Your commercial, full screen and usually with no skip button, on the streaming apps your customers watch, shown only in the ZIP codes you pay for. Then we match site visits back to the households that saw it.
What CTV is
CTV, connected TV, is streaming on a television: a smart TV, a Roku, a Fire TV stick, an Apple TV or a game console. OTT, over the top, is the wider term for video delivered over the internet instead of cable or antenna, on any screen. In practice the buy is the same, and so is the reason to make it.
Streaming is now 49 percent of all TV viewing in the US, per Nielsen's July 2026 Gauge (opens in a new tab). Those are the cord-cutters and the cord-nevers a cable-only plan never reaches, and they are not hard to find. They are watching Hulu, Peacock, Max and Tubi on the biggest screen in the house.
The difference from cable is targeting. Instead of buying a network in a zone, we buy households: by ZIP code, by audience, by in-market behavior, with a cap on how many times any one home sees the spot. You stop paying to reach people who will never buy.
The inventory
Almost every major streaming service sells ads now. Prime Video turned them on for US viewers on January 29, 2024 (opens in a new tab). We buy across many apps at once, so one plan covers the services your audience actually uses. Availability and minimums vary by service, and we tell you up front which ones fit your budget.
Premium streaming
The services people pay for and watch on purpose.
- Hulu
- Disney+
- Max
- Peacock
- Paramount+
- Prime Video
- Netflix
Free streaming TV
FAST, free ad-supported streaming TV: big audiences, lower prices.
- Tubi
- The Roku Channel
- Pluto TV
- Samsung TV Plus
Live TV over the internet
Cable channels, local stations and live sports, streamed.
- YouTube TV
- Hulu + Live TV
- Sling
- Fubo
Network apps
The streaming versions of the networks your customers already watch.
- ESPN
- A&E
- HGTV
- Food Network
- Discovery+
- AMC+
Targeting
Who sees it, and how often.
- ZIP code
- DMA
- Household income
- In-market audiences
- New movers
- Site retargeting
Measurement
What it did, by network, ZIP and creative.
- Completion rate
- Reach and frequency
- Household site visits
- Conversions
How it fits
Streaming puts the brand on the big screen. Paid search catches the people the spot sends looking. Cable covers the homes still on Xfinity or Spectrum, and YouTube TV adds live news and sports. Planned together, each one covers a gap in the others.
We plan frequency across the TV buy, so the same household is not seeing your spot nine times a night on four apps. And because streaming reports by household, it becomes the measuring stick for the rest of the TV plan.
DMA, designated market area, is Nielsen's name for a TV market, and it is the widest targeting we usually use. Most plans go tighter: a set of ZIP codes, a radius around each location, or an audience inside the market.
What is CTV advertising?
Ads that run inside streaming apps watched on a TV: Hulu, Peacock, Tubi and the rest, on a smart TV, Roku, Fire TV or similar device. They look like TV commercials, full screen, but they are bought and targeted like digital ads.
What is the difference between CTV and OTT?
OTT, over the top, is video delivered over the internet instead of cable or antenna, on any device. CTV is the slice of it watched on a TV. Most streaming buys include both, and we report them separately so you know how much ran on the big screen.
How much does streaming TV advertising cost?
Streaming is sold by the thousand impressions, called CPM, and premium apps cost more than free ones. The bigger question is reach: how many households in your area, and how many times each. We build the plan from that, then show you the CPM and the number of homes it buys.
Can streaming ads target just part of a city?
Yes. We can target by ZIP code, so a spot can run in Katy and The Woodlands and nowhere else, or inside a few miles of each of your locations. You only pay for the homes inside the lines.
Are streaming TV ads skippable?
Most are not. Streaming TV ads generally play full screen with no skip button, which is why completion rates run well above online video. YouTube is the exception, and it has its own page.
Do we need a different commercial for streaming?
Usually not. A standard 15 or 30 second TV spot runs as is. We check the specs for each app and cut versions when a platform needs them.
How do you know if streaming worked?
We match site visits to the households that saw the ad, so the report shows visits and conversions by network, by ZIP and by creative. Next to calls and form fills, you can see what streaming did compared with search and cable.
Tell us your market and your audience. We will show you the apps, the ZIP codes and the households a streaming plan can buy.