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Scaling with Safeguards: How to grow your Streaming TV investment effectively

Your Streaming TV budget is growing. But is your ROI keeping pace?

68% of marketers are increasing their Streaming TV budgets this year. Streaming now captures nearly 45% of all TV usage, surpassing cable and broadcast combined. The audience migration is clear. The question is whether your investment strategy is keeping up.

The hidden cost of rapid scaling

Streaming TV comes with a premium price tag. Our analysis shows it must work 4x harder than Linear TV to match ROI potential. Without proper governance, that premium becomes a problem.

Across £1bn in campaign spend, we’ve identified three costly pitfalls eroding advertiser returns:

  • 15% of Streaming TV budgets deliver to non-CTV inventory at premium prices
  • Up to 17% of impressions land on devices that aren’t TV screens
  • 35% of impressions run during inactive hours when audiences aren’t watching

The result? Marketers pay Streaming TV rates for outcomes that don’t match Streaming TV potential.

What governance looks like in practice

When a leading automotive brand shifted £87M from Linear to Streaming TV, they partnered with Ebiquity to ensure the investment would deliver Linear-like effectiveness.

As a result, we identified £79M in misaligned spend and delivered a 25% optimisation improvement through strategic governance.

Inside this whitepaper

  • Why Streaming TV governance is critical as budgets scale
  • The three most common pitfalls reducing your ROI
  • A proven framework for maintaining effectiveness as you invest
  • Real-world case study showing measurable improvement

Linear TV historically delivered an ROI of 5.94 and contributed 46.6% of total profit volume. As budgets shift, Streaming TV must fill that gap. 

Download the full report

Get the complete analysis, framework, and actionable recommendations to protect your Streaming TV investment and maximise returns.

Highlights

Why Streaming TV must work 4x harder than Linear
The percentage of budgets spent on non-CTV inventory
The share of impressions delivered during inactive hours

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Ebiquity Insights

Equip yourself with the data, benchmarks, and strategic insights needed to navigate the evolving advertising landscape.

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