For much of the past decade, Connected TV (CTV) has been positioned as the future of entertainment and advertising. Today, it is a reality for both. Netflix currently has around 325 million paid subscribers globally – making it the biggest streaming service, but players such as Samsung – makers of connected TVs – as well as marketplaces such as Rakuten also now play a significant role in this mainstreaming of CTV from a consumer perspective at least.
But what of the impact of the rise of CTV on the advertising space; how does it impact brands choice of channel for reaching consumers in ‘lean back’ mode and moreover, what does it mean for retail media?
Two new studies out last week – one from Samsung Ads and one from Rakuten TV – suggest that Europe has reached a tipping point for advertisers too. CTV is no longer an experimental channel sitting somewhere between television and digital advertising, but is also becoming a central component of how brands think about attention, discovery and customer acquisition.
This shift matters far beyond the media industry itself. For retailers building media networks and brands looking to connect advertising investment to commerce outcomes, the rise of CTV is beginning to reshape the retail media landscape in ways that are both exciting and challenging.
The question is no longer whether CTV will become part of retail media, the question is how large a role it will play?
The battle moves from search to discovery
One of the most interesting findings from both reports is that the television home screen is becoming a discovery environment in its own right.
Samsung’s data shows that viewers access their TV home screen more than five times a day and that almost nine in 10 consumers use it to decide what to watch next. Rakuten’s research meanwhile suggests that advertisers increasingly favour home screen placements over traditional pre-roll and mid-roll video advertising.
This shift mirrors changes already taking place elsewhere in digital commerce. For years, retail media has largely focused on capturing demand. Sponsored search placements, promoted products and category sponsorships work because shoppers have already expressed intent. They are actively looking for something.
CTV introduces something different. It operates much higher up the funnel; rather than capturing demand, it creates it.
The home screen increasingly resembles the digital equivalent of a retailer’s front window. It is where attention is captured before a consumer has made a decision. In many ways it sits closer to social media feeds, streaming recommendations and AI-powered discovery engines than it does to traditional television advertising.
For brands, this creates opportunities to influence consumers earlier in the purchase journey. For retailers, it creates an entirely new inventory category capable of extending media network influence beyond their own websites and apps.
Why brands are embracing CTV
The attraction for brands is easy to understand. As digital advertising becomes more fragmented, marketers are finding it increasingly difficult to achieve both scale and quality attention simultaneously.
Social media delivers reach, yet often suffers from clutter and short attention spans. Search delivers intent but only after a consumer has already entered the market. Traditional television still provides scale, but lacks the precision and measurement capabilities modern marketers demand.
CTV increasingly offers elements of all three. It combines TV’s immersive, large-screen environment with digital-style targeting and measurement. It also reaches consumers at a moment when they are often relaxed, engaged and viewing content with friends or family.
Samsung’s findings around co-viewing are particularly important. While much of digital advertising has become highly individualised, television remains a shared experience. A single impression may reach multiple decision-makers within a household simultaneously.
For FMCG brands, consumer electronics manufacturers, automotive advertisers and travel companies, that creates significant value.
The challenge, however, is as ever measurement. Retail media has enjoyed rapid growth because it offers closed-loop attribution. Brands can see advertising exposure and resulting purchases within the same ecosystem. That capability has become one of retail media’s greatest competitive advantages.
CTV remains further away from that ideal. While targeting and measurement continue to improve, linking exposure on a television screen directly to a purchase remains more complicated than attributing a sponsored product click on a retailer website. That gap is closing, but it has not disappeared.
Retail media’s next expansion opportunity
For retailers operating media networks, however, CTV represents something potentially even more important: growth. The retail media industry has reached a point where onsite inventory alone is no longer enough. Most major retail media networks have already monetised search results, category pages, homepages and email channels. Future growth increasingly depends on extending influence beyond owned retail properties and out into off-site placements.
This is where CTV becomes strategically significant. Retailers possess something streaming platforms increasingly value: purchase data. Streaming platforms know what viewers watch. Retailers know what consumers buy. Combining those datasets creates powerful advertising opportunities.
A supermarket retailer, for example, can help a beverage brand target households that regularly purchase soft drinks, but have not bought a specific product. A DIY retailer can help manufacturers identify consumers actively shopping for home improvement products. A fashion retailer can create audience segments based on purchase behaviour rather than demographics alone.
This is why partnerships between retailers, broadcasters, streaming platforms and ad-tech providers are accelerating globally. The result is a gradual convergence between retail media and television advertising. The distinction between a TV campaign and a retail media campaign is becoming increasingly blurred.
Fragmentation creates opportunity – and complexity
Yet there is a downside. The same fragmentation that makes home screen advertising valuable also makes planning considerably more complex. Samsung’s research shows households now use an average of five streaming apps. Younger audiences use significantly more and switch between platforms fluidly.
This creates a challenge familiar to anyone involved in retail media. Fragmentation has already complicated digital commerce advertising. Brands must manage campaigns across retailer websites, marketplaces, social commerce platforms, commerce media networks and increasingly AI-driven discovery channels.
CTV adds another layer. Instead of a handful of broadcasters, advertisers now face dozens of streaming environments, operating systems, content providers and measurement frameworks. For retailers building media networks, this creates integration challenges. For brands, it risks creating another fragmented ecosystem where comparing performance becomes difficult.
The industry’s response will likely mirror what happened in digital advertising more broadly: greater emphasis on interoperability, standardised measurement and audience-based planning.
The emergence of the attention economy
Perhaps the most significant takeaway from both reports is that the conversation is moving away from reach and toward attention.
Rakuten’s research found advertisers increasingly focused on memorability, engagement and viewer attention rather than simple delivery metrics. That aligns closely with the broader evolution of retail media. As retail media matures, brands are becoming less interested in impressions alone and more interested in understanding how advertising influences behaviour. Incremental sales, consideration, loyalty and long-term customer value are becoming increasingly important metrics.
CTV fits naturally into that evolution. Its immersive environment, large-screen experience and premium content associations often generate stronger attention than many digital formats. In an era where consumers are exposed to thousands of messages daily, attention itself has become one of advertising’s most valuable commodities.
That does not mean CTV replaces traditional retail media. Rather, it extends it. Search, sponsored products and onsite advertising remain critical because they capture intent close to purchase. CTV’s role is to build awareness, consideration and preference earlier in the journey. Together they create a more complete commerce media ecosystem.
A bigger role in the retail media future
For brands, the rise of CTV is largely positive. It offers new ways to combine television-scale storytelling with digital accountability and increasingly sophisticated audience targeting.
For retailers, it represents one of the biggest growth opportunities available as onsite inventory approaches maturity.
But it also introduces new challenges around measurement, fragmentation and execution. What is becoming clear is that CTV is no longer simply another media channel. It is rapidly becoming a commerce channel.
As TV home screens become discovery engines and streaming platforms become advertising environments, the largest screen in the house is taking on a new role in the path to purchase. The winners will be those retailers and brands that stop viewing CTV as separate from retail media and start seeing it as one of its most powerful future extensions.
