Your 2026 Guide to Summer CTV Creative

Summer is one of the longest and diverse spending seasons on the calendar. During that stretch, shoppers aren’t just browsing, they’re actively planning trips, stocking up for events, and treating themselves and others. That means more opportunity for brands that match their offering to the season’s summer vibe. Here’s what’s driving consumer spending this summer, and how to build Connected TV (CTV) creative that will capture revenue and grow your business.

The Trends.

Nearly nine in 10 American households now watch CTV, and streaming continues to take up a larger share of TV time. That reach, combined with a 98% ad completion rate, makes CTV one of the most effective places to show up during a high-intent season like summer.

And summer 2026 is shaping up to be exactly that kind of season. Despite belt tightening and persistent inflation, consumers aren’t canceling their summer plans — they’re getting more deliberate about them. 

Sixty percent of Americans plan to travel this summer, and nearly 4 in 10 are building those plans around a specific experience they want to have. Summer and travel-adjacent brands, think apparel, personal care, education, and more, have a major opportunity to align their offerings with what consumers want. 

And with consumers paying closer attention to where their money goes, brands that show up with relevant, well-timed creative have a better shot at earning their attention.

60% of Americans plan to travel this summer.

$3,545 Average U.S. summer trip budget.

Summer Spending Priorities: > Travel and experiences > Wellness essentials > Value-driven purchases

Creative Best Practices.

We asked the experts at QuickFrame, MNTN’s video creative solution, to share their best practices for summer video ads. Here’s what they had to say:

1. Know which version of summer your audience is having. 

Key Stat: Nearly 90% of consumers prefer personalized ads, and 87% are more likely to click on ads for products they’re interested in or shopping for.

Summer looks different depending on who’s watching: families juggling packed schedules, young professionals chasing travel and experiences, or remote workers logging on from three zip codes in five days. And audiences want creative that reflects their reality — nearly 90% of consumers, and 87% are more likely to click on ads for products they’re interested in or shopping for. So the closer your creative gets to their actual summer, the harder it lands.

2. Sell the feeling, not just the product. 

Key Stat: “Emotional” campaigns can perform twice as well as those using only “rational” content.

Summer is an emotional season, and people aren’t just buying things, they’re buying into their ideal version of the next few months. Which is good news for advertisers: according to one study from Binet and Field, purely emotional campaigns performed twice as well as those using only rational content. Summer creative that captures how your product fits into that vision will outperform creative that leads with features or price alone.

3. Keep your campaigns’ creative connected. 

Key Stat: MNTN advertisers saw their highest visit rates of the season during the 2024 Summer Olympics, with the lift holding for four straight weeks.

Summer is long and spans multiple moments, including graduation, travel season, and back-to-school prep, but finding a throughline on those seasonal events can pay off in a big way. During the 2024 Summer Olympics, MNTN advertisers saw average visit rates climb from the week before the Games through the closing ceremony — producing the season’s highest visit rates and sustaining that lift for four straight weeks. Try building cohesive seasonal story that evolves across the summer with multiple creative variations to help to tap into specific moments while increasing brand recognition.

4. Don’t be afraid to go lo-fi. 

Key Stat: 85% of Gen Z engage more with lo-fi video than polished corporate content — and over 80% of TV usage among 12-to-17-year-olds now happens on CTV.

Gen Z’s lo-fi preferences are following them from mobile to the living room, and several of MNTN’s top-performing summer advertisers across verticals like home fragrance, beauty, and fashion leaned into the style in Summer 2025. Our QuickFrame experts recommend testing this approach with features like people speaking directly to camera, vertical phone-style framing, natural settings, and social-style elements like filters and on-screen text.

Making Every Impression Count.

Every summer, consumers make thousands of small decisions about how to spend their time and money — and many of those decisions happen in front of a screen. Connected TV puts your brand in the room for those moments, but it’s the creative that determines whether you’re part of the conversation or background noise. When you show up with something worth watching and keep it fresh as the season moves forward, the results will follow.