All you need to know about Connected TV and Over-The-Top advertising

Doug Bishop

March 13th, 2025

Connected TV advertising is now an industry trend taking the world by storm and here’s why:

According to emarketer.com, in 2018, they estimated the number of connected TV users at 182.6 million or 55.5% of the US population.

In 2022, the number of connected TV users is forecast to rise to 204.1 million, which will represent 60.1% of the US population:

 source: https://www.emarketer.com/content/connected-tv-advertising

What is OTT (Over-The-Top)?

OTT describes the delivery of video content through the Internet as opposed to traditional satellite or cable subscription. This allows viewers to watch live and on-demand content from anywhere, anytime they want, with any number of devices and apps. Viewers do not need traditional satellite or cable subscriptions to watch OTT.

What is Connected TV?

Connected TV, or CTV for short, is any device that allows a television to play video content over the Internet.  CTV devices typically stream using apps downloaded to the device with some apps requiring paid subscriptions.  

CTV includes devices like Smart TVs and external devices like Roku, Amazon Fire Stick, Apple TV, and Chromecast.

What is the difference between CTV and OTT?

OTT is the method for delivering video content and CTV is the device on which the viewer streams content to their television.

For example: If you watch Netflix on your phone, you are streaming OTT content. If you are watching Netflix through a Chromecast that is plugged into your TV, well you are streaming OTT content over CTV.

What is Connected TV Advertising?

Connected TV advertising is a segment of online video advertising targeted specifically to connected television devices.  Publishers often find CTV advertising a challenge to optimize, because of the lack of personal identifiable information (PII) which is typically used to match consumers with advertisers online advertising.  

CTV advertising has a high impact due to excellent viewability on television.  CTV inventory is often sold programmatically, and can generate significant revenue with the correct advertising strategy.

Interested in CTV advertising? Contact us at [email protected] and we can help.