Sarah Moss
September 5, 2025
11
minutes read
Connected TV has gone from niche to mainstream, now in nearly nine out of ten U.S. households. With advertisers spending billions to reach these viewers, knowing the numbers is critical to making smart media bets.
Connected TV refers to any television set that can stream video via the internet, whether through a built-in smart TV interface, a plug-in device such as Roku or Amazon Fire TV, or a connected gaming console. Unlike traditional broadcast or cable, CTV enables advertisers to combine the impact of the big screen with the precision and measurability of digital channels.
For marketers, connected TV statistics offer more than trivia—they reveal how audiences are shifting, which platforms dominate, and where ad dollars generate the highest return. From 234 million U.S. viewers in 2024 (Statista) to video completion rates regularly exceeding 95% for non-skippable ads (Google Ads Help), accurate, current data makes it possible to plan campaigns that reach the right viewers, in the right context, at the right time.
In this article, we’ll examine the most recent CTV stats available, explore audience behavior and platform preferences, and highlight advertising trends that matter for brands today. We’ll also look at practical ways to use this data to refine targeting, improve campaign efficiency, and measure results.
💡 Get the full story on Connected TV advertising in our dedicated piece: Connected TV (CTV) Advertising: What It Is, How It Works, and Why It Matters
Understanding who’s watching (and how they’re watching) is the starting point for any effective CTV campaign. From the number of households connected to the platforms they prefer, these audience insights reveal where attention is flowing and where your ad dollars can work hardest.
CTV is making it clear it’s a go-to channel for both viewers and advertisers. — David Cohen, CEO, IAB.
Connected TV usage in the U.S. is now firmly mainstream. As of 2024, 115 million U.S. households—around 88%—owned at least one CTV device. This marks a dramatic increase from roughly 50% penetration a decade ago. In total, there were 234 million individual CTV viewers in the U.S. in 2024, representing 70.5% of the total US population. And the adoption trajectory shows no signs of slowing.
Smart TVs have overtaken external streaming devices as the primary gateway to CTV. eMarketer projects that by 2027, more than 75% of U.S. CTV users will stream via built-in smart TV apps rather than add-on devices. While Roku, Amazon Fire TV, and Apple TV remain significant, smart TV interfaces are becoming the default choice for new buyers.
💡 Still fuzzy on OTT vs CTV? → See the key differences in our article: OTT vs CTV
CTV audiences skew younger, but adoption has spread across most age groups. Millennials make up the largest cohort with around 62 million viewers, followed by Gen Z at 55 million. Penetration exceeds 80% among viewers aged 25–54, while adoption among seniors 65+ remains below 50%.
Income also plays a role in adoption and consumption. Higher-income households are more likely to own multiple streaming devices and subscribe to premium platforms. Research data shows that CTV viewers of sports and news content are 25–33% more likely to have household incomes above $150,000 than the average viewer of those genres. This suggests that for certain verticals—luxury goods, financial services, travel—CTV offers especially valuable reach.
CTV is now a daily habit for many Americans. In 2024, U.S. adults spent an average of 2 hours and 15 minutes per day watching content on connected TVs, a year-over-year increase of more than 20%. Streaming accounts for approximately 46% of all TV viewing time in the U.S. as of June 2025, surpassing cable and broadcast combined.
Ad-supported streaming has surged, and consumers are on board—86% take ad-supported tiers when offered, and 75% have tried one in the last four years. Free ad-supported TV (FAST) platforms such as Pluto TV, Tubi, and The Roku Channel reach about 111 million monthly U.S. viewers. Advertisers benefit from high engagement in this environment—research indicates that CTV ad attention rose to 51.5% in Q1 2024, and around one-third of users have purchased a product after seeing an ad on a connected TV.
Because we’re free, we live and die by engagement—that aligns our incentives to put the viewer first. — Anjali Sud, CEO, Tubi.
Smart TVs lead device usage, but the CTV ecosystem is diverse. Many households use a combination of smart TV operating systems, streaming sticks, gaming consoles, and even connected cable boxes. The choice of platform often depends on available content, user interface, and subscription bundles.
From an advertising perspective, YouTube and Hulu capture the largest shares of U.S. CTV ad revenue, each projected at around $3.4 billion for 2024. Netflix and Disney+—newer to ad-supported tiers—are quickly scaling, with Netflix’s ad tier reaching 94 million monthly global users in 2025.
According to Netflix’s Advertising President Amy Reinhard, Netflix’s ad tier reaches more 18–34-year-olds than any U.S. broadcast or cable network. Those 94 million ad-watching profiles equate to 170 million viewers—and in the U.S., they stream an average of 41 hours a month.
Audiences may have sparked CTV’s growth, but advertiser dollars are driving its momentum. The following figures highlight how quickly budgets are shifting, how campaigns perform on the big screen, and why this channel is competing directly with, and in some cases overtaking, traditional television.
CTV ad spend in the U.S. continues to climb. According to IAB, CTV ad spending rose to $23.6 billion in 2024, marking 16% year-over-year growth, and is projected to increase further to $26.6 billion in 2025.
That growth outpaces many other formats: IAB expects the total digital video category (which includes CTV, social video, and online video) to hit $72 billion in ad spend by 2025, growing at nearly double the rate of overall media spending. A more recent projection from eMarketer forecasts $33.35 billion in total U.S. CTV ad spending for 2025, with continued double-digit annual growth reaching $46.89 billion by 2028.
As of now, detailed CPM, CTR, and brand lift benchmarks are less centralized; however, advertisers report strong outcomes with CTV. For example, Innovid’s data show that interactive CTV ads deliver engagement up to 10 times higher than desktop and 5 times higher than mobile. Brands consistently cite high completion rates and enhanced viewer attention as major advantages, even if precise CPM figures vary by platform and targeting.
CTV is experiencing explosive growth, but we’re still in the early innings of figuring out how to make it work at scale. — Anthony Katsur, CEO, IAB Tech Lab.
CTV’s biggest edge is completion rates: more than 90% for 15- and 30-second ads, far higher than mobile or desktop video. Viewers choose what to watch and stay tuned in, driving stronger engagement than background consumption on other screens.
Click-throughs vary by format and targeting. Interactive CTV ads pull far more weight—QR code spots grabbed 12% more attention than identical non-interactive ads, and viewers spent 71 extra seconds with them compared to standard pre-rolls. Creative choices and precise targeting make the difference.
ROAS outperforms other digital channels. For example, one software brand drove 1.5–1.8× ROAS and an 8.6% brand lift with a full-funnel CTV strategy.
Programmatic buying dominates CTV advertising. A Basis Technologies report finds that programmatic CTV ad spend more than doubled from 2022 to 2024, comprising 24% of total digital ad spending in 2024 (up from just 11% in 2022). Another forecast projects programmatic CTV ad spend to reach $27 billion in 2025, representing over 84% of total CTV spend.
In fact, 75% of all CTV transactions are now programmatic, representing a fundamental shift from traditional television's relationship-based buying toward data-driven audience purchasing.
CTV is moving ahead of traditional linear TV in ad spend, a milestone that many anticipated. IAB notes that in 2024, digital video ad spend (including CTV) surpassed linear TV for the first time, and is set to account for nearly 60% of all TV/video ad budgets by 2025.
Meanwhile, eMarketer anticipates that CTV ad spending will exceed traditional TV in total by 2028.
💡 For a look at how traditional TV stacks up, see our guide: Key Benefits and Disadvantages of Television Advertising in 2025.
The connected TV market is evolving fast, driven by changes in how people watch, how platforms monetize, and how advertisers buy. These trends are redefining viewing habits and reshaping the balance between streaming and traditional TV.
The shift from traditional linear television to streaming is now measurable in nearly every viewing dataset. In July 2023, streaming surpassed cable for the first time in U.S. viewing share, accounting for 38.7% of all TV usage compared to cable’s 29.6% and broadcast’s 20%. By June 2025, streaming’s share had grown to 46%, with linear continuing to contract.
Cord-cutting is a major driver: U.S. pay-TV households dropped below 70 million in 2024, down from over 100 million a decade ago. By 2027, pay TV is expected to drop further, to 47.8 million households.
Stop us if you’ve heard this one before. The first quarter was the worst ever for pay TV subscriber losses,” Craig Moffett warned in his Cord Cutting Monitor, after Q1 2024 marked the sharpest fall yet.
The migration has pushed advertisers to adopt “converged TV” planning—allocating budgets across both linear and CTV to maintain reach.
The FAST ecosystem is booming, with more than 1,900 channels worldwide—1,300+ in the U.S. alone—projected to generate $11.83 billion by 2027. Adoption of ad-supported tiers has surged past expectations as cost savings outweigh the appeal of ad-free viewing. In 2024, 75% of U.S. homes had at least one ad-supported service, and Amazon expects 80% of its U.S. viewers to be on ad tiers. Free content with ads wins out over costly subscriptions for most viewers: 69% of CTV users prefer free, ad-supported content.
FAST platforms offer distinct audience segments for advertisers. According to Statista, Roku Channel leads with 83.4 million viewers, followed by Tubi (75 million) and Pluto TV (62 million), each shaped by unique programming and discovery models.
AVOD services like Netflix, Hulu, Max, and Disney+ are bridging premium and free tiers, offering ad-supported plans that lower costs for subscribers while driving new ad revenue.
Growth shows no signs of slowing. In 2024, U.S. ad-supported subscriptions nearly doubled year-over-year, jumping from 93 million to 170 million, with more than half of new sign-ups in Q1 opting for ad-supported tiers.
Connected TV adoption varies across geography and demographics, reflecting broader digital access disparities. Although specific CTV data is limited, we know urban households enjoy near-universal broadband access (~98.5%), while rural areas lag with under 65% access and fewer subscribers. Similarly, digital inequality persists by income—nearly 44% of households earning under $30,000 lacked broadband in 2019. These patterns suggest that rural and low-income areas may have lower CTV engagement due to infrastructure and affordability constraints.
Cultural nuances shape CTV usage in meaningful ways. Among Latine viewers, 78% use subscription streaming versus 63% of the general population—and 75% watch content in Spanish, with two-thirds of bilingual viewers citing language as important when choosing services. Among Asian-Americans, 81% are streamers and about 60% of their TV viewing time happens on streaming platforms. More than half watch Asian-language content, and nearly two-thirds of bilingual viewers say such programming is critical in their subscription decisions.
Advertisers increasingly seek to connect CTV with other screens to manage reach and frequency holistically. Technologies like device graphs and unified IDs link viewing across TVs, smartphones, and desktops, allowing for more precise attribution. Yet adoption is uneven—only 32% of global marketers currently measure TV and digital together.
Artificial intelligence is starting to change this. AI tools can analyze connected TV viewership and performance data in real time to adjust bids, placements, and even creative variants. Campaigns that used AI-driven creative optimization reported up to 40% higher brand recall than static creative approaches.
💡 Learn how agencies can lead as AI takes TV advertising into its next chapter: The Rise of AI in TV Advertising
CTV’s rapid growth has outpaced the development of unified measurement standards. Platforms often rely on proprietary metrics, making it difficult to compare performance across services. Multiple “currencies” coexist—from Nielsen Digital Ad Ratings to Comscore’s cross-platform measures—complicating deduplication of reach.
… the real impediment to apples-to-apples comparisons between CTV and linear TV is that CTV providers aren’t selling apples—they’re selling oranges. So the goal [is] to figure out a fair rate of exchange between linear TV’s apples and CTV’s oranges—like you would with two different forms of currency. — Germaine Montagne, Head of Marketing, TVision Insights.
Privacy regulation adds another layer of complexity. With laws like CCPA and GDPR affecting how viewing data is collected and shared, advertisers must prioritize compliance while still leveraging first-party and contextual data for targeting.
💡 Read more on life after cookies: In a Cookie-less World: New Challenges and Opportunities
CTV’s value is in the depth of data it provides. When used effectively, that data can sharpen audience targeting, guide creative decisions, and prove the impact of every ad dollar spent.
CTV’s mix of household-level data, platform analytics, and integration with first-party CRM systems makes it one of the most precise TV buying environments available. Advertisers can segment audiences by demographics, location, viewing behavior, and even purchase intent.
A common best practice is to merge first-party data with CTV platform data to reach high-value customers across multiple services. For example, a retailer can retarget website visitors with CTV ads through platforms like Hulu or YouTube TV using privacy-compliant data matching.
CTV campaigns can be optimized in-flight using the same metrics that drive digital performance campaigns. Advertisers can track impression delivery, completion rates, and cost per completed view in real time, shifting budget toward the best-performing platforms or creatives.
Interactive ad formats—such as QR codes or overlays—can be tested alongside standard video ads to measure engagement impact.
Frequency management is equally important. Overexposure risks frustrating viewers, especially in ad-supported streaming environments. Programmatic tools allow advertisers to cap impressions per household and spread exposure across multiple apps to maintain message freshness.
💡Smart Supply is AI Digital’s answer to one of CTV’s biggest problems: the inefficient supply chain. Instead of routing campaigns through biased platforms or inflated bid streams, Smart Supply builds custom deals focused on your KPIs. Low-value publishers, indirect traffic, and wasteful hops are stripped out, ensuring clean, fraud-free inventory with IVT protection and premium SSP pathways that deliver both quality and scale.
CTV’s ability to link ad exposure to measurable outcomes is one of its biggest advantages over traditional TV. Measurement can include:
Some advertisers are embedding QR codes in CTV ads to directly track scans and conversions, shortening the path from impression to action. Brands incorporating direct-response elements into CTV see sharp gains—INCRMNTAL’s analysis shows CTV campaigns delivered 10× more conversions than linear TV using just 60% of the spend, while also outperforming YouTube in conversion efficiency.
Connected TV has moved beyond early adoption to become a core part of how Americans watch video—and how advertisers reach them. With nearly 9 in 10 U.S. households connected, ad spend growing in double digits, and measurable outcomes across the funnel, CTV offers a rare combination of scale and precision. The data shows that this channel is no longer optional for brands looking to reach engaged, high-value audiences.
Key takeaways for advertisers:
Connected TV is growing quickly, but the brands seeing the biggest returns are those using data intelligently, optimizing in real time, and measuring impact beyond simple impressions.
Ready to turn insights into results? Reach out. With AI Digital, you get a CTV strategy that blends premium inventory, precision targeting, and AI-powered optimization. We’ll help you reach more of the right viewers, cut wasted spend, and deliver measurable growth that proves the value of every dollar.
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Use case
Description of use case
Examples of companies using AI
Ease of implementation
Impact
Audience segmentation and insights
Identify and categorize audience groups based on behaviors, preferences, and characteristics
Automated ad campaigns
Automate ad creation, placement, and optimization across various platforms
Brand sentiment tracking
Monitor and analyze public opinion about a brand across multiple channels in real time
Campaign strategy optimization
Analyze data to predict optimal campaign approaches, channels, and timing
Content strategy
Generate content ideas, predict performance, and optimize distribution strategies
Personalization strategy development
Create tailored messaging and experiences for consumers at scale
