9 Best CTV Advertising Platforms for Publishers in 2024

Over 90% of internet users view video content every week, according to Statista. With the rising popularity of the format, streaming services have become one of the most lucrative types of online publishing businesses. Want a piece of that cake? I can’t blame you. However, whether you’re an established CTV provider or just starting, you’ll first need a reliable CTV advertising platform by your side. That way, you can monetize video content easily and get ahead of the competition. Here’s a recap of my top 9 CTV advertising platforms.

What Is a CTV Advertising Platform?

A CTV advertising platform is an online platform that allows TV-focused OTT publishers to monetize video content through CTV advertising. These platforms connect publishers to advertisers who wish to reach wider audiences through OTT TV. In return, publishers generate video ad revenue from showing these ads to their audiences. 

So how do these platforms actually work? When a publisher decides to monetize OTT video content through advertising, they can join a video ad network. Using this network, they then offer their ad inventory for sale. How the transaction looks depends on the specific network and how it works. 

After the publisher has sold their inventory to the right advertisers, they can use the same network to put these video ads on their website or app and track their performance. They can also tweak certain settings to maximize ad performance and, by extension, their revenue. 

What to Look for in a CTV Ad Platform

Before choosing the right CTV advertising platform, you should know exactly what it is you’re looking for. Not all ad networks are the same, and not all of them are right for your video business. However, there are a handful of key features every good ad network should have. So let’s take a look at what they are.

Yield Optimization Tools

Ad yield optimization is crucial for ensuring you’re getting the most out of each campaign. Yield optimization tools can include audience targeting, frequency capping, adjusting CPM floors, and more. Different tools do different things, but if you ask me, the wider the variety the better.

Targeting Options

A well-targeted ad will perform better and bring in more revenue. To make this happen, you’ll need high-quality audience targeting tools. For example, you should probably look for an ad network that has contextual targeting features. Focusing on the context of the webpage where the ad is, rather than audience behavior, makes for a more seamless user experience in your CTV app. 

Speaking of behavior, behavioral targeting is yet another option. As you already know, this method makes use of the personal information and online behavior of the audience to serve them ads they’re more likely to be interested in. I do have to highlight here, though, that behavioral targeting is slowly fading into the background, especially as concerns over internet safety and privacy rise.

Some other targeting tools and features to look for include device targeting, geographic targeting, and more.

Ad Analytics

In order to track the performance of your ads, you need access to an array of video analytics tools. This encompasses the gathering of data necessary to make informed decisions about an ad campaign. In other words, analytics can tell you how your ad is performing, why it might be underperforming, and how to tweak it to achieve better results. 

Ideally, you want your chosen advertising platform to offer real-time analytics, on top of the regularly scheduled or historical reporting. This is because real-time reports allow you to act immediately to boost the performance of your ad.

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9 Best CTV Advertising Platforms for OTT Publishers

Now that you know what to look for, it’s time to take a look at some of the best ad networks and choose the right one for your OTT streaming service. Of course, there are many other options out there, but these are the ones I found to be the most comprehensive and reliable.

1. Google ADX

Google ADX is the biggest ad exchange on the market right now, with top-tier premium inventory at some of the highest CPMs. It allows publishers to sell ad inventory in multiple ways, including real-time bidding, private auctions, or direct deals. It also brings together some of the most exclusive SSPs.

Google ADX ensures that the inventory sold through the exchange has maximum yield potential through the use of ad server hierarchies and similar price-setting features. However, this also means that the platform needs to offer high-traffic, premium inventory.

To ensure this kind of offer, Google ADX imposes strict eligibility requirements, including the minimum monthly traffic of 5 million website visitors. Those who don’t meet this criterion but still want to tap into everything that Google ADX offers have to go through a Google MCM partner. 

Google ADX Key Features:

Premium, high-traffic inventory
Open and private auctions, real-time bidding, direct deals
Ad yield management and optimization tools
Partnered with high-end SSPs
Some of the highest CPMs on the market

2. TargetVideo Premium Demand

TargetVideo Premium Demand is an ad platform that helps OTT and CTV publishers serve video ads on their streaming apps and monetize content that way. The platform supports all kinds of video ad formats, both for VOD and live streaming content. These include, for example, instream video ads, overlay ads, and more.

TargetVideo is tailored to publishers of all sizes. Unlike Google, whose minimum traffic requirement sits at 5 million monthly visits, TargetVideo is accessible to smaller publishers, too. In fact, the platform is designed to help them scale up to and beyond Google’s traffic requirements, maximizing their profits and boosting ad serving opportunities along the way.

The TargetVideo Premium Demand platform comes with an array of tools and features designed to make inventory trading and ad serving easier. For example, there is detailed performance tracking, which allows you to track impressions, fill rates, and more. 

Lastly, aside from its in-house ad provider, TargetVideo also has a fully-fledged online video platform with a full set of video library management features. Although these are not necessary for an ad platform, they can certainly come in handy for publishers looking for help in hosting, managing, and distributing their content. 

Additionally, TargetVideo features a lightweight, fully customizable HTML5 player optimized to serve all kinds of video ads, as well as an array of video management and analytics tools. Lastly, TargetVideo’s publishers get a dedicated ad management team in charge of optimizing campaigns and maximizing revenue.

TargetVideo Premium Demand Key Features:

Wide variety of video ad formats
Network of quality advertisers
Detailed ad analytics
Dedicated account management team
Accompanying OVP

Full Control Over Monetization
The Most Advanced Ad Tech
Multi-Role Library Management
OTT Apps for All Channels
Smooth Live Streaming
And More!

Free Trial

3. VPlayed

VPlayed is a comprehensive platform geared towards OTT & CTV publishers. It offers extensive OTT advertising options, but it also provides support for other video monetization models, such as in-app purchases or subscriptions. Publishers can monetize both VOD and live streams through pre-, mid-, and post-roll video ads, banners, and an array of other formats.

In addition to monetizing your CTV app, VPlayed can also help you launch it in the first place. They also provide their in-house video player with built-in ad-serving capabilities. Needless to say, as with any good OTT advertising platform, there is an array of security, analytics, and optimization features available.

VPlayed Key Features:

Wide variety of ad formats
Cross-platform support
AVOD, SVOD, and TVOD support
Real-time analytics
Proprietary video player

4. Magnite

Formerly known as Rubicon Project, Magnite boasts some of the world’s largest publishers in its portfolio, including CNN and Bloomberg. The platform features a private marketplace for those looking for real-time bidding auctions with exclusive SSPs. 

As one of the most robust ad networks out there, Magnite comes with a full stack of tools and features. Magnite’s publishers can serve ads of various formats on any device from mobile phones to OTT boxes. They also get to track the performance of these ads in real time and optimize them for better ad yield. The platform’s top clients also get access to additional features such as automated ad podding.

Magnite Key Features:

Private marketplace
Cross-device and cross-channel support
Real-time actionable analytics
Automated ad podding
Data protection and privacy features

5. Yahoo Advertising (Formerly Verizon Media)

Yahoo’s ad network offers premium ad inventory for an array of devices and platforms. The network features advanced video monetization tools, making it a great choice for CTV and OTT publishers. There are, for example, both server-to-server and client-side header bidding options, access to Yahoo’s own DSP and ad exchange, and advanced contextual video advertising. 

On top of this, Yahoo’s publishers get access to unified reports, real-time analytics, yield optimization tools, and more. The platform supports an array of ad formats for, pretty much, any OTT device you can think of. 

Yahoo Ad Tech Key Features:

Cross-device monetization solutions
Wide array of video formats
Programmatic and video header bidding
Brand safety and security tools
Support for a wide array of OTT devices

6. PubMatic

PubMatic is a well-known digital advertising platform that aims to make inventory trading a simpler and more streamlined process. It encompasses all the key features other top players boast, such as cross-device advertising for all your OTT apps, including CTV. 

PubMatic maintains ad and inventory quality control to ensure advertisers and publishers get the most out of every deal. Both publisher and advertiser dashboards are easy to use and packed with tools to make navigating easier, such as partner ID management tools or auction packages.

PubMatic Key Features:

Premium ad inventory
Ad quality control and inventory quality control
Enterprise-level Prebid features
Advanced, real-time analytics
Cross-platform and cross-device support

7. Chocolate Platform

Chocolate Platform is yet another popular programmatic advertising platform that offers everything a CTV provider might need. The platform supports an array of ad formats, including rewarded, native, and pre-roll ads, VAST/VPAID tags, and so much more. 

Chocolate Premium is the platform’s invite-only solution with a premium programmatic supply and 100% server-side bidding and auctions. This way, Chocolate aims to solve the issues of non-transparency, low performance, and latency in bidding.

Chocolate Platform Key Features:

100% server-side auctions
Extensive cross-device support
Various ad formats supported
Google Exchange Bidding video partner
In-house ad fraud protection

8. Nexxen

Nexxen is, in their own words, “purpose-built to handle the complexities of CTV”. This means that the platform is packed with tools and features that allow you to tweak your monetization strategy to the tiniest details. For instance, there is customized ad break management, revenue boosting, and more.

The platform supports both programmatic and direct ad trading, several audience targeting options, live stream ad testing, and more. Finally, Nexxen boasts an expert customer service team that is always there to help.

Nexxen Key Features:

Programmatic direct, preferred, and non-preferred deals
User-friendly data management platform
Advanced ad serving features
Unified auctions
Advanced audience targeting

9. OpenX

OpenX is easily one of the most in-demand ad platforms on the market and the advertising partner of choice for over 130,000 publishers. This should come as no surprise, as OpenX holds the TAG Platinum Certification for fraud, malware, piracy, and inventory quality guidelines.

OpenX’s publishers enjoy access to high demand from some of the largest advertisers, as well as to partner DSPs. They can also take advantage of the platform’s packaged deals through a solution called OpenAudience, which segments publishers’ audiences into groups for easier inventory selling.

OpenX Key Features:

Fraud, piracy, and malware protection
Audience targeting and segmentation tools
Dedicated account management teams
Cross-device and cross-platform support
Display and video CTV ads

Did You Find the Right CTV Advertising Partner?

As a CTV publisher, it is crucial that you have the right ad tech at your disposal to be able to monetize your content and continue offering great videos to your audience. TargetVideo is there to support you in every step of your CTV advertising journey. Aside from access to premium demand with high CPMs, with TargetVideo, you will also get to take advantage of a fully customizable, ad-optimized HTML5 video player and a robust OVP.

Get started with TargetVideo and generate income from your content with minimal effort and know-how.