CTV Audiences: The Rise of CTV & Decline of TV – Key Stats 2025

In recent years, Connected TV (CTV) has surged in popularity as viewers flock to streaming services for diverse content and convenience. This shift has reshaped the advertising landscape and opened new opportunities for companies to reach their target audiences through CTV.

Traditional TV broadcasts programs at fixed times, but CTV lets viewers choose what to watch and when. With its on-demand experience, CTV matches modern consumption habits and gives advertisers a powerful way to engage today’s audiences.

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The Growing Landscape of CTV Audiences and CTV Ads 

Connected TV (CTV) has become one of the fastest-growing major ad channel in the U.S. Analysts project it will grow by 16.8% and reach $33.48 billion in CTV ad spend by 2025. This rapid growth comes from:

• the performance,
• CTV audience segmentation,
• data-driven insights,
• and interactive capabilities that CTV offers.

By 2025, 70.7% of the US population will use CTV, and adoption will climb to nearly three-quarters of the population by 2029. Rising viewer numbers fuel this growth, with U.S. adults projected to spend an average of 131.5 minutes per day on CTV in 2025, second only to mobile devices.

In 2025, advertisers will allocate one in every ten U.S. digital ad dollars to CTV. This shift highlights the growing importance of CTV audiences in the advertising mix.

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Comparison of CTV and Traditional Television Advertising 

When comparing CTV with traditional television advertising, several distinct trends and numbers highlight the shifting preferences:

The growing viewership of Subscription on Demand

83% of Americans say they watch streaming services in 2025, such us Netflix or Amazon Prime. There were an estimated 125 million TV households in the U.S. for the 2023-2024, and there are approximately 117 million of connected TV households in the U.S. in 2025. 

Traditional TV Decline Statistics 

In the face of evolving consumer preferences and technological advancements, traditional television viewership has seen a steady decline. According to Nielsen’s The Gauge™ report, streaming hit a historic milestone in May 2025. For the first time ever, it captured a larger share of total TV usage than broadcast and cable combined. Streaming accounted for 44.8% of TV viewership, its highest share to date, while broadcast (20.1%) and cable (24.1%) together made up 44.2%.

Traditional TV viewership has been experiencing a significant decline, as consumers increasingly turn towards streaming platforms.

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Ad Spend of CTV Advertising 

CTV ad spend witnessed a 40.1% increase in 2021, reaching $11.36 billion. This growth is set against the backdrop of a decreasing traditional TV ad spend, indicating a pivot towards CTV among advertisers.

CTV continues to gain ground in the advertising market as advertisers increase their investments and audiences engage more deeply. By 2025, CTV ad revenues will surpass traditional linear TV ad spend, marking a major shift in the industry.

In 2025, CTV ad spend hit an impressive $33.35 billion in the U.S., and the trajectory suggests a climb to $42.4 billion by 2027. This shift underscores a broader change in the industry. Brands look to CTV ads as a more dynamic and effective way to reach CTV audiences.

The Traditional TV Advertising Spending 

Projected revenues for traditional TV advertising globally are set to hit $146.39 billion in 2025. However, a slight decline at an annual rate of -1.12% is expected between 2024 and 2028, leading to an anticipated market value of $141.38 billion by the end of that period.

In 2025, advertisers will spend about $27.00 per viewer. By 2028, this market will likely reach 5.7 billion people. Despite competition from digital media, traditional TV advertising still holds a strong position in global ad markets, including the U.S.

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CTV Advertising – Demographics and Ways of Targeting CTV Audiences

In 2025, the landscape of CTV audiences demographics displays a clear tilt towards younger audiences. Gen Z’s linear viewership is declining and CTV viewership is on the rise. 

It is projected that Gen Z’s CTV viewership will approach 56.1 million viewers in 2025. Moreover, CTV user penetration is impressively high among the age brackets of 25 to 54, soaring over 80%. For ages 12 to 17, the penetration is over 75%. 

However, engagement drops among the youngest and oldest viewers: fewer than 50% of people ages 0–11 and 65+ engage with CTV.

Targeting Capabilities and Audience Insights

CTV’s targeting capabilities are one of its most lauded features, allowing for precise CTV audience segmentation. CTV Audience data is commonly grouped based on interests, demographics, and viewing habits. 

Refined targeting contrasts with the broad reach of traditional TV ads, which use a one-size-fits-all approach. CTV lets brands deliver customized ads to distinct audience segments with content that matches their lifestyles and viewing preferences.

The integration with retail media and social media is further enhancing CTV’s targeting capabilities, providing advertisers with rich first-party audience data to fine-tune their audience segmentation. Read more about the differences between various types of data in the article: 1st party data vs 2nd party data vs 3rd party data.

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The Impact of Demographics on Ad Content and Strategy

Advertisers leveraging CTV audiences can tailor their ad content and strategy to align closely with the demographic insights at their disposal. For instance, with Gen Z’s significant presence on CTV, advertisers might create content that resonates with the values, trends, and digital fluency of this demographic.

Additionally, the high CTV penetration rates among those aged 25 to 54 suggest that content aimed at this group can be effectively delivered through CTV platforms.

This demographic targeting results in more personalized ad experiences that are likely to engage viewers, keep their attention, and potentially lead to higher conversion rates.

Sport Events coverage Linear vs CTV platforms 

The Super Bowl commands substantial advertising budgets due to its massive viewership. A 30-second ad spot during the Super Bowl comes at a record-breaking price tag of $7 million for linear TV. However, it is noted that CTV and digital advertising post-game provide an opportunity for brands to capitalize on the event’s excitement in a cost-effective manner. It can be a strategic move for smaller brands or those with tighter budgets.

Political Ad Spend on CTV

In the 2024 election cycle, political ad investments in CTV were anticipated to reach $1.5 billion, accounting for 45% of digital political advertising. It was a notable increase from the 19% in the 2020 cycle. Overall, political ad spending in the US was expected to exceed $12 billion, with a significant shift towards digital mediums, particularly CTV. This channel experienced a 506.3% increase in spending compared to the previous election.

The Future of CTV and Traditional TV Advertising 

• Spending on TV ads overall will resume growing in 2025.

After a dip in 2023, combined spending on TV and CTV will grow every year through 2027 and close in on $100 billion.

• A drop in ad inventory won’t stop growth through 2027.

TV and CTV inventory will shrink by 24% over the next four years. However, rising ad prices on CTV will drive a 3.4% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) in combined TV and CTV ad spending through 2027. 

• The TV ship has sailed.

Linear TV is no longer a growth industry, signaling a clear and slow decline for traditional TV. 

• CTV is picking up the slack, resulting in a combined market that will grow from 2024 through 2027.

CTV ad spending grew by around 20% in 2024, and will grow by low double digits through 2027. 

• CTV will likely surpass TV in average daily time spent.

CTV will overtake its linear counterpart in ad spending around the turn of the next decade.

Reaching CTV Audiences with the right data

OnAudience is one of the world’s largest data providers of audience data, including CTV data. We provide millions of CTV and OTT data based on the most popular IDs. Our data covers 200 markets with a globally unified taxonomy and comes from various countries like the USA, Australia, Germany and many more. In addition, we provide high-quality data in compliance with GDPR:

• Legal analyses confirmed compliance of our products with the GDPR
• The high quality of our data is confirmed by Nielsen Digital Ad Ratings
• We process data in compliance with Transparency & Consent Framework 2.2 

To get the most out of your CTV campaigns, choose wisely your data provider. Learn more how to reach your CTV audiences, read our article: CTV Audience Data – reach online TV users.

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