional TV, advertisers are looking for new opportunities to reach massive live audiences digitally. Media companies are working hard to offer the TV advertising experience of the future. That future will include new forms of targeting, interactivity, creative ad formats, and much more.

Why Your Desire for Free TV Could Cost You

As more users turn to unauthorized streaming sites to bypass subscription paywalls, cybercriminals are exploiting this demand through deceptive tactics. From malware-laden downloads disguised as media players to fake CAPTCHA verifications that silently execute malicious scripts, these attacks turn unsuspecting viewers into easy targets. This article, written by lead cybersecurity analyst Josh Taylor at Fortra, breaks down how these schemes work, their impact on users and the streaming industry, and steps media companies can take to protect their platforms and viewers from evolving threats.

Adopting IPv6 Will Improve CTV Advertising

IPv4 is the current IP address protocol and it's very limiting for advertisers. It bundles many devices into a single address. IPv6 has existed for years, but has not caught on because there wasn't any business pressure to switch over to it. With advertisers looking for more precision, now is the right time to make the switch. TrueData's VP of products David Berman explains why IPv6 is a meaningful improvement and what it can do for the advertising industry.

The CTV Honeymoon Isn’t Over: A Path to Renewed Growth

Connected TV advertising has been the darling of the ad industry in recent years. However, recent forecasts indicate a slowdown in spending growth. By 2028, year-over-year spending growth will move into the single-digit territory. But the honeymoon doesn't have to be over. Nicole Scaglione of PubMatic looks at the current headwinds facing CTV advertising and several key areas where realignment could jumpstart growth again.

How the Buy-Side is Approaching Data and Identity Challenges

Navigating today's fragmented, privacy-conscious media landscape is a bit like stepping into a dense jungle. The buy-side—marketers, agencies, and demand-side platforms (DSPs)—must find their way through signal loss, measurement challenges, and evolving consumer expectations. But this isn't just a challenge; it's a strategic opportunity. Allison Omealia of Experian Marketing Services dives into how buy-side players can use data and identity solutions to be their guide through the jungle and emerge as winners.

2025 Demands Radical Collaboration and AI-Driven Innovation

The convergence of advanced technology and the growing influence of big tech has set the stage for 2025 to become a pivotal year for businesses. As industries evolve, companies must break free from outdated models and embrace cutting-edge innovations to truly engage and empower their audiences. This shift isn't just an opportunity—it's a necessity for those looking to thrive in today's user-driven landscape. Forward-thinking strategies, driven by collaboration and AI, can help M&E companies not just stay afloat but lead in 2025 and beyond.

5 Ways to Prepare Your Video Service for the Holidays

The holiday season brings more than just festive cheer: it brings a significant spike in streaming viewership, as families gather to enjoy their favourite shows, movies, and seasonal specials. With viewers spending more time at home and streaming expectations at an all-time high, it's crucial to ensure video services are fully prepared. Yoann Hinard, Chief Operations Officer at Witbe, has created a checklist to help streaming service providers deliver an exceptional viewing experience this peak season.

CTV Ad Buyers Think They Want Show Title Data, But They Don’t

Brands are clamoring for one signal above all else: show title data. CTV represents the merging of digital-era granular targeting and TV programming's deep engagement. It's no surprise that ad buyers would want to mimic the TV advertising practice of going after specific programs that draw big audiences. Yet, when it comes to CTV, show-title data isn't the answer that advertisers want it to be. 

Content Piracy in 2025: Emerging Threats and Strategic Responses

Modern content pirates are smart. They have a deep understanding of the technology used by their victims and of the anti-piracy and cybersecurity solutions built to stop content theft. As we approach 2025, content piracy continues to evolve at an unprecedented pace, with pirates leveraging increasingly sophisticated technologies and distribution methods. Robin Boldon of Friend MTS writes that the most effective way to combat it is to anticipate, adapt, and scale techniques to keep pace with the shifting pirate landscape and predict and match pirates' talent for reinvention.

The Cloud-Based Security Shift

Security measures have come a long way since the days when security meant simply signing in and out of the facility and keeping valuable content in a locked room. As technology has advanced and the broadcast industry has adopted new ways of working, security systems have naturally become much more sophisticated. Take cloud security tools - they provide a formidable level of security that, contrary to popular belief, is actually difficult to match on-site. Data is only as secure as the systems and procedures around it; and the security systems safeguarding data in the cloud will likely be more advanced and superior to measures you can implement on-site.

Challenges of New Encoding Scenarios: Reflections on Measuring Perceived Quality

While VMAF has been a valuable tool for assessing video quality, its limitations highlight the need for complementary metrics or the development of new assessment methods. These new metrics should address VMAF's shortcomings, especially in the context of modern video encoding scenarios that incorporate AI and other advanced techniques. For the best outcomes, a combination of VMAF and other metrics, both full-reference and no-reference, might be necessary to achieve a comprehensive and accurate assessment of video quality in various applications.

Wegovy for the Cable Industry: From Fat to Skinny Bundles

Philip Inghelbrecht, CEO and founder of Tatari, has closely watched the carriage deals in the cable space and the disruption that streaming continues to cause. Despite the momentum for so-called "skinny bundles," which may placate streaming subscribers and stop the loss of cable subscribers, he discusses why advertisers need to track this evolution and carefully adjust their strategies.

Boosting Ad Fill Rates with Advanced Ad Prefetching: A Solution Overview

In the fast-paced world of digital advertising, optimizing the delivery of ads is critical to maintaining user engagement and maximizing revenue. When dealing with high-traffic volumes, the risk of missed ad insertions due to server overload or request throttling becomes a real challenge. Enter advanced Ad prefetching, a proactive approach designed to streamline ad insertion and improve ad fill rates during live streaming.

CTV Conversations from Advertising Week 2024

CTV ad spending continues to soar, and it was clear at this year's Advertising Week New York that CTV is no longer just a growing channel, it's a critical part of the advertising ecosystem. With cord-cutting on the rise and average daily CTV viewership for U.S. adults expected to exceed two hours in 2024, the industry's focus on CTV is well-justified. But beyond the numbers, the conversations during the event reflected key challenges and opportunities for brands as they navigate this fast-evolving space.

Want to Assemble an Advanced TV Tech Stack? Keep it Independent

Suvadip Choudhury, Director, Platform and TV Development at Alliant, looks at the three critical pieces that advertisers need for diving into the world of CTV: data, media, and measurement. For each of these, advertisers should look to work with specialists, rather than one company that provides all of them. The reason is that it doesn't make sense for the media and data providers to grade their own homework with measurement.

Interactive Ads: Reshaping Fan Engagement in Live Sports on CTV

This year's NewFronts signaled a paradigm shift in CTV advertising, focusing on interactive experiences. This holds particular promise for live sports, where viewer engagement is paramount. Gijsbert Pols, Ph.D., director of connected TV and new channels at Adjust, discusses the specific applications of hyper-contextualization in live sports advertising, and he explores potential challenges and solutions to jump into the exciting future of sports fan engagement within the ever-evolving CTV landscape.

Residential Proxies for Streaming Platforms and the Role of IP Address Intelligence

The streaming industry in Europe is poised to flourish in the coming years with a forecasted growth rate of 20.36% from 2022 through 2027, highlighting a continued trend of rapid expansion within the industry according to data from Technavio. While growth is projected to be strong, profits and ad revenue could face a hurdle, as the streaming industry faces potentially one of its biggest threats: residential proxies.

What the 2024 'Summer of Sports' Teaches Us About the Future of Streaming

The summer of 2024 has presented sports programming that rivals any other year in history, including the Copa America finals, Tour de France, NBA finals, two golf majors, ICC World T20, Wimbledon, U.S. Open, an array of F1 Grand Prix's, or the recently finished Paris Olympics and Paralympics. Matt Shapiro, Senior Director of Business Development, Qwilt, discusses the challenges of maintaining a superior QoE across video-on-demand and OTT services and the new formats arising to meet them.

Post-Production Efficiencies Hold Key to Video ROI

Cloudinary explores some of the findings from its first global Video Survey of Web developers, marketers, and business leaders from 15 countries.