Navigating the New Realities of CTV Targeting
- Kyle Kuchera
- May 12
- 3 min read
Why Smarter Context, Transparent Data, and Buyer Pressure Will Define the Future
Connected TV (CTV) is no longer a niche, it’s where audiences are. Blending the scale of linear with the targeting power of digital, CTV offers immense promise, but only if buyers are willing to challenge the status quo. As targeting and measurement evolve, the path forward lies in smarter signals, richer context, and a demand for transparency.
The Cracks in IP-Based Targeting
For years, IP addresses served as a proxy for household targeting in CTV. But today, that’s no longer enough.
Privacy Headwinds: Regulations like GDPR and CCPA now treat IP addresses as personal data.
Blurry Identity: A single CTV device often serves a full household, muddying the waters of attribution.
Instability: Dynamic IPs mean inconsistent targeting and unreliable measurement.
Bottom line: the IP era is fading. Smarter, privacy-safe alternatives are now essential.
Scene-Level > Genre-Level: Why Context Is King
At POSSIBLE 2025, Roku and Mindshare NeuroLab shared research that could redefine CTV planning.
Ads that matched the emotional tone of preceding scenes saw a 60% lift in brand favorability.
When the tone clashed, negative reactions doubled.
Viewers responded more to scene-level context than to broad genres.
Platforms like Roku now use AI to tag CTV content frame by frame, extracting metadata like mood and tone to pair ads with moments, not just demographics. This fusion of contextual and addressable data is the future of precision advertising.
Parsing the Bidstream: Data Is There—If You’re Willing to Work for It
The CTV bidstream holds valuable signals, if you know how to parse them:
Content Metadata: Show titles, genres, and episode info enable smarter alignment of message and media.
Device/App IDs: Know exactly where ads are running.
Temporal Signals: Dayparting strategies can be optimized based on when audiences actually engage.
But here’s the catch: not all publishers pass this data. And many hide behind outdated regulations like the Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA)—even as they sell this very data at a premium.
Publisher Collaboration: A New Standard of Transparency
At the “Mythbusters” panel, Spectrum Reach and Rain the Growth Agency pulled back the curtain on how to do CTV targeting right:
Full Transparency Is Possible: Spectrum already passes show, genre, episode, and live status data at the impression level.
Clean Publishers Don’t Hide: The best partners want scrutiny—and reward it with better performance.
Clean Rooms & Standards: Collaborations with content-rich publishers allow for privacy-safe matching of first-party and contextual data.
Buyers must lead.
Less than 5% of buyers currently ask for content-level data. That has to change.
What Advertisers Want (and Should Demand) from CTV
The industry is ready for a shift, and the best-performing campaigns will be led by those who ask for more. Here’s what buyers are starting to expect:
Emotional Intelligence: Match messaging to mood.
Scene-Level Signals: Not just channels or apps—specific moments.
Standardization: Buying and measuring should be simple, not opaque.
FAST, But Premium: CTV needs to match the rigor of display—no more mystery boxes.
CTV and the Road to Shoppable, Real-Time Advertising2
025 is the tipping point. What’s next?
Real-Time Emotional Detection: Ads that react to the content in real time.
Seamless Path to Action: From impression to commerce without a creative overhaul.
Context + Commerce = Performance: Contextual intelligence will drive not just awareness...but results.
CTV’s Future Belongs to the Bold
The data is there. The tech is ready. What’s missing? Buyer pressure. If brands want smarter outcomes, they must demand smarter supply. That means:
Moving beyond IP-based guessing
Asking for content-level transparency
Embracing context as a performance driver
CTV doesn’t need reinvention, it needs accountability. Let’s build on what already works.
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