When streaming platforms bid for studios — and not the other way around — it’s clear where the TV industry has evolved. In 2026, U.S. adults now spend more time watching connected TV (48%) than traditional linear television (42%). While linear TV still accounts for $49.8B in ad spend today, CTV has already reached $33.5B and is on track to overtake linear advertising within the next few years.
As CTV adoption has accelerated among both viewers and advertisers, expectations have risen accordingly. Buyers aren’t just asking whether they can access CTV inventory. They’re asking whether they can buy it well: with visibility into where ads run, confidence in pricing, and reporting that reflects reality.
That shift has made one thing clear. Better CTV buying needs to improve the infrastructure behind the buy.
What Used to Hold CTV Buying Back
For much of its early growth, CTV buying was constrained by the systems supporting it.
Visibility was limited. Buyers often lacked clear insight into where campaigns actually ran or how inventory supply was sourced. In some cases, impressions traveled through “as many as half a dozen supply-side platforms (SSPs) before reaching a broadcaster or content owner,” adding layers of fees and opacity that reduced both choice and pricing efficiency.
Reporting existed, but it frequently arrived after campaigns ended — useful for summaries, less useful for decision-making. Many transactions still occur “without the metadata needed to understand where ads appear or who they’re reaching,” widening the visibility gap and making it harder to build confidence with buyers.
The result wasn’t poor performance — CTV delivered scale — but uncertainty. As the channel matured, the opportunity became obvious: fix the infrastructure, and CTV buying could finally live up to its promise.
Unlock #1: Intentional Access to Premium CTV Supply
Infillion MediaMath enables buyers to be intentional about where their CTV dollars go. Rather than relying solely on opaque bundles, teams can prioritize premium publisher supply and align inventory choices with brand standards, quality expectations, and performance goals — all within an open, composable buying environment.
That intentionality is reinforced through Infillion’s Private Marketplaces. Buyers can activate curated PMP deals that provide direct, controlled access to high-quality CTV inventory, with clear terms, known supply paths, and aligned incentives on both sides of the transaction. PMPs allow teams to move beyond broad open-market buying and instead build purpose-fit supply strategies — tailored by publisher, format, audience, or outcome.
This shift matters because, when buyers know where ads appear—and why—CTV becomes a channel that can be planned with the same rigor as any other significant investment.
Intentional access turns CTV from a black box into a strategic lever.
Unlock #2: Pricing Efficiency at Scale
As CTV budgets scale, small inefficiencies can compound quickly. MediaMath supports smarter supply-path decisions by reducing unnecessary hops between buyers and publishers—meaning fewer intermediaries, less waste, and more working media reaching premium inventory.
For Media Thesis, using MediaMath simplified CTV supply paths and provided greater transparency into where dollars were going, helping the team improve efficiency by 25% while maintaining control as spend scaled.
Unlock #3: Reporting That Actually Means Something
Historically, CTV reporting showed delivery, not context. MediaMath changes that by providing deeper insight into where campaigns actually ran and how supply was sourced.
With Jounce integrated, buyers can see authorized and primary sellers directly in reporting, adding confidence that results reflect legitimate, high-quality inventory.
Why This Works on Infillion MediaMath
Infillion MediaMath isn’t a bolt-on CTV solution. It’s part of the Infillion Platform™ — a composable infrastructure that unifies supply, demand, creative, and data for modern advertising execution.
That foundation enables cleaner supply access, more efficient pricing, and meaningful reporting.
Built for human and agentic activation, MediaMath enables agnostic agent execution via the Infillion Agent Connector, enabling smarter, more autonomous decision-making as CTV buying continues to evolve.
Whether teams run CTV via a MediaMath seat, integrate it into a broader Infillion-managed strategy, or execute autonomously, the value remains the same: control, transparency, and adaptability.
What Better CTV Buying Looks Like in Practice
When the infrastructure is open and transparent, the outcomes are straightforward.
Buyers choose premium supply intentionally. Pricing reflects real value instead of hidden complexity. Reporting provides clarity and confidence after the fact, not just surface-level summaries.
Explore Infillion MediaMath and see how better infrastructure unlocks better outcomes.
