I recently had the fantastic opportunity to join a panel at New Video Frontiers alongside leaders from ITV, Publica by IAS, and Tubi. Our discussion, together with the presentations throughout the event, provided a valuable look at where the industry stands today on streaming TV and the exciting opportunities that marketers can leverage.
For years, we’ve drawn a sharp line between broadcast and streaming TV, often casting it as a clash between “old” and “new” models. But that divide is rapidly dissolving. ITV, a traditional broadcaster, embraced digital early on and launched its ad platform, Planet V, five years ago. As Jayesh Rajdev, controller of advanced advertising at ITV, noted during the panel, the Planet V platform now has “just under 300 agencies in the UK with accounts to plan and book campaigns,” which is a clear sign of its scale and adoption.
On the other side, Tubi, represented on the panel by Paul Gubbins, VP sales and programmatic partnerships, is one of the many emerging advertising-based video-on-demand (AVOD) services. It offers audiences access to 30,000 films and TV shows, ranging from sci-fi and cult classics to Bollywood and Nollywood.
Despite their different origins and approaches, both ITV and Tubi can now be considered streaming platforms, highlighting a broader shift in how audiences are choosing to consume content.
As Paul pointed out, “We need to move on from those definitions of yesteryear and talk about where consumers are, and how they’re consuming the content. That’s fundamentally what excites advertisers.”
With more choice than ever, viewers engage with content that resonates with them—whether it’s through AVOD, broadcast video on demand (BVOD), or free ad-supported streaming television (FAST). For marketers, this presents an unprecedented opportunity to reach audiences in a way that’s more precise, measurable, and flexible than ever before.
Breaking barriers and driving adoption of streaming TV advertising
Compared to how other media channels have evolved, streaming TV is moving at a rapid pace. According to IAB UK, streaming TV ad spend is expected to nearly double between 2023 and 2028, hitting £2.94 billion. When it comes to supply, 66% of UK households watched TV via a connected TV (CTV) device in 2024. The key to even more widespread adoption lies in education, helping marketers understand the potential of streaming TV and showing them how their ads can appear in a seamless, high-quality viewing environment.
For years, TV has been a powerhouse for brand building, offering a full-screen, immersive experience. Now, with the flexibility of programmatic, marketers can combine TV’s impact with performance-driven measurement, making it possible to track and optimize campaigns in real time.
Smaller brands, who once viewed TV as too expensive and out of reach, now have an entry point through programmatic streaming TV. As Steph Miller, commercial director, EMEA at Publica by IAS, pointed out, “TV used to be seen as a behemoth—something only large companies could afford, with the budgets to cover both production and media spend. Now, it’s simply more accessible and affordable for SMEs [small and-medium-sized enterprises].”
Paul added, “Historically, if you’ve been a smaller advertiser, your options have been paid, search, and social. Now, these channels are fantastic, they’ve proven themselves to deliver results for small advertisers, but the fact that now a small business can get their ads onto TVs alongside professionally produced broadcast content, or content on a streaming service like Tubi, is fantastic.”
For those smaller brands, the ability to measure return on ad spend (ROAS) will be key. It’s hard to justify spending money on a channel that can’t be measured. It’s the ability to measure ROAS on TV that should encourage performance marketers to invest in streaming TV, and for it to be seen as a route to delivering their desired outcomes.
The importance of interoperability in streaming TV
One of the most obvious benefits in streaming TV is its increasing interoperability with other digital marketing channels. Marketers can now create omnichannel strategies that unify audience targeting, activation, and measurement across streaming TV, digital, social, and search.
Advancements in data clean rooms and AI-driven modelling enable better audience matching and cross-channel attribution, helping brands track the impact that investment into streaming TV has on conversions with greater accuracy. This eliminates data silos, allowing marketers to optimize budgets, reduce wasted spend, and deliver more relevant, sequential messaging across multiple touchpoints.
Leading the charge with live-streamed events
During the panel, we were asked to share our final thoughts on the future of streaming TV and the innovations that marketers can look forward to. Jayesh highlighted an exciting development in streaming TV advertising: the emergence of new formats for marketers. “In May we’re launching a lead gen unit for CTV,” he said. “We’ll provide a smart way for advertisers to capture leads, making it easy for TV viewers to consent to share details via a pre-populated form in an ad unit.”
At Index Exchange, we see live event streaming as a rapidly growing opportunity. This is especially popular in the UK, where 70% of streamers watch live sports. Research also shows that ads served during live events enhance brand perception and improve message retention.
While there are still challenges to overcome in unlocking the full potential of live event advertising, we’re actively shaping industry-wide standards and best practices. For instance, as a member of the IAB Tech Lab’s Ad Break Management Working Group, we’re proposing a new content.liveevent attribute in the OpenRTB 2.6 specification. This would allow programmatic platforms to signal when content is being streamed live—enabling more efficient ad decisioning, reducing latency, and adapting to the unique traffic patterns of unscheduled ad breaks.
Final thoughts
Our panel discussion at New Video Frontiers made one thing abundantly clear: streaming TV is no longer an emerging channel; it’s a critical part of the digital advertising ecosystem. As consumer habits continue to evolve, so must the way we approach advertising. Whether it’s the rise of live event streaming, the shift toward programmatic efficiency, or the growing need for interoperability, the opportunities for marketers have never been greater.
Check out our Index Explains series to learn more about streaming TV.
