No More Networks and Streamers. In 2024, There’s Only CTV

At this year’s TV upfronts, one of the leading players in streaming opened its event with a video set inside its app’s instantly recognizable user interface. One after another, familiar TV characters and talent appeared on screen to flex an impressive catalog of IP across comedies, dramas, theatrical film, news, reality and live sports.

But it wasn’t Amazon, Netflix or YouTube showing off the power of their streaming TV apps—although they shared plenty of exciting content throughout the week. It was Disney, the 100-year-old media giant, putting Hulu at the top of its show, ahead of its extensive collection of successful networks.

And Disney wasn’t the only traditional “network” that prioritized its streaming offerings. Warner Bros. Discovery led with Max during its presentation, NBCUniversal hyped its Peacock originals, Fox made sure attendees knew about the youthful audience assembling on Tubi, and TelevisaUnivision touted 50 million monthly users on its ViX platform.

Just as telling, many of these companies focused almost as much on their tech and data offerings as their upcoming content slates.

As for the so-called “streamers”? They took steps to be more like the networks, announcing more live, ad-supported, mass audience programming—like sports, comedy specials and news—that have long been the bread and butter of traditional TV. And like their network rivals, these companies dialed up the glitz and the glam for their upfronts, trotting out big-time celebrities like Will Ferrell, Cameron Diaz and Billie Eilish.

This year’s upfronts have made clear that the years-long convergence of streaming and linear TV has reached a tipping point. While each presenter had its strengths and weaknesses, rooted partially in how they rose to power, they’re all playing the same game these days. In short, there is no longer a useful distinction between a “streamer” and a “network”—they’re all “convergent TV companies” now.

CTV companies address weaknesses by copying each other’s strengths

This year, upfront presenters addressed their historical weaknesses by bulking up on their competitors’ historical strengths.

For instance, legacy media powerhouse NBCUniversal touted the impact of its technology investments with a presentation on how its One Platform Total Audience helps advertisers engage audiences across screens and measure the actions consumers take after seeing these cross-platform campaigns. TelevisaUnivision also highlighted its growing capabilities in the world of outcomes measurement.

And perhaps nothing highlighted the ascendance of the CTV era better than when WBD chief ad sales officer Jon Steinlauf presented the company’s new data-driven video product. “You don’t have to worry about finding cord-cutters, cord-nevers or overexposure to heavy TV viewers,” he said. “You define your audience one time, and then we find them.”

For their part, the companies that built their businesses on streaming and technology worked hard to prove to advertisers that they have engaging live content that keeps viewers glued to the screen during ad breaks.

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Most notably, we are entering a new phase in the shift of live sports to streaming; to use the popular “crawl, walk, run” metaphor, the companies that began as tech platforms are now entering a light jog when it comes to sports programming.

The NFL’s Christmas Day games are coming to Netflix. Amazon added a playoff game and the second inaugural Black Friday game to its Thursday Night Football slate. And YouTube is complementing its NFL Sunday Ticket package with a new deal to carry local games from the ascendant WNBA.

Already, serious sports fans need at least one or two streaming platforms to follow their favorite teams. Sure, there’s always the option to watch the game at your local watering hole. But we’re reaching a point of critical mass where it makes more sense to sign up for a monthly subscription than to keep shelling out for wings and beer. That’s certainly the logic behind the newly named Venu Sports, a joint venture between Disney, Fox and WBD.

A CTV strategy for a CTV world

From an advertiser and agency perspective, this CTV tipping point means there is no longer utility in thinking about a “linear buy” and a “streaming buy.” Many already have unified video teams, but it’s easier to retool org charts than it is to truly unify strategies, workflows and datasets.

Since so many viewers are consuming content across screens and platforms, advertisers must build truly convergent media buying operations, executing a unified plan across all the different places modern viewers watch TV. While the complexity of this task might tempt some to over-invest in automated audience-based buying (aka programmatic), it’s crucial to remember that reaching the right consumers is only one part of the battle. To generate real business results, marketers need to serve the right creative to the right audience alongside engaging, contextually relevant content.

Indeed, we’ve all heard about the studies detailing how creative contributes to roughly half of a campaign’s performance. And I regularly see examples of clients’ creatives that generate 40-60% more engagement when placed in the right media audience context.

Regardless of where you’re executing or who is your target audience, there is truly no one-size-fits-all solution. Rather, CTV offers nearly infinite permutations of creative-media-audience opportunities for marketers to explore. So go ahead and dream big. Start thinking of how this vast landscape of options can help you get inside and in front of highly engaging content relevant to your target customers and the shows they love best.

Our CTV future has finally and fully arrived. It’s time for all of us to start living in it.