The data: Advertisers are seeing relatively high conversion rates for their connected TV (CTV) streaming ads compared with their spend on linear, per iSpot.

A 30-brand sample of ad performance during Q3 2026 found that:

• The average conversion rate of CTV ads was 3.49%, while that of linear ads was 0.69%.
• Each brand saw higher conversion rates for their CTV campaigns over their linear ones, though half of the sample drove more overall conversions through linear.
• One brand’s CTV conversion rate reached 23.4%, while another surpassed 11% from just 4,400 impressions.

A wider, platform-focused sample compared CTV advertising with linear for Q3 2026. The results:

• Linear accounted for 51.26% of estimated ad spend, while CTV made up 48.74%.
• Linear drove 78.07% of all ad impressions, compared with CTV’s 21.93%.

What it means: Advertisers are getting better access to CTV targeting technology, which is paying off in the form of higher conversion rates. This year, ad buyers have started using episode-level targeting and other dynamic contextual methods to deploy more relevant ads to viewers. When done right, these placements can have a high ceiling for driving conversions.

Linear may still be generating conversions and a majority of impressions, but efficiency is lower because advertisers need to spend more to drive a lower-funnel outcome.

Still, it’s worth noting that the apparent massive difference in conversion rates between linear and CTV (406% in the latter’s favor) may be smaller on average than in the 30-brand sample measured by iSpot. If the difference were that large across all campaigns, linear wouldn’t still be driving more overall conversions than CTV for half of the sample, especially since spending between the two channels has become so similar.

Implications for advertisers: Better targeting opportunities are giving advertisers more reason to shift their spend to CTV from linear, a change that has been heating up as viewers flock to streaming platforms. Conversion rates will continue to be a key metric for determining whether these new targeting methods are actually paying off. Some CTV campaigns are driving better performance than those of linear, but additional comparisons are needed to establish the average difference between the two.

What is clear, however, is that advertisers shouldn’t be basing their buys on impressions. Linear dominates CTV on this metric, yet the fact that this trend doesn’t translate to consistent conversion dominance shows that many of these impressions aren’t leading to outcomes. As more granular context becomes available to advertisers, settling for impressions over conversions will become less appealing.

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