Ad spend across digital channels has been mixed so far this year, with spend on social networks slowing and connected TV spend boosted by new ad-supported subscription tiers. Meanwhile, retail media is diversifying at a rapid rate as nonendemic retailers get in the game

Roku and Shopify team up on shoppable ads: Viewers will be able to purchase items from Shopify merchants directly from their TVs.

US adults will spend 1 minute less with media this year than in 2022, although the longer-term topline trend is stable. Among formats and platforms, CTV is grabbing share, mobile is approaching a plateau, and Netflix and TikTok reign supreme.

US adults spend nearly 3 hours a day watching linear TV and nearly two hours watching connected TV, according to our forecast. Viewers are moving to CTV, and so are advertisers. Learn how to cash in on this seismic shift during our free webinar on July 12. Sign up here.

US adults will spend an average of 230.3 minutes per day on mobile in 2023, according to our forecast. While they will spend less time with connected TV (CTV), at 114.9 minutes per day, the gap between CTV and mobile is shrinking.

CTV ad spending is expanding because more services have adopted ads, streaming services have increased their ad loads, and people continue to spend more time streaming. Not too long ago, HBO, Netflix, and Disney+ featured no advertising. Now they all have ads. And some of the most popular ad-supported streamers, like Hulu, have increased their ad loads in recent years.

Smart TVs are used by 61.9% of US connected TV (CTV) households, making them the top CTV device by far, per Comscore CTV Intelligence. In second and third place are Amazon Fire TV (29.1%) and Roku (28.4%), respectively.

This report is a guideline to help marketers understand connected TV through market size estimates, growth projections, and analysis of the complex landscape of ad buyers and sellers.

US linear TV ad spend is shrinking (8.0% YoY) as connected TV (CTV) ad spend grows (21.2% YoY). This year, US CTV ad spend will total $25.09 billion while linear will total $61.31 billion.

Connected TV's ascendancy: GroupM's mid-year forecast points to a significant surge in CTV advertising, signaling a pivotal shift in media consumption and ad strategies.

In our newest forecast for time spent, mobile devices still attract more than half of all digital time, but CTV is catching up.

Free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) services like The Roku Channel, Tubi, and Pluto TV will bring in tens of millions of viewers this year, though time spent with the platforms isn’t comparable to that of Netflix or YouTube, according to our forecast. Still, marketers should keep an eye on these streaming services, especially those with parent companies like Paramount or Fox that may be able to spin free viewers into paid members.

Baby boomers make up the largest share of TV viewers, while 25- to 34-year-olds predominate CTV usage. Marketers increasingly plan their buys across these mediums to achieve their targeting goals.

Disintermediation is getting real, upfront advertisers want their programmatic CTV spending accounted for, and Google shares early results from the Privacy Sandbox.

Consumers’ appetite for quality, on-demand content has contributed to connected TV’s (CTV’s) stronghold as the fastest-growing major ad format in the US. “There’s a lot more for [advertisers] to weed through in terms of the opportunities and options of where to place our clients’ ad dollars,” Jennifer Kohl, executive director and head of US media at VMLY&R, said of CTV during our virtual “Attention!” summit last week.

Connected TV (CTV) ad spend in the US will pass $25 billion this year and continue to grow by double digits through the end of our forecast period in 2027. Even with a challenging market, the format is in decent shape.

Linear upfront spending is expected to remain flat for the foreseeable future, but marketers are increasingly turning to connected TV (CTV), with advertisers projected to spend more than $8 billion on CTV ads at this year’s upfronts and NewFronts.

Retail media is moving from its initial state (search and on-site display ads) up the funnel toward social, open web, and connected TV. As retail media networks move into their next era, they should leverage partnerships to explore new channels, said Evan Hovorka, vice president of product and innovation at Albertsons Media Collective.

Though we’ve downgraded our retail media forecast, we anticipate the channel will experience double-digit growth through 2027. “I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that retail media is one of the most important and potentially most transformative ad spending channels in media right now,” said our analyst Max Willens.

On today's episode, we discuss the significance of Netflix saying it has 5 million monthly active users on its ad tier, the biggest impacts of the new streaming service Max, and how much noise a combined Paramount+ and Showtime offering can make. "In Other News," we talk about the current state of esports and what the best connected TV (CTV) ad formats are. Tune in to the discussion with our director of Briefings Jeremy Goldman.