Let’s start with the facts: a recent eMarketer report found that CTV has reached 1/3 of total ad spend but audiences spend 1/2 of their time consuming content on streaming platforms.

Moderator Kerry Flynn, media reporter at Axios, opened with these facts as panelists David Porter, Head of Ad Sales Research, Data, and Insights at Warner Bros. Discovery; Lexi Swift, VP of Addressable Sales at The Walt Disney Company; and Michael Piner, EVP of Advanced Advertising at Mediahub Worldwide dove into the challenges and opportunities facing advertisers who are chasing viewers across multiple platforms.

So why haven’t ad dollars followed viewers to streaming in similar proportions? “Two simple reasons,” Porter explained, “First off, the ad load on CTV is much smaller, say four-to-six minutes per hour versus 15 minutes on linear. The second is that the majority of that time on CTV is still subscription-based” instead of ad-supported. Piner agreed–”simply put, the time spent with ads does not match up to the time spent in general [watching CTV],” he said.

While ad-supported video on demand is growing, ad loads across streaming will likely never reach those traditionally found on linear. So how will streaming make up lost ground? Ad innovation–everything from shoppable ads to using AI to find contextual moments. These innovations drive relevancy, which make ad spots more valuable to both advertisers and viewers, Swift explained. According to Swift, new technology has allowed Disney to “really dial in on the exact moments [of relevance] and connect the ad with that moment.” 

Another headwind for CTV ad growth is a side effect of streaming’s own rapid growth: a conglomeration of apps that have led to a fragmented–and sometimes frustrating–viewer experience. For Piner, it boils down to the simple fact that “happy viewers are happy consumers, and happy consumers buy more stuff.” He continued, “the business model is what’s holding us back, we definitely have the technology to be able to make this better...we need to figure out what that new business model will be and learn from the past on what worked.”

Despite growing pains that have made some advertisers hesitant to jump head-first into a unified, cross-platform buying strategy, the fact remains that streaming is the future of TV, and advertisers who ignore its power and pull with viewers are leaving a lot of value on the table. With technology, innovation and business models quickly catching up with viewership, the time is now to invest in a cross-platform strategy. For Porter, it boils down to this: “Follow the viewer. They’re watching cross platform, you have to buy that way.”