Streaming Spend Peaks, But How Much Of The Reach Is Actually New?
by Frankie Karrer
Abstract
- Streaming video ad spend reached $582.6 million over the past seven months, holding just above last year’s $576.1 million.
- Ad impressions eased to 69.5 billion from 71.4 billion year over year, reflecting a market where early ad-supported tier growth has leveled off as viewing spreads across more services.
- 62% of streaming subscribers report seeing the same ad more than once in a single session, and 52% say they would pay extra to avoid the repeats.
- Connected TV (CTV) ad spending will overtake linear by 2028, with CTV time spent passing linear TV as soon as this year.
The 2026 World Cup final proved live sports commands a massive audience, drawing 66.4 million average viewers across every platform that carried the match, making it the highest-rated TV event since Super Bowl LX. Fox and its platforms brought in 42.5 million English-language viewers, while Telemundo and Peacock delivered another 23.9 million for Spanish-language streams. The even bigger story is the growth: Fox’s tournament average jumped 116% over the 2022 World Cup, and Telemundo and Peacock viewership surged 143%. Fans showed up in force, and across more screens than ever.
That spread is exactly what advertisers chasing live sports viewers want to see. EMARKETER forecasts 122.7 million US adults will watch live sports digitally this year, outpacing the 110.3 million still tuning in on traditional TV, with digital viewership rising 6.1% while traditional slips 3.3%. Something interesting is happening with viewing preferences, too: younger fans favor clips, with 47% of Gen Zers saying they prefer watching highlights over full games. Brands that keep a consistent message while tailoring creative to each screen have the best chance to reach these fans wherever they go for the game.
We watched that answer take shape during the tournament itself. MNTN advertisers who aired on premium CTV during the live matches drove more than 1.2 million site visits and close to 58,000 conversions at a blended 8.35x ROAS, and 29% of them on television for the first time. And those visits and conversions kept coming long after the final whistle, even on the days no ads ran.
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