Connected TV (CTV) has crossed the threshold. It’s no longer just a test platform, brand awareness add-on, or a channel reserved for Fortune 500 advertisers. In the first half of 2026, the data is unambiguous: CTV has matured into a performance-ready, programmatically accessible, cross-device channel with global scale.
Don’t leave measurable growth on pause. App marketers are positioned to hit play and make the rest of 2026 a profitable journey with cross-channel and multi-screen projections that offer blockbuster potential for their campaigns.
Where to start? Let’s begin with the numbers and pop open that bag of scalable, measurable (CTV) popcorn success!
Positioning CTV; Global Scale & Gaps to Fill
In the United States, where the market is most developed, eMarketer reports that the number of CTV viewers in the U.S. will reach 243.6 million in 2026. That equates to roughly 119.8 million households watching CTV.
As of mid-2025, streaming accounted for 44.8% of total TV viewership, surpassing the combined share of broadcast and cable. Three platforms, with strong app presence dominated this surge; YouTube, Netflix, and Hulu. Cross-device potential is now a given; users are surfing between routines and screens going about their daily lives.
In relation to TV usage, CTV spend accounts for just 1 in 10 US dollars spent on digital advertising. For performance marketers versed in DSPs and mobile user acquisition (UA), this imbalance is the opportunity; you are still early and the moment is now.
Across the pond in Europe, the landscape is scaling rapidly. European CTV ad spend in 2025 is projected to reach €14 billion (against $38B in the US), with UK households averaging 2.8 connected TV devices. Take Germany for example, where household CTV usage increased 21% year-over-year. Also looking at Spain’s inventory growth of 45% over the last two years, there are potent signals that European supply-side maturation is accelerating, making programmatic CTV increasingly viable as a non-U.S. activation layer and cross-border campaigns.
Heading to India, this is the market that should be on every performance team’s radar. With over 129.2 million active CTV users across 60–70 million CTV households, and 87% year-over-year growth since 2024. There is no doubt that media plans that omit this channel in 2026 are missing a big piece of the still growing pie.
For gaming and app marketers targeting mobile-first audiences who are now graduating to connected screens, India’s trajectory mirrors the early U.S. CTV curve. Yet it is compressed and accelerated by a hyperconnected younger population, increasing accessibility to 5G, and affordable smart TV hardware.
What this means for app marketers:
- Mobile-first consumers and markets become CTV-first consumers with less resistance
- CTV isn’t a traditional linear TV media buy and goes beyond awareness; it’s a premium video opportunity with direct response mobile UA and retargeting similarities
- It’s a new touchpoint source for scalable attention; reach people when they are relaxed and comfortable, and often in more immersive contexts (louder TV audio, less distractions, at home)
APAC: Leapfrogging Into CTV
The scene playing out inside the Asia Pacific region is nuanced and critical for app marketers thinking regionally. APAC leads the global CTV market with a revenue share of 38.57% in 2024, expected to grow at a CAGR of 14.4%, as seen from Grand View Research.
By 2029, CTV penetration in Australia, South Korea, and Japan is expected to reach 85–90%. Already in Japan and South Korea, CTV adoption has reached near-saturation in urban markets.
These countries offer advanced but competitive environments where value creation depends on sophisticated measurement, CTV expansion, and cross-device frequency controls. This is exactly the infrastructure requirements familiar to teams already running scalable measurement and multi-touch attribution on mobile.
China deserves a separate mention. It is a large and complex ecosystem often requiring local infrastructure and localized expertise. As producers, China accounts for the largest share of smart TV shipments globally, with over 50 million units annually. However, the supply-chain realities and repercussions of global geopolitics in 2026 are still influx and might impact numbers for the second half of the year.
Additionally, hurdles can arise for advertisers seeking cross-border campaigns, as PIPL (Personal Information Protection Law of the People’s Republic of China (Chinese: 中华人民共和国个人信息保护法) data regulations constrain certain international targeting. If you are considering international campaigns including China, app marketers need knowledgeable demand-side partnerships like RevX with in-country experience.
Indonesia makes an impact on the CTV map as well, as the mobile-first leapfrog story. Markets with historically limited linear TV reach, such as Indonesia and Vietnam, have landed directly into mobile-led programmatic models. The ultra-convenience led environments and centralized density in its major capital cities have led to the creation of super apps like Grab and Gojek, which have pioneered integrated ad formats across transport, food, and payments. This creates unique cross-surface targeting opportunities for performance advertising Teams. As CTV inventory scales on affordable Android-based smart TVs, Indonesia and APAC represent a high-growth extension for app marketers already running mobile UA there.
A critical data point from PubMatic’s April 2026 research across seven APAC markets: 78% of co-viewing in APAC happens on CTV, concentrated within predictable moments: weekend evenings, particularly Saturdays, during prime-time slots from 5–9pm. Family-friendly programming, movies, TV series, and live events are the content categories most likely to draw shared audiences. For gaming and app marketers, co-viewing windows during sports and entertainment programming represent premium, brand-safe inventory with proven household-level attention.
The Mechanics of Performance: The CTV + Mobile Combination Across the Full Funnel
The strategic shift that matters most for digital app marketers isn’t just adding CTV as a line item to your marketing plan. The holistic pathway is where real performance renders results and big picture data.
Marketers testing and iterating, optimizing often, whilst keeping their KPIs adaptable to markets, seasonality, and user behavior shifts, are integrating performance-based CTV intention with existing mobile infrastructure with greater ease.
And the creatives that win are going beyond static on-screen QR codes. CTV offers an ecosystem ripe for storytelling, customer loyalty, and creative brand expression. The key lies is how digital marketers use CTV to their brand story advantage.
Performance-focused CTV programmatic advertising now accounts for 65% of total video ad buys, according to Statista data from early 2026.
The funnel logic is straightforward:
- CTV drives brand and product awareness at scale in high-attention, sound-on environments. Mobile closes the loop, capturing install intent, purchase actions, and re-engagement.
- Combined they deliver invaluable behavioral metrics that offer important perspectives for ad personalization and unmatched household opportunity.
As for timing? CTV ad completion rates average 94.5% for 15-second formats, which are far above mobile display benchmarks, and can offer the cost-efficient balance of attention matched with message delivery.
Vertical Agnostic; A Screen Tale
For gaming verticals, the opportunity is particularly sharp. CTV gaming ads are projected to grow 60% this year. The combination of living-room sized creatives, with cross-device and interactive-minded formats, as with dynamic creative optimization (DCO) and second-screen triggers, can drive direct-to-store conversion from a single CTV exposure. Now that’s a powerful impression!
Non-gaming verticals including fintech, eCommerce, and subscription apps can benefit from the same stack: CTV for top-of-funnel reach, DSP-level audience syncing, and social (ex: through Intellibid) and mobile for attribution-verified outcomes.
The programmatic infrastructure to take advantage of the great channel migration to CTV is already in place, and global! Step up to the full-circle big screen potential.
The Takeaway You Can’t Click Away From
If your growth plan for the second half of 2026 is website or mobile-only, you’re optimizing a shrinking share of your (potential) audiences’ attention.
CTV is where households across the world are spending an increasing proportion of their media time. Notable media mergers and acquisitions such as Warner Brothers Discovery and Paramount Skydance mean that content will continue to flow prosperously within these channels.
Also look at the curious blurring space of the CTV / UGC crossover; streaming TV and social media feeds now interweave, creators create for both and then some. For viewers, this is already a natural habitat of discovery, purchase intent, and loyalty.
Connected TV inventory isn’t limited to walled gardens any longer. It’s programmatically accessible, the measurement infrastructure is mature enough to prove incrementality, and with the right levers and partners to fulfill and capture users’ modern attention spans, the creative formats are built for conversion.
Tip for Action: Remember to build your creatives for the important distance from the couch to the screen, or from the kitchen to the living room. Equipped with sound and novelty that mimics the TV watching experience. Your repurposed mobile banners will not suffice for this big screen.
Ready to activate CTV as an integrated performance channel alongside your campaigns?
Our programmatic DSP and ML-backed intelligence engine Intellibid platforms are built for full funnel, cross-screen, omnichannel advertising campaigns. And our Teams’ global experience can lead you beyond strategy to impactful performance-based results across apps, CTV, social media, and Google (including YouTube/Shorts).
Contact RevXperts today for more information on launching this channel for a robust 2026. Because the only thing flat about your marketing strategy should be the flatscreen TV showcasing your top creatives to engaged audiences!
Check out our other articles for relevant brand-scaling, performance-minded CTV insights, such as creating watch-worthy CTV ads and high-ROAS CTV strategies.
Lauren Heineck
