70% of Advertisers Plan To Increase Streaming TV Spend in 2026

Connected TV budgets are set to grow again in 2026. According to a new survey from Premion, 70% of advertisers plan to increase CTV spend this year, with budgets climbing an average of 17%. That makes CTV the fastest-growing channel in the mix — well ahead of social, search, and even online video. And this isn’t just incremental shuffling. A quarter of increased CTV investment is coming from net-new budget growth, while the rest will be reallocated from legacy channels like linear TV and digital display.

As expectations around measurement rise, CTV continues to prove its value. Nearly all advertisers surveyed (97%) agree premium CTV improves ROI, while 85% say it drives full-funnel outcomes and strengthens ad recall. CTV’s role in omnichannel strategies is also solidifying, with 88% saying it improves cross-platform performance. That said, fragmentation remains a pain point: advertisers now work with an average of 4.4 CTV partners, fueling growing demand for unified measurement, smarter frequency management, and AI-driven optimization.

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