Connected TV’s Unique Advertising Strengths

Calibrate your CTV campaign effectiveness with DISQO benchmarks

Connected TV (CTV) continues to gain its share within media mixes, transforming how brands connect with audiences and setting the pace for engagement in 2025 and beyond. The rise of premium, ad-supported streaming tiers from platforms like Paramount and Warner Bros. is shifting the landscape, bringing high-budget, ad-funded content to the forefront.

At the same time, platforms like Tubi and Pluto TV are thriving by offering free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) options that tap into consumers’ growing demand for no-cost, high-quality entertainment.

Platforms and their brand clients are also testing new strategies at scale, including interactive ad formats and advanced personalization tactics to increase their brand impact and behavioral outcomes with consumers.

While the opportunities to deliver innovative brand experiences through CTV grow, so does the importance of measuring campaign effectiveness. CTV platforms and their clients must understand how their campaigns are moving audiences and where CTV’s strengths lie compared to other channels to optimize media investments. 

DISQO’s annual CTV Ad Effectiveness Benchmarks report reveals what “good” CTV campaign performance looks like overall and within key business categories (consumables, goods, services, and vehicles) and how CTV compares to cross-channel benchmarks at different stages of brand maturity. Below are select insights to help you optimize your CTV campaigns.

Connected TV’s branding power is real

TV’s ability to reach a wide, highly engaged audience long ago solidified its place as a prime medium for brand building. Our benchmarks show that CTV builds on linear TV’s foundation, moving the needle on core brand metrics, including: 

Brand familiarity

Showcases consumers’ familiarity with a brand, going beyond mere recognition to understand how well someone knows a brand. This metric is a foundation for influencing purchase decisions and ultimately building brand loyalty.

Brand consideration

Indicates the likelihood of consumers evaluating a brand as a potential choice, reflecting the impact of advertising and brand perception on consumer decision-making​.

Purchase intent

The likelihood of consumers making a purchase, signaling the effectiveness of marketing efforts in driving actual sales and revenue for the brand.

CTV providers are working hard to better match advertisers with content and keep brand experience at the center. They’re carefully weighing how ad loads and frequency impact audience engagement to deliver brand experiences that leave a lasting impression.

Download our full report to gauge your CTV ad effectiveness across eight Brand Lift metrics. Learn which metrics, from awareness to consideration and beyond, are most impacted, and learn how to optimize your CTV ad spend based on your unique campaign goals. 

Connected TV can be closer to the purchase path

DISQO’s benchmarks reveal that the industry needs to optimize consumers’ purchase paths from CTV. However, the rise of shoppable ads, QR codes, and live links in ad creative has introduced new opportunities for viewers to actively lean into and take action at the prompting of CTV ads. 

With the merging of linear TV and digital through CTV, channels that are traditionally considered for performance marketing are now considered for brand marketing, and vice versa. As CTV evolves, advertisers should examine it and all media through a full-funnel lens to maximize ROI.  

DISQO’s report also offers benchmarks for nine distinct behavioral Outcomes Lift metrics, from category and competitive search to site visits and e-commerce activity. Download it for insights about optimizing CTV campaigns and driving valuable outcomes.

Connected TV ad performance varies across industries

It’s equally important to consider CTV ad performance in the context of your industry. This enables powerful conclusions about how your ads stack up to competitors' and highlights the channel’s effectiveness at driving brand lift and behavioral outcomes for your specific offerings. Consumables, for example, perform exceptionally well in metrics like brand consideration and purchase intent, moving consumers from awareness to actively considering or intending to buy. 

On the other hand, CTV delivers the greatest impact for goods in favorability and competitive search—well above cross-channel and overall norms​. It is powerful in building brand favorability and driving competitive search, making it a key channel for differentiation. Advertisers should use storytelling to reinforce brand equity and product value, prompting direct searches from increased brand favorability. 

DISQO’s benchmarks showcase CTV performance across four key categories to go even deeper. Learn which stage of the funnel is most influenced by CTV in your category.

Connected TV ad performance varies across stages of brand maturity

As brands grow, CTV influences awareness, engagement, and conversion differently, making it essential to align strategies with brand maturity for maximum impact.

For new brands, CTV drives substantial gains in awareness and competitive search, making it an efficient tool for building early recognition. For emerging brands, CTV excels at deepening consumer connection, driving high lift in favorability, familiarity, and purchase intent, outperforming other channels. For established brands, CTV reinforces leadership and drives action, outperforming favorability, site visitation, and category e-commerce metrics.

For more detailed insights and strategies tailored to your brand’s growth stage, get the benchmark data you need to optimize your ad spend.

Proof of CTV’s real-world success

CTV’s power isn’t just theoretical—it’s delivering real results for brands in the field. A recent campaign from a new wellness-focused energy drink brand shows how it can drive meaningful outcomes when paired with the right strategy. 

With creative built around health-conscious values and advanced targeting powered by AI, the campaign successfully reached a key demographic of active, wellness-oriented consumers.

By measuring campaign effectiveness with DISQO’s single-source Brand Lift solution, the team uncovered clear, measurable gains in awareness and purchase intent—especially among consumers previously loyal to competitors. 

In this instance, key results included an 8-point lift in aided awareness and a 14-point lift among viewers exposed four to six times. It didn’t stop at visibility. Purchase intent jumped 8 points overall, with a 7-point lift among women and a 9-point lift among health-conscious consumers. These outcomes validated the brand’s wellness messaging and frequency strategy while converting competitor customers to consider switching brands. 

This campaign demonstrates how CTV, combined with thoughtful messaging and precise delivery, can accelerate growth and set new brands apart in crowded categories. For more insights, download the full case study here. 

Benchmark your connected TV campaign performance with DISQO!

Measure and champion your campaign effectiveness with DISQO. Our objective, identity-based methodology across all media channels helps hundreds of brands, agencies, and media platforms perform complete ad measurement. Then, compare your campaign outcomes to the industry’s only full-funnel CTV Ad Effectiveness Benchmarks for a compelling narrative that supports future media investments.