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Connected television (CTV) advertising has quickly become one of the most dynamic and competitive segments in digital advertising. As the medium matures, leaders in the space are emerging and beginning to consolidate, signaling a possible end to the “wild west” era of CTV advertising.
In this week’s blog from Genius Monkey, join us as we take a close look at the biggest moves the CTV giants are making and what advertisers should know about them.
Recent Mergers and Partnerships to Watch
Roku and FreeWheel Integration
One of the biggest headlines in the last year is the deepened partnership between Roku and FreeWheel. Roku’s extensive CTV inventory is now available through FreeWheel’s Streaming Hub, a move both companies claim will offer “better demand signals, more transparency, and more effective monetization.”
While the integration does offer clearer workflows and stronger data signals for programmatic buyers, it also represents something more consequential: two major supply-side players linking arms. For advertisers, this may streamline planning and buying, but it could also tighten supply control and put upward pressure on pricing as competition thins. More on that later.
LiveRamp Acquires Habu
LiveRamp’s acquisition of Habu marks a major investment in data clean-room technology: tools that enable privacy-safe data sharing across platforms. For CTV specifically, this means advertisers will have more secure ways to match first-party data against publisher audiences, improving both targeting and measurement across fragmented CTV channels.
Mediaocean Buys Innovid
Mediaocean – best known for its omnichannel advertising software – recently purchased Innovid, a CTV ad-serving and analytics platform. The move signals a growing industry push toward centralized, cross-device measurement. For advertisers, this has the potential to create smoother, more holistic campaign management across digital, mobile, video, and now CTV.
What Advertisers Should Learn
Across all these acquisitions and partnerships, a clear pattern emerges: every major player is racing to secure stronger omnichannel measurement capabilities. CTV is no longer being treated as a standalone channel, but as a core piece of a coordinated digital marketing ecosystem.
Industry Consolidation: A Boon or a Problem?
From a high level, consolidation like this is a natural part of media maturation. As platforms grow, they partner up, merge resources, and unify technology to stay competitive. But for advertisers, the trend presents both advantages and drawbacks.
The Upsides of Consolidation
Streamlined workflows and reduced friction: As platforms standardize, the number of steps required to run a CTV campaign shrinks, making the buying process more efficient.
Improved stability and quality: Larger, well-funded platforms can invest more heavily in measurement technology, fraud prevention, and user experience.
More comprehensive data: Bigger players with deeper tech stacks can aggregate more audience signals, generally increasing targeting accuracy.
The Downsides of Consolidation
Reduced competition: Fewer options over time often leads to higher costs and fewer innovations as supply-side flexibility narrows.
Potential for walled gardens: As platforms scale, the temptation grows to restrict data transparency. When data can’t flow freely between networks, advertisers must fill the gaps themselves, usually through additional tools or analytics investments.
Consolidation in CTV is unavoidable, but it doesn’t spell immediate trouble for a market still as young and fast-moving as streaming video. In fact, much of the innovation in this space is directly tied to these mergers and partnerships. As long as advertisers maintain a multichannel strategy, they can benefit from CTV’s growth without becoming overly dependent on any single platform.
CTV: A Necessity in Multimedia Advertising
CTV’s growth isn’t slowing down. One major news group reports that CTV ad spending has increased 33% over the past two years, while another suggests that linear TV has fallen to 12% over the same period.
The Genius Monkey platform advertisers have spent well over 100% more YoY, with a higher concentration on selective deal buys in the second half of 2025. Genius Monkey advertisers have had a higher focus on buying around sporting events, select channels and shows, and narrowing down their buys as options have been endless within the platform.
With more streaming platforms rolling out ad-supported tiers and with attribution technology rapidly improving, CTV is shifting from “nice to have” to a vital part of any programmatic strategy.
Coordinating display, mobile, audio, and online video with CTV creates a seamless customer experience across devices and touchpoints. The more ways you can reach a user, the more opportunities you have to nurture interest, increase engagement, and build brand recall.
That cross-channel reinforcement leads to shorter sales funnels, higher conversion rates, and lower costs per acquisition (CPA): all significant advantages for advertisers looking to scale efficiently.
Your Friend in the Age of Omnichannel
Money talks, and the dollars are saying that CTV is a powerful force that’s here to stay. There’s never been a better time to expand your marketing strategy to include CTV, and Genius Monkey can help you find success with any combination of mediums.
The Genius Monkey platform is a Meta-DSP, which stacks multiple networks and platforms to find the best supply to reach your audience effectively and efficiently. Advertisers can reach their audience via any device, and track the customer journey down to the individual touch-point level.
If you’re ready to increase your audience and decrease your cost per conversion, it’s time to get in touch with Genius Monkey today!
