Connected TV (CTV) is a leading platform in digital advertising, combining the precise targeting of digital ads with the broad reach and storytelling power of traditional TV. This creates an immersive experience that offers full-funnel marketing results. As consumer time spent watching CTV has doubled over the past five years and linear TV viewing patterns have shifted, advertisers now see CTV as essential for reaching and engaging audiences.

Of those CTV users, viewers increasingly choose to watch content with ads. By 2025, Free Ad-Supported Streaming TV (FAST) viewers will increase to 49% of CTV users, further highlighting the opportunity for marketers to captivate audiences in ways standard digital display ads cannot match. With the explosion of consumer time spent and advertising dollars following, making CTV more addressable and targeted requires a combination of identity and audience.
 
Historically, the IP address has been the most popular way to target a household with a CTV (e.g., LG, Samsung, Vizio device) or streaming platform (e.g., Disney+, Paramount+, Roku, Amazon Prime, etc.). As IP addresses continue to fluctuate in terms of durability, consistency, and type, including the increased adoption of IPv6, we have seen a new incumbent enter the CTV ecosystem: UID2.
 
UID2 stands out as a particularly valuable tool for CTV advertisers. It provides a standardized way to identify and target users across CTV and traditional channels like display and mobile while respecting consumer privacy. Given that purchases might not occur on CTV, UID2's ability to link ad exposure on CTV to conversions on other devices is crucial for demonstrating a CTV campaign's true impact.
 
Authenticated Audiences Are Key to CTV's Appeal

A significant advantage of CTV is its high rate of logged-in, authenticated users. This provides marketers with reliable first-party data for targeting and measurement purposes.  UID2 benefits from this since it's a universal identifier based primarily on first-party data, such as people’s email addresses and phone numbers.  

Authenticated viewers can also be connected across different devices, enabling marketers to understand the full customer journey. This helps in attributing conversions more accurately to CTV ads.
 
Key Advantages of CTV for Digital Marketers

- Superior Viewing Experience: Larger screens and a captive audience watching high-quality on-demand content
- Authenticated Users: Enables precise audience targeting, more personalized ad experiences, and enhanced cross-device attribution
- Value Exchange: Viewers get cost-effective content with personalized ads, leading to higher engagement
 
"Authenticated viewers and universal IDs like UID2 are revolutionizing CTV advertising, enabling the effective delivery of personalized content and ensuring strong engagement for marketers,” said Travis Scoles, Executive Vice President at Paramount Advertising.  “Paramount is committed to optimizing across platforms and will continue to leverage tools and advancements that maximize reach for our partners and improve the user experience for our viewers.”
 
The Role of Universal IDs in CTV Advertising

Universal IDs, like UID2, play a critical role in CTV by ensuring consistent user identification across platforms while respecting privacy. Adoption of UID2 is gaining traction in the TV industry, with brands such as AMC Networks, Disney, Dish Media, Freewheel, NBCUniversal, Roku, and Paramount integrating it into their digital advertising ecosystem. As authentication increases across traditional digital and mobile apps, especially connected TV, universal IDs like UID2 enable cross-device and cross-channel identity strategies without cookies. This is especially important as traditional identifiers like third-party cookies and IP addresses face an uncertain future.
 
Better Understand and Reach Your Audience with Identity Graph

For CTV ad spending to catch up to time spent with CTV, the industry must use these authenticated signals and universal IDs. Identity graphs, like Experian’s, integrate various identifiers (e.g., Universal IDs, CTV IDs, IP addresses), allowing CTV platforms to understand relationships between households, individuals, and devices. This understanding enables:
 
- Publishers using universal IDs can make advertising on their platform more addressable, which will lead to higher demand.
- Marketers can achieve greater precision with cross-device targeting, cross-channel frequency management, and more holistic measurement since conversions often happen on non-CTV devices.
- Viewers receive a more personalized ad experience (without seeing the same ad repeatedly), which will increase engagement with a marketer's campaign.