Adweek 2025 Recap and Takeaways

What does performance really mean in Connected TV (CTV)?
If you watched the The Streaming TV Summit  at Adweek, this question came up again and again. It wasn't because the room didn’t have answers. It’s because everyone had a different answer.

Performance, in streaming, is context-dependent. A brand marketer, a media buyer, and a publisher all see different sides of the same coin. But what they agreed on was this: we can’t measure performance or improve it without the right signals.

The Shape of the Market Is Changing

One theme that stood out was how two distinct buying behaviors are emerging in CTV:

1. Upfront/direct buying—your traditional media planning, often longer-term.
   
   
2. Scatter buying—fast-moving, reactive, and increasingly driven by new advertisers who haven’t historically invested in TV.

That second group is particularly interesting. These aren’t just leftover dollars from upfronts. Scatter is becoming a primary strategy for brands that need flexibility and quick wins. But that also means the tools to find relevant inventory—and prove it performs—have to evolve.

Signal = Scale

There are foundational building blocks in place now that weren’t there a year or two ago. Content signals are starting to scale, and that’s good news for both sides of the market.

For buyers, it means clearer insights into where their ads are running, and what content is actually moving the needle. For publishers, it’s a chance to demonstrate value and defend premium pricing—not just hope buyers return.

But without these signals? Everything looks the same. Every program, every service, every channel becomes interchangeable, commoditized, and priced to the bottom.

Why Market-Based Pricing Could Flip the Script

One of the most intriguing trends to watch in the coming years is market-based pricing in CTV. More advertisers are showing up with real budgets and expectations. If the signal quality and performance data hold up, CPMs could actually rise—flipping old assumptions about programmatic's “race to the bottom.”

That future depends on how well we connect the dots between audience, content, and performance. Right now, most of the data in CTV stops at the audience level. But audience targeting alone isn’t enough. Not if we want to grow budgets, justify CPMs, and drive results.

Content-Level Signals: The Real Unlock

Here’s the rub: if buyers can’t see which content (not just which show or channel) is driving outcomes, there’s no way to optimize. And if publishers can’t tie performance back to specific programs, they’re stuck in a one-size-fits-all pricing model.

That’s why VPPA-compliant content signals matter. When buyers know what content performs—and sellers can prove it—everyone wins. Advertisers get better outcomes. Publishers get rewarded for quality. And CTV gets the performance engine it deserves.

Because CTV isn’t just “TV, but streamed.” It’s measurable, scalable, and performant. But only if we treat the signals like they matter.

So no matter the answer to what performance is in CTV, the panel showed how vital it is to have signals to understand where ads are going to be placed and reporting on where they ran.