Where Are Your CTV Ads Actually Showing Up?

CTV advertising follows your customers, not content. Instead of buying specific platforms and hoping your ideal audience is watching, programmatic CTV targets the people you want to reach and serves your ads across hundreds of streaming services.

When you work with FDS, your ads reach about 95% of available streaming inventory. That means wherever your target audience is streaming, your message is there, too.

CTV advertising prioritizes targeting over content placement, which means CTV ads follow your ideal audience wherever they go, on whatever device they stream.

Let’s dive deeper into where your CTV ads show up, how programmatic buying works, and why targeting is so important – even more important than specific platform placement.

Why Is Audience Targeting More Important Than Platform Selection?

Your ideal customers very likely watch multiple streaming services throughout the course of their day. Because of that, the focus on finding the right person instead of the right platform allows you to deliver better results.

Instead of trying to guess what show they might be watching at any given moment on any given platform, the technology gets to know the person. It uses demographic, behavior, location, and interests about that audience member and serves them relevant ads.

Since there are so many streaming platforms available, and humans are so varied in their interests, it only makes sense that streaming viewership is extremely fragmented. Even Netflix, a household name, only accounts for 9% of total streaming viewing.

How Prevalent Is Streaming Nowadays?

According to a Nielsen study conducted in December 2025, streaming now captures 47.5% of all television viewing. That comes out to more than cable (20.2%) and broadcast (21.4%) combined.

Just as consumers once chose cable packages based on channel lineups, they now select streaming platforms based on content libraries.

CTV accounts for this wide and diverse ecosystem and gives advertisers access to all platforms — all within a single campaign — rather than forcing businesses to negotiate separate contracts with each platform. That makes advertising with CTV a simple, straightforward process.

What Platforms Can My CTV Ads Appear On?

Most businesses assume CTV advertising reaches maybe 50 or 75 streaming platforms. The reality?

“Your CTV ads can appear on over 200 streaming platforms,” says Heather Riley, the director of operations at Federated Digital Solutions. “That includes subscription services like Hulu and Peacock, free ad-supported streaming channels like PlutoTV and Tubi, virtual MVPDs like SlingTV and FuboTV, and sports streaming services like ESPN+.”

How Does Programmatic CTV Advertising Work?

Programmatic CTV advertising purchases ad inventory across hundreds of streaming services simultaneously, using automated technology (demand-side platforms, also called DSPs) that uses real-time bidding. This technique lets you run a single campaign that reaches audiences wherever they might be, regardless of platform.

At FDS, we use independent DSPs like Simpli.fi, Madhive, and AdCellerant to access streaming inventory. Our DSPs then connect to Supply-Side Platforms (SSPs) and ad exchanges where streaming services make their inventory available. 

What Makes My CTV Ad Start Running?

Programmatic buying makes things simpler than buying directly from a platform like Netflix or Hulu. It collects all available inventory (from 200+ publishers), creating a marketplace where the system places ads based on audience targeting rather than platform or content.

When someone starts streaming content, the programmatic system immediately identifies them based on demographic data, behavioral signals, and location.

Using these qualifiers, the system builds a profile of the viewer and bids on the ad impression in milliseconds. If your bid wins, your ad appears.

“This process is happening thousands of times per day across several platforms,” Riley says. “It’s so much more efficient than the old model, where you’d buy specific time slots. That’s because it’s more concentrated on reaching the right person rather than nailing the right slot.” 

How Does CTV Advertising Identify Your Target Audience?

Trying to predict what a person is watching at what time of day is inefficient. To identify your ideal customer and where they’re streaming, it makes more sense for programmatic CTV advertising to use:

• First-party data — location, device type, etc.
• Third-party audience segments — “home improvement enthusiasts,” “beauty gurus,” etc.
• Behavioral targets — recent website visitors, people who’ve searched for specific keywords, etc.

“Instead of buying expensive ESPN placements for your sports fans, using programmatic CTV can reach sports enthusiasts across a whole array of networks,” Riley says. “Think ESPN+, Fox Sports, Sling, FuboTV, league apps, and so much more. That makes for a better reach at a much lower price.” 

How Can I See Where My CTV Ads Are Actually Running?

FDS provides detailed reporting dashboards that show exactly where your ads are running. Your dashboard tracks which streaming platforms delivered your ads, how many people watched the entire ad, and how many times each household saw your ad. Reports also track website visits, store visits, and conversions driven by your campaign.

How Is CTV Reporting Different? 

At FDS, we provide transparent, detailed reports to help our partners understand exactly where their budget is being spent. Our regular reports break down ad delivery by platform, showcase which audience segments performed best, and show the customer journey from ad exposure through conversion. Transparency at this level isn’t standard across the industry.

“When an agency or vendor can’t (or won’t) show you where your ads appear, that’s a red flag,” Riley says. “Run. Your monthly reports should be transparent. If someone wants even more details, like what apps or publishers delivered their impressions, all they need to do is ask!”

Traditional reporting only estimates reach based on Nielsen ratings. CTV advertising delivers actual impression counts, viewable impression rates, and completion rates.

Transparency In Your CTV Advertising

We prioritize transparency at FDS, and we look forward to showing our clients exactly where their ads run, how their audiences engage, and what results their ads are driving. Let’s talk about how CTV fits into your broader digital strategy and how we can use it to reach your specific goals; reach out to our team for a customized proposal today.

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