CTV optimization grew up
Incrementality is non-negotiable

Marketers today won’t complain of having a lack of data to work with. Every channel offers metrics, dashboards, and attribution of varying quality, but very few provide a true picture of impact. That’s a problem in a world where 73% of marketers say they’re struggling to find high-quality customers heading into 2026, according to early findings from tvScientific’s upcoming “2026 State of Performance TV” report.

CTV has grown into a channel with the most potential to change this. Viewers aren’t skipping, swiping, or scrolling away. And with AI-backed optimization acting on signals like household-level conversion likelihood, supply-path efficiency, and creative performance patterns, CTV brings something marketers desperately need: attention, with measurable outcomes behind it.

Today, measurable outcomes means one thing: incrementality. When CMOs must prove ROI from every investment, they look to channels that don’t just count clicks. We must measure value.

CTV Captured Advertiser Dollars via Outcomes

Advertisers aren’t asking “Did my ad run?” anymore. They’re asking, “Did my ad drive revenue?” In fact, 57% of marketers say they feel increased pressure from leadership and clients to prove measurable results from AI-driven campaigns.

So, CTV evolved its infrastructure to push performance media into a more accountable territory:

• Household-level identifiers (even a patented process for building this graph)
• Real-time bidding
• AI-based decisioning
• Deterministic outcome measurement
• And now: always-on incrementality

Of course, having access to the mechanics doesn’t mean advertisers are using them.

Many CTV buys still look like legacy TV: locked budgets, fixed targeting, manual pacing adjustments, and reporting cycles that lag weeks behind. If decisions aren’t happening in real time, you’re not actually optimizing. You’re just observing. (If you’re in need, there’s a guide for evaluating accountable CTV platforms.)

And even when the optimization engine is working, most marketers still miss the second half of the equation: What portion of those conversions are net-new?

That’s the question unevolved measurement frameworks can’t answer. And why incrementality ends up misunderstood, misapplied, or ignored.

Where Attribution Platforms Must Fit

Incrementality answers what portion of conversions are net new. That distinction matters more than ever: 30% of marketers now rank incrementality as a top business outcome, nearly triple last year. Conversions can be your goal, but only if they’re understood in context of all your other marketing activities.

Modern incrementality models, like INCRMNTAL’s, make this practical. They don’t rely on user-level data, invasive tracking, or lengthy experiments. They simply show whether your CTV investment is generating new demand or capturing what would have happened anyway. It’s the clarity layer most advertisers have been missing.

To optimize CTV the way performance media is meant to work, you need a system that unifies what you’re aiming for, how you measure it, and how quickly you can act. That system combines outcome-based goals and reliable measurement into one visible loop.

In practice, that loop looks like this (given you have a capable CTV platform):

• Start broad. Give AI room to learn. Overly tight targeting limits performance before it begins.
• Always-on AI optimization. Let the bidding engine use inputs like audiences, supply paths, time of day, geography, and ad exposure volume to drive measurable outcomes, and move budget toward what’s working immediately.
• Apply creative insights often. Creative isn’t static. Performance shifts daily, not quarterly, and the loop should learn from creative insights in real time.
• Measure deterministically. Tie real exposures to real conversions at a household level so decisions are grounded in truth, not modeled estimates.
• Measure incrementality in a way that credits CTV correctly. When a strong CTV campaign is running, organic, search, and social often look like they’re performing better, but it’s actually CTV driving that lift. Make sure your measurement separates real CTV impact from the channels that simply ride the wave.
• Reallocate for both efficiency and lift. Shift spend toward combinations of audiences, creative, and inventory that deliver real outcomes and incremental impact.

The result is a self-correcting, self-improving optimization system. Marketers not only drive outcomes when it’s followed, but prove them.

Common CTV Advertising Mistakes

If the modern optimization loop is so straightforward, why do even the most sophisticated teams struggle to execute it? Turns out it’s rarely about skill, and almost always about the momentum of legacy thinking. Three patterns show up again and again:

1. Old TV habits die hard.

Budgeting cycles, fixed flighting, and “lock it in and let it run” mindsets are deeply ingrained. Teams optimize after the fact instead of while the campaign is live. This holdover from linear TV restricts the real-time learning CTV now makes possible. (Pro tip: you can apply CTV learnings to your linear TV buys.)

2. Attribution gets mistaken for impact.

Last-touch reports look clean, but they tell only one part of the story. Many marketers over-rely on what’s easy to measure, not what’s meaningful. Without incrementality, performance can seem coincidental, miscredited, or misinterpreted. This is especially the case in multi-channel mixes (universal in 2025).

3. Signals live in silos.

Audience insights sit in one place, creative insights in another, supply-path data in another. Even with the right tools, teams often lack the operational rhythm to connect signals across functions. Optimization becomes a series of isolated adjustments rather than a unified strategy.

These are structural limitations, not just technical ones. And fixing them isn’t about adopting new terminology; it’s about adopting a new operating model.

When teams break these habits — when measurement, targeting, creative, and bidding finally inform one another — CTV stops behaving like a siloed channel and starts behaving like a performance system.

Where CTV Is Headed: Performance + Incrementality = Truthful Impact, Worthy of Your Budget

As AI reshapes every corner of media, the platforms that win won’t be the ones with the most automation. They’ll be the ones that unify:

• AI-driven optimization
• Deterministic measurement
• Always-on incrementality
• Creative, audience, and supply insights in one place

That’s the real future of CTV (and all your marketing channels): a system where performance and proof move together.

And marketers are already demanding it. 56% say lack of transparency in CTV measurement is one of the biggest risks to their team’s success. Incrementality isn’t optional anymore. It’s the way marketers earn trust, defend budgets, and prove impact across every channel in the mix.

CTV has evolved. Optimization has too. Now marketers can evolve with it.