CTV Delivers 10x More Conversions Than Linear TV: New Study
The study also confirms that CTV performance scales with investment. Advertisers that committed larger budgets to CTV saw disproportionately higher returns, while those underinvesting may be missing out.
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New data from INCRMNTAL revealed that Connected TV (CTV) is delivering significantly better returns than linear TV while using a smaller portion of the advertising budget. Analysing nearly $2 billion in ad spend, INCRMNTAL’s incrementality measurement shows that CTV also outperforms YouTube, achieving near-perfect efficiency in the U.S. market.
Traditional last-touch attribution methods fall short for CTV because most Smart TVs aren’t clickable. INCRMNTAL uses a privacy-safe, incrementality-based approach to isolate the true impact of CTV campaigns, uncovering how much CTV’s effectiveness has been underestimated.
In direct comparisons, CTV generated 10 times more conversions than linear TV with just 60% of the spend. The results, drawn from campaigns across more than 50 brands in industries including Gaming, Fintech, SaaS, and eCommerce, position CTV as one of the most efficient and scalable ad channels in the media mix.
“CTV is no longer just delivering reach, it’s reliably converting media investment into measurable business outcomes,” said Maor Sadra, CEO of INCRMNTAL.
“This isn’t a test phase anymore. CTV is performing at every level of the funnel. The numbers speak for themselves: it’s no longer an emerging channel, it’s the performance engine of modern advertising.”
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In addition to outperforming linear TV, the research revealed that CTV often delivers better ROI than YouTube. The video-sharing platform accounted for 2.5x more spend than other CTV platforms, yet delivered only 2x the conversions, suggesting that some advertisers may be overvaluing scale while overlooking more cost-effective opportunities across the broader CTV landscape.
CTV’s maturity is particularly evident in the U.S., which accounts for 76% of global CTV ad spend. In this market, CTV achieves a 1:1 ratio of spend to conversions, representing a highly efficient spend-to-outcome ratio.
Vertical analysis showed that Fintech brands, which tend to diversify spend, saw CTV drive 12% of total conversions, outperforming even some of their more established channels. In contrast, gaming brands remain heavily skewed toward linear TV, a conservative approach that may limit their performance potential.
Seasonality insights added another layer to CTV’s strategic value. Unlike other channels, where conversions peak in December and January, CTV sees its highest conversion rates in November. This gives brands a unique opportunity to front-load Q4 campaigns and capture consumer attention before holiday saturation drives up inventory costs.
The study also confirms that CTV performance scales with investment. Advertisers that committed larger budgets to CTV saw disproportionately higher returns, while those underinvesting may be missing out.
“With CPA variance ranging from 0.5x to 5.5x depending on execution, advertisers who treat CTV as a marginal test channel are leaving serious performance on the table,” added Maor Sadra. “CTV has proven it can scale with impact and it’s where marketers should be placing confident bets in 2025.”
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