Video and CTV advertising in 2025: We ask the experts

The audience shift towards consuming streamed and on-demand content over broadcast media shows no signs of stopping.

This has brought advertising formats like video and CTV ads to the fore, leading advertisers to think differently about how they present their message. The dominance of TikTok has brought about a surge in short, snappy, vertical video; but there is still room for well-produced, longer, resonant video ads that run on platforms like YouTube, which is increasingly being streamed on TV screens.

Meanwhile, CTV ads are coming into their own as a format that can deliver on both brand and performance; however, fragmentation and lack of standardisation in the streaming landscape present major hurdles to advertisers looking to take advantage of its strengths.

How will video and CTV advertising develop in 2025, what are the elephants in the room that advertisers should stop ignoring, and how should they upskill and adapt to stay ahead? We spoke to four experts – Gareth Holmes, Vice President of Commercial Strategy and Media at SeenThis; Jon Hewson, Managing Director at Audience Store; Phil Duffield, VP, UK at The Trade Desk; and Harry Darlington, Strategy Director at Medialab Group – to get their insights.

Q1: What’s the elephant in the room at the moment?

Fragmentation and a lack of standardised measurement tools in CTV

Jon Hewson, Managing Director at Audience Store:

It’s the challenge of effectively measuring and integrating CTV advertising within the broader omnichannel marketing landscape. As CTV viewership continues to rise, advertisers are increasingly investing in this medium. However, the lack of standardised measurement tools and the fragmentation of platforms make it difficult to assess the true impact of CTV campaigns and to compare them with other channels. This measurement gap hampers advertisers’ ability to allocate budgets efficiently and to understand the ROI for their CTV advertising efforts.

Additionally, the rapid growth of CTV has led to a proliferation of point solutions, which can cause confusion among brands and necessitate further education on the nuances of CTV advertising.

This complexity underscores the need for the industry to develop unified standards and clearer strategies to fully leverage the potential of CTV within comprehensive marketing campaigns.

The paradox of (too much) streaming choice

Phil Duffield, VP, UK at The Trade Desk:

Ever scrolled endlessly and still felt like there’s nothing to watch? You’re not the only one – audiences face a paradox of too much choice. This is problematic for streaming platforms and advertisers alike. When viewers spend too long between pressing the power and play button, they lose interest and the overall audience experience is diminished.

The solution lies in a more intuitive, engaging user experience with cross-platform content discovery, personalisation, subscription management, and ultimately fewer (more relevant) ads. Solving this problem is a win-win for everyone. Audiences can connect with the shows that interest them, content providers can cut streaming fatigue, and advertisers can connect with more engaged viewers.

Mainstream publishers have not pivoted to vertical video

Gareth Holmes, VP Commercial Strategy & Media, SeenThis:

Vertical video. With the explosion of social media over the past decade, we have seen these platforms embrace and lead the evolution of video consumption, moving from the 16:9 ratio to 9:16 ratio. It is well-researched that we humans interact far more readily with a 9:16 format video than its horizontal cousin, and as such vertical video is seen as revolutionary in consumer engagement.

Whilst social platforms have flourished with this ad format, mainstream publishers have not pivoted to embrace this consumption shift, and that is the elephant in the room – given it is proven to be a consumer preference, why have we not seen a likeminded rollout of vertical video on publishers? The answer seems to be a historic lack of suitable technology solutions to enable and support this.

Q2: How are budgets and ways of working changing?

A joined-up approach between CTV and linear TV is needed

Jon Hewson, Audience Store:

There has to be a joined up approach where CTV simply becomes TV (with CTV complementing linear TV). Advertisers are starting to focus on the audience rather than the channel, brand or streaming service – our clients are now also starting to factor in frequency capping across CTV services, to further enhance effectiveness. If advertisers can reach the right audience at the right time, that becomes the focus, whether through linear, CTV, or both.

We are also seeing a need to plan and buy CTV holistically and apply budgets fluidly, given the fragmentation of viewership across CTV services such as Netflix, Samsung, Amazon, Disney+ etc. When Netflix becomes available via more DSPs next year, it will become easier to buy CTV programmatically.

As businesses look for short-term uplift, CTV can deliver on both performance and brand goals

Harry Darlington, Strategy Director at Medialab Group:

As consumers and companies alike face continued financial turbulence, pressure to bolster profits will inevitably mean short-term uplift is prioritised next year. But such a heavy focus on maximising quick conversion wins often creates the risk of neglecting long-term brand building. If brands want to power sustainable success, they must recognise that performance and brand awareness are equally important and, crucially, not mutually exclusive.

Take CTV as an example. Historically seen as mostly an awareness driving channel due to cross-platform measurement inconsistencies, it’s now becoming increasingly trackable — with Amazon and Netflix included in BARB’s Advanced Campaign Hub, while shoppable ads have started to bring a direct response component to campaigns. CTV is just one of the multi-faceted levers brands can pull to simultaneously meet performance and top-of-the-funnel goals, which can also be true of many other media environments when used in the right combination.

Q3: What skills are coming to the fore, or are missing?

The ability to analyse and interpret complex data sets is increasingly vital

Jon Hewson, Audience Store:

The ability to analyse and interpret complex data sets is increasingly vital – i.e. leveraging audience insights, data analytics, and ML to craft personalised messaging for specific viewer segments.

With consumers engaging across multiple devices, tracking and optimising campaigns that span all of these, but also a plethora of content services, is crucial to ensure cohesive and effective campaigns, and enable advertisers to track incremental reach.

As programmatic buying becomes more prevalent in CTV, expertise in automated ad purchasing and RTB is essential for efficient and effective media buying.

Seamlessly blending traditional TV advertising approaches with digital strategies allows for a unified brand message to maximise reach and results.

McDonald’s, Burger King, Hyundai, Kia, Pandora and Etsy are all buying at scale, but also running video across different formats to account for all viewing habits. Currently, it’s the automotive, food, FMCG, travel and entertainment brands that are really leaning into CTV; other verticals will follow.

Q4: What role is generative AI likely to play in 2025 – if any?

Streamlining buying, improving attribution, and crafting content that resonates

Jon Hewson, Audience Store:

AI-driven tools are already streamlining the digital media buying process, enabling real-time bidding and dynamic content placement. This will continue to grow with CTV planning and buying, enabling increased spending efficiency and improved campaign performance.

We should start to see AI improving attribution accuracy by creating data-driven feedback loops, allowing marketers to track metrics like site engagement, conversions, and revenue across multiple campaign dimensions, leading to more informed decision-making and optimised campaigns.

We’ll see AI assisting in the crafting of compelling content tailored for CTV audiences by analysing trends and preferences, informing the creation of ad content that resonates with viewers and is dynamically served to them according to their preferences. We’re already seeing AI-generated ads, such as Coca Cola’s Christmas ad, and this will continue.

Creative copywriting

Gareth Holmes, SeenThis:

Creative copywriting: generative AI, particularly machine learning focussed on natural language processing coupled with natural language generation deployed via a DCO would enable mass-scale personalisation of copy to each consumer.

Together with a robust performance feedback loop where the AI learns from past performance data, this could continually improve the relevance and effectiveness of the ad copy it generates.



Q5: Do you have an outrageous prediction or a safe bet to share for 2025?

Consolidation and growth in CTV

Jon Hewson, Audience Store:

Two safe bets. 1) There’s a limit to how much longer the fragmentation can continue and we will soon see consolidation (e.g. having a consolidated Amazon Prime subscription that manages access to several streaming services).

2). CTV will continue to grow. Subscription services will become more expensive, driving consumers back to ad-funded models, if not FAST channels, to get the same content.

The static display banner will be slowly consigned to history

Gareth Holmes, SeenThis:

Amongst a litany of other advancements, video will be the safest bet in 2025… Premium brands activating scaled high-quality video streamed into display will be a new epoch for advertising as the static banner is slowly consigned to history.

Brands and their agencies will need to see more bang for the same buck, or less, and this will drive a renewed focus on ROAS.

Advertisers will be more empowered than ever

Phil Duffield, The Trade Desk:

2024 will be remembered as a pivotal year for how advertisers value the premium open internet. This shift is largely driven by the industry’s fastest-growing channels, such as CTV and digital audio, which are proving to be compelling alternatives to the closed walled gardens.

Historically, walled gardens have thrived by offering advertisers easy access to large-scale reach, often at a low cost. However, that scale frequently comes at the expense of quality, with ads appearing against low-quality content (like cat videos) or worse, misinformation, MFA (made-for-advertising) content or hate-speech.  Advertisers are increasingly aware of these compromises in the hunt for cheap reach, especially as they face mounting pressure to deliver campaigns that drive real growth and differentiation for their brands.

By 2025, I predict advertisers will be more empowered than ever, leveraging data-driven precision to prioritise high-quality, brand-safe environments over cheap, low-impact reach.

Also published in: E-consultancy