Though ad budgets are expected to stay tight in 2026, advertisers are bullish about connected TV’s prospects. Nearly 70% of CTV advertisers expect to extend their spending this yr on the channel, with a mean increase of 17%, in response to latest findings from Advertiser Perceptions commissioned by Tegna-owned Premion.
The top reason reported by advertisers for increasing CTV spend is the channel’s ability to achieve highly engaged, opt-in audiences, per the report. The growing bets are a testament to CTV’s ability to prove its value through return on ad spend, said John Bishop, senior vp of business intelligence at Advertiser Perceptions.
“Everything is being scrutinized so rather more that getting [budget increase approvals] over the edge with procurement has been difficult,” said Bishop. “Now, they’re in a position to prove [the metrics] out a bit more, in order that when people say, ‘Hey, we’re going to extend our spend,’ there’s a groundswell of support behind that.”
Premion, which specializes in helping regional and local advertisers manage CTV and over-the-top promoting, commissioned Advertiser Perceptions to conduct its “2026 CTV/OTT Advertiser Survey.” The survey analyzes advertisers’ CTV priorities and spending strategies and breaks down how shifts just like the rise of artificial intelligence are impacting their plans. Findings also highlight the complexity of video promoting, and how agencies are attempting to adapt.
For the study, Advertiser Perceptions executed an anonymous online survey including 151 ad agency or brand-side marketers involved in decision making around CTV and OTT promoting. Streaming TV promoting use was required for each 2025 and 2026. The study was conducted in October 2025.
AI ushers in fresh potential
Among those boosting CTV ad spend in 2026, 25% of the funding is coming from an overall ad budget increase. For others, the increased spend is being reallocated from other channels, including linear TV, print, radio and digital display.
Many advertisers see CTV as a critical component of their omnichannel campaigns, with nearly 90% of advertisers saying that including CTV increases ROI by reinforcing a campaign’s message. Ninety-seven percent say that a presence on premium video streamers improves ROI.
“Advertisers know the way necessary video is in the general mix so far as storytelling, whether it’s at a better level like brand constructing, all of the solution to mid-funnel and lower funnel, sort of creating some transactions on the lower end,” said Bishop. “They’re metrics outside of just great brand awareness.”
As CTV bets increase, the channel is becoming more deeply ingrained in total video planning, per the report, with 55% of CTV budgets now being managed by hybrid or integrated teams.
“What we’re beginning to see is that it’s all being planned together,” said Blake Hebert, senior director of publisher operations at Premion. “The teams are not necessarily siloed between linear and digital, and they’re it more holistically.”
The potential of AI is driving even greater confidence in CTV, per the survey, with 58% of advertisers believing that AI functionality might be particularly invaluable for real-time campaign optimization. Nearly half of those surveyed said that smarter audience targeting and segmentation would supply invaluable improvements to CTV.
“One of the areas that I see a giant growth in terms of what AI goes to unravel for is quite a lot of the more boring things that a team has to have a look at so far as signals that come through from all the info,” said Herbert.
At the identical time, advertisers are realistic about AI’s current capabilities and near-term promise, with only 44% of survey respondents believing that real-time optimization would change into a widely available AI-driven functionality in 2026.
“I do think in some ways they are just a little bit more grounded in reality, possibly since it’s taken some time for quite a lot of the guarantees that they’ve heard from the national level to actually make their way right down to the local space,” said Herbert. “From where I sit, it’s nice to know that there is not an assumption that every one that is going to get found out in the subsequent yr.”
Still, CTV still faces significant challenges, a lot of which agencies have sought to handle through latest products and solutions. Many advertisers are concerned about fragmentation across providers, and one-third cited challenges with deduplicated reach and poor cross-provider planning resulting from walled gardens.
Nearly all advertisers said they see value in managing their CTV campaigns through a single platform. Ease of achieving scale for effective targeting was cited as the highest advantage, followed by optimal reach and frequency and unified measurement, reporting and insights.
“Fragmentation continues to be an area where we see the necessity for an answer, particularly on the local level,” said Herbert. “I believe it’s really necessary to have an understanding of the ecosystem and discover where there could also be a walled garden.”
Helping agencies higher understand the premium market is a possibility for platforms and publishers to drive growth, Bishop explained.
“People do not know what latest products a premium streaming platform could have,” said Bishop. “Agencies are counting on the reps and their partners to coach them. I believe that opens up quite a lot of opportunities to deepen the connection.”
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