More evidence of the boom in connected TV ads: AppNexus reported advertising spend in its connected TV marketplace grew by 748% in Q2 ’18 vs. Q2 ’17, with sequential growth of 69% in Q2 ’18 vs. Q1 ’18. AppNexus said it sees over 20 billion monthly CTV impressions on smart TVs, set-top boxes and game consoles, which underscores the rapid adoption of ad-supported video on CTV.

AppNexus said that participants in its CTV marketplace now include 5 of the biggest sports and news broadcast TV networks, 5 of its biggest programmatic video buyers, a Fortune 25 marketer and 3 of the top 10 global ad agencies.

Among the buyers is Operam, which focuses on programmatic buying for movie and entertainment industry clients. Brian Lam, Operam’s Director of Programmatic, said that it has increased its CTV budget as a percent of digital ad spend with AppNexus from zero to around 50% in the past year. He highlighted a 97.5% completion rate for CTV ads on AppNexus, complemented by contextual targeting.

Meanwhile, on the supply side, Tubi, which offers a library of 7,500+ free ad-supported movies and TV shows, has seen strong growth in CTV monetization. Tyler Fitch, VP of Programmatic Partnerships at Tubi said that it has experienced a 293% revenue jump in its AppNexus partnership from Q1 ’18 to Q2 ’18 based on CTV ad momentum.

AppNexus’s CTV growth shows how the benefits of programmatic - data and automation - are already being brought to TV advertising. This is of course the holy grail that TV networks are chasing - the ability to offer micro-targeting of audiences with streamlined ad buying at scale. This is the powerful combination that the duopoly of Google and Facebook have used to become advertising powerhouses.

AT&T announced its intention to acquire AppNexus a few weeks ago in a deal rumored to be worth $1.6 billion. AT&T plans to use AppNexus as the foundation for its push into advanced TV advertising, marrying Time Warner’s premium content with data from its massive mobile subscriber business and other sources. AppNexus’s CTV growth shows the momentum this strategy already has.

To learn more about the huge opportunities in CTV and programmatic, see the videos of our sessions at June’s VideoNuze Online Video Ad Summit below (the first one includes AppNexus’s SVP Video Technology Eric Hoffert).

Video’s Programmatic Roadmap:

Connected TVs’ Ad-Supported Future: