Connected TV (CTV) has shown notable growth in viewership and premium advertising space. In the US, CTV ad investment will surpass 30 million this year, closing the gap with Linear TV. Much of this growth is from major platforms entering the space with ad-supported content and CTV data extensions. We're talking Netflix, Amazon, Disney, and LinkedIn.

Netflix's ad supported tier has amassed 40 million monthly users globally in just six months. We expect this to continue to climb and high demand for this massive leaned-in consumer base. NFLX's total subscriber base is 270 million and growing. Netflix is planning to launch its own adtech supply platform with open-programmatic partnerships with The Trade Desk and Google. Netflix is in a strong position to offer personalized advertising given its multiple-household member sign-in.

Joining the party, Amazon recently added ads to Prime Video. This will reach an estimated 115 million monthly viewers in the U.S. alone. Amazon's extensive shopper data puts it in Prime position to continue building its advertising revenue streams with the addition of premium CTV. Prime Video households shop 22% more on Amazon than non-Prime Video homes. Early Amazon CTV campaigns that used Amazon first-party lifestyle audiences saw, on average, a 10% lift in detail-page-view rate and a 6% lift in add-to-cart rate when compared to standard demographic audiences.

LinkedIn has also stepped into the CTV arena. While not a CTV content provider, LI has partnered with CTV publishers (i.e. Roku, Paramount, Tubi) to expand its audience targeting to the big screen. This represents a unique opportunity for B2B advertisers to reach their audience in a new environment. We piloted this with our client partner The Lazaridis School of Business and saw great results.

Canada Spotlight

The speed at which premium inventory is becoming available to Canadian advertisers has accelerated this year. Whether it be the acquisition of Disney Plus inventory by Rogers, Amazon's win of Monday night hockey for the 24/25 season, or the upcoming launch of Netflix's in-house ad-tech platform, there is no better time for advertisers to explore the format and its benefits to their brand. The exciting influx of inventory is of course paired with the country's chord cutters overtaking cable subscribers in terms of their share of consumption, a pattern in itself which raises the importance of diversifying your media buy when it comes to our screens at home.

Over the past months, we have seen premium streaming services shift to include ads to even the highest tier of subscribers as they binge the world's biggest titles. Viewers are engaged now more than ever as they press play, and with a non-skippable format, we feel there is no better location for your brand and messaging to appear. TV has always played a pivotal role in accomplishing mass reach across the province and country at large, and with the growth of CTV, we do not see this pattern changing — only, and excitedly, becoming more measurable. We have officially entered the Connected TV era.