Connected TV (CTV) advertising is video advertising delivered to internet-connected televisions — smart TVs, streaming sticks and boxes, game consoles — inside streaming apps and ad-supported services.
Definition
Connected TV (CTV) advertising is video advertising delivered to internet-connected televisions — smart TVs, streaming sticks and boxes, game consoles — inside streaming apps and ad-supported services. It combines the big-screen, full-attention impact of traditional TV with digital targeting and measurement: audiences can be defined by household data, ads are served programmatically, and exposure can be tied to some downstream signals, though measurement is more limited than on web or mobile and the ads are generally non-skippable and non-clickable.
CTV has grown quickly as viewing shifts from linear broadcast to streaming. For advertisers it offers premium video inventory with less waste than broadcast, but it carries higher CPMs, fragmented supply across many apps and devices, and its own fraud problems (falsified device and app data inflating CTV inventory).
In context
For iGaming, CTV advertising is a licensed-market, brand-level channel, essentially the streaming equivalent of TV advertising, and it is subject to the same gambling broadcast rules: permitted only where gambling advertising is legal, often with watershed-style time restrictions, mandatory responsible-gambling messaging, content limits (no appeal to minors, no presenting gambling as a route to income or social success), and in some markets volume caps or whistle-to-whistle bans around live sport. Licensed operators use it for brand building and market entry rather than direct response, because the ads cannot be clicked and attribution is coarse.
For affiliates, CTV is rarely a direct channel — it suits operators with brand budgets, not performance affiliates — but it is relevant as context and occasionally as a partnership (an operator funding co-branded CTV activity with a large affiliate). The practical points to understand are that CTV gambling ads face the full broadcast-advertising code, that measurement is limited so incrementality testing matters more, that CTV ad fraud is a real risk requiring supply-path scrutiny, and that the format is unsuitable for the offer-led, trackable campaigns most affiliates run.
Content covering operator marketing can accurately note that a brand advertising heavily on streaming is doing brand-level acquisition in a regulated market, which is a different activity from the performance channels an affiliate participates in.
Worked example
An operator entering a regulated market runs CTV brand campaigns within the broadcast code: post-watershed scheduling, responsible-gambling end-cards, no sports-content adjacency during live matches. Attribution is measured with a geo holdout rather than clicks.
An affiliate's coverage of the operator's launch notes the CTV activity as brand building, distinct from the affiliate performance channels.
Related terms
Frequently asked questions
Browse the full iGaming & affiliate glossary — hundreds of EN/RU terms with examples.
← Back to glossary