The news: 70% of US advertisers plan to boost connected TV (CTV) investments by an average of 17% in 2026, with the majority of funding reallocated from linear TV, digital display, paid search, and social media, per a study commissioned by Premion.

CTV’s proven ability to combine television’s branding power with digital precision and reach highly engaged audiences is accelerating the shift in funding. 

Consequently, agency structures are evolving, with integrated or hybrid teams now managing the majority (55%) of CTV budgets to ensure coordinated planning across linear and streaming environments. 

Why it’s worth watching: CTV is no longer an experimental add-on but a foundational component of total video strategies. 

• The primary motivations for increasing ad budgets for CTV are reaching engaged, opt-in audiences (44%) and blending TV’s brand impact with digital targeting (40%). 
• Four in five advertisers confirm that combining linear TV with CTV boosts brand awareness, ROI, and ad recall more effectively than using either alone.

Advertisers see the benefits of CTV driving performance across the entire funnel, from awareness to conversion. This growth, however, will be challenged by persistent fragmentation that will make it difficult to manage frequency and deduplicated reach across a growing number of walled gardens and streaming services.  

Implications for advertisers: The shift of funds from linear and other digital channels to CTV confirms its perceived ROI, but a roadblock persists—each major CTV platform controls its own data, identity, and measurement, with very little cross‑platform visibility.

Success hinges on unifying CTV buys—centralizing audiences, coordinating frequency, and using independent measurement to maximize reach. However, increasing investments without aligning linear and digital planning and adopting unified identity tools—like The Trade Desk’s Unified ID 2.0 and Lotame’s Panorama ID—will yield diminishing returns.

As more budget flows in, CTV will shift from a tactical channel to a strategic imperative for full-funnel marketing.