The Interactive Advertising Bureau has released new best practices designed to help advertisers drive stronger performance from connected TV campaigns.
As reported by Marketing Dive, the update comes as more marketers shift CTV budgets toward measurable outcomes rather than branding alone.
Growing Demand for Performance CTV
CTV advertising continues to grow, but marketers want clearer proof that it drives actions such as app installs, site visits, or purchases. The IAB says advertisers have struggled with inconsistent measurement, fragmented reporting, and limited transparency across platforms.
The new guidance aims to standardize workflows and help buyers run performance campaigns with the same rigor they bring to search and social.
Key Recommendations for Brands and Agencies
The guidance outlines several areas marketers should address when planning performance-driven CTV:
Better identity and attribution tools
The IAB stresses the need for unified IDs, cross-device attribution, and data-sharing frameworks. Without this, advertisers may double-count results or miss conversions that start on TV but finish on mobile or desktop.
Supply-path optimization
The report encourages marketers to evaluate which ad platforms actually drive conversions rather than relying on broad reach alone. Buyers should remove resellers, limit hops in the bid chain, and work directly with trusted streaming partners and publishers.
Stronger placement and frequency controls
Performance campaigns require tighter frequency caps and clearer transparency on ad placement. The IAB notes that excessive frequency can inflate cost-per-acquisition and frustrate viewers.
Verification and fraud protection
With more performance dollars entering CTV, the IAB warns that invalid traffic and spoofed inventory remain risks. The group recommends independent verification and log-level data access for greater accountability.
Why It Matters for Advertisers
Performance CTV has become one of the fastest-growing categories in streaming. Marketers can now retarget audiences, drive measurable actions, and build lower-funnel campaigns on big-screen environments that historically were used only for branding.
Still, measurement varies widely across publishers. Some offer closed reporting, while others limit data access. The IAB says these best practices are designed to push the industry toward more standardized measurement so buyers can compare results across platforms.
According to IAB, about 66% of advertisers using a CTV conversion API saw higher ROAS, which highlights the upside when teams adopt standardized measurement.
What Comes Next
The IAB will gather feedback from agencies, publishers, and ad tech firms throughout 2026. The organization says this is the first step toward more formal guidance, certifications, and technical standards.
Industry analysts cite this as a sign that performance CTV is maturing and will soon be held to the same accountability as digital channels like Meta and Google Search.
