Glossary
What is CTV (connected TV)?
Also called: connected TV
CTV (connected TV) is streaming video watched on a television through a smart TV, streaming stick or console, with ads served over the internet.
हिंदी में पढ़ेंConnected TV means streaming on a television screen, through a smart TV, a streaming stick or a games console. OTT, over the top, describes video delivered over the internet instead of cable or satellite, on any screen. CTV ads usually play in breaks grouped into ad pods, and are often stitched into the stream with server-side ad insertion.
Selling CTV is a supply-chain job as much as a video one. A CTV app is authorised through app-ads.txt, using the TV store’s app ID. TV platforms often hold a contractual share of an app’s breaks and sell it themselves; an inventorypartnerdomain line lets buyers check those sellers. Add resellers, and one break can reach a buyer through many paths, so buyers cut the ones they cannot verify.
The standards keep moving. OpenRTB 2.6 added pod bidding, and the VAST CTV Addendum of July 2024 added registered ad IDs and high-resolution files to the older VAST versions still in use.
Example
A free streaming app sells 3 of every 10 ad slots through its TV platform and 7 through its own SSPs. In a month with 2,000,000 slots, 600,000 are sold under the platform's seller account. Without an inventorypartnerdomain line, strict buyers may treat those 600,000 as unauthorised.
Why it matters to publishers
CTV breaks only earn when buyers can verify who is selling them. Clean app-ads.txt files and partner declarations decide how much of your inventory gets bids.