From Guesswork to Clarity: A Buyer’s Guide to Program-Level Controls

Buying CTV shouldn't feel like guessing. Yet for too long, advertisers have had to make blind bets on where their ads appear, often hoping they show up in brand-safe, relevant, and effective environments.

Program-level controls change that. They give buyers clarity, granularity, and confidence.

What are program-level controls? Program-level controls let advertisers target or exclude specific CTV content at the show or program level, rather than entire apps or channels.

With Peer39’s program-level targeting, you can:

• Choose genres like cooking, drama, or documentary, to reach more-specific audiences, get more specific with sub-genres like dark comedy or medical drama
• Exclude specific types of content, like R-rated shows or anything flagged for violence or drug use
• Include only shows that align with your audience, message, or values

Why app-level controls fall short: Most CTV buys still rely on app-level categorization. The problem? One app might house 50+ different types of shows, from family-friendly sitcoms to hard-hitting news documentaries.

If you block one category at the app level, you lose the rest of the content too. That means missing out on high-value inventory, audiences, and performance.

What program-level targeting unlocks

• More relevant placements: Ads show up next to content that matches your audience’s interests
• Fewer wasted impressions: Avoid content that's off-brand or underperforms
• Stronger brand suitability: Align campaigns with safer, more intentional content

5 ways to use program-level targeting effectively

1. Protect brand integrity: Block just the programs that raise suitability concerns without losing access to entire channels.
2. Target content, not containers: Focus on the actual show experience viewers are engaged with.
3. Get specific with genre and tone: Pick from 200+ show genres, 17 mood-based categories, and countless combinations.
4. Layer with custom keywords: Want to appear alongside cooking shows hosted by a specific chef or themed around a topic? Now you can.
5. Drive outcomes, not just reach: Better targeting leads to better performance including completion rates, brand recall, and efficiency.

CTV is too important to be treated like a black box. With program-level controls, marketers finally get what they need: transparency, performance, and confidence in where every impression lands.

It’s not just about avoiding risk. It’s about unlocking the real potential of CTV.