OTT video—including YouTube, subscription OTT, AVOD, and free ad-supported streaming TV—is extremely popular in nearly all forms. But traditional pay TV continues to reach new lows.

US connected TV (CTV) viewers fall back on YouTube when they can’t find anything else to watch, per Hub Entertainment Research. Ninety percent of 16- to 34-year-olds turn to YouTube at least sometimes when other streaming services don’t meet their viewing needs. Nearly three-quarters viewers age 35 and older make that switch at least sometimes. Poorly performing search and recommendation tools may be partially to blame. Streamers should target demographics and viewer interests and behaviors via platform analytics and interactive or live polls to capture attention, earn trust, and boost stickiness.

The news: Connected TV (CTV) is overtaking linear as television’s growth engine. Once the undisputed king, linear TV has fallen to just 12% of global ad spending, while CTV is on pace to exceed 40% by 2030, per WARC Media’s Global Ad Trends report. CTV already accounts for nearly half of viewing hours, fueling billions in ad revenues for Netflix, Amazon, and YouTube. The shift signals not just changing audiences but also a fundamental rewiring of how ads are bought, measured, and monetized. Our take: CTV is moving from experimentation to expectation. With US spending expected to balloon in the next few years, the question isn’t if brands should shift budgets—it’s how fast. CMOs who lean into retail integration and creative innovation while demanding accountability will set the pace in a US CTV market projected to reach $51 billion by 2029. Those who wait risk losing share as CTV matures into advertising’s most measurable channel.

32% of US connected TV (CTV) users find traditional TV ads useful/helpful for holiday gift info, while 34% say the same about streaming TV ads, according to June 2025 data from LG Ad Solutions.

Subscription OTT streaming is one of only a few media categories still seeing meaningful time spent growth in the US. The major platforms are heading in different directions, however.

With most of the US already watching, growth in overall OTT viewership has slowed to a crawl. But some platforms, formats, and service tiers are still booming, and digital pay TV is complicating the linear TV narrative.

Over 260 million people in the US—more than 77% of the population—will watch over-the-top (OTT) video this year, according to a March EMARKETER forecast. Of these, nearly all will be watching YouTube.

The number of companies generating more than $1 billion in annual US CTV ad sales more than doubled from two in 2020 to five in 2024. With ad dollars spreading out among services, a few streaming platforms stand out because of their heavy usage.

This benchmark covers how ad buyers can calibrate their TV and CTV ad spending and budget allocations against the market, and how publishers and solution providers can assess whether their ad revenues align with industry trends.

Total time spent with media per day in the US is no longer growing meaningfully, but there will still be significant churn between devices, activities, and platforms as consumers choose how to spend their time.

Consolidation in the streaming industry is leading connected TV (CTV) budgets to become more concentrated, per our latest US TV and CTV Ad Spending Forecasts. Key changes on the horizon: Mergers on the horizon, as well as companies concentrating their streaming options, could change who holds power in the TV industry. CMOs should prepare for a CTV landscape dominated by fewer, data-rich platforms. That means deepening direct partnerships with leading streaming providers to gain priority access to premium inventory, and investing in AI-driven analytics to enhance creative testing and budget optimization inside walled gardens.