What Is a Connected TV DSP & How Does It Work?

Streaming fans may be feeling a headache from rising subscription prices and recent company updates limiting viewing ability to a single household, but, for marketers, it’s a different story. The CTV good times are still picking up steam and buying ad inventory is competitive.  

With 115 million CTV households this year, says eMarketer, digital ad spending is expected to grow 4.2% and CTV advertising is projected to have its biggest summer yet, thanks in no small part to sports. According to eMarketer, “CTV’s gains will make up for the decline of linear TV ad spend, which will drop 4.7% in 2025, 1.2% in 2026, and 4.0% in 2027.”

We can’t say we didn’t see this coming. We’ve been preparing ourselves to meet the CTV challenge and become the DSP partner of choice for advertisers.

Why Viant Is the DSP for CTV

Viant’s position as the best DSP for CTV is built entirely on over a decade of dedicated R&D investment in CTV identity, supply transparency, and advanced measurement.

Industry analysts like AdExchanger have long praised our buy-side approach to building direct relationships in TV ad buying, highlighting how our Direct Access optimization program completely eliminates unnecessary intermediary hops.

And that momentum has accelerated dramatically. 85% of CTV spend on the Viant platform is now transacted through Direct Access, returning legacy exchange-fee savings straight to advertisers as high-impact working media. This transparent pipeline is further reinforced by our proprietary Household ID solution, which solves the industry’s most critical cookieless measurement challenges by securely translating over 1.5 billion IP addresses into 115 million real, targetable homes.

By natively combining our buying engine with this deterministic identity layer, marketers can easily execute omnichannel campaigns and closed-loop measurement, allowing them to collect, track, and report on actionable performance data to optimize their live campaigns as needed.

This advanced, direct-to-publisher infrastructure delivers five distinct advantages for brands:

• Streamlined premium inventory access
• Maximized working media efficiency
• Enhanced data targeting capabilities
• Privacy-first, future-ready integrations
• Reduced environmental carbon footprint

These programmatic buying capabilities matter most when you understand the machine behind them. So what is a DSP for CTV, exactly?

Advancing the Future of CTV

“Advertisers are redirecting search and social spend toward the highly effective CTV channel, where spend doesn’t merely take credit for sales that would have happened regardless of a last-second ad exposure. CTV actually drives net new customers.” said Tim Vanderhook, Founder and CEO at Viant.

This massive influx of omnichannel capital is directly supported by Viant’s core programmatic strategy, which we define through three distinct data pillars: content, identity, and attention. 

To solidify this ecosystem, we expanded our technical capabilities through our recent acquisition of TVision, enabling us to measure real-time, “eyes-on-screen” attention signals as an integrated pre-bid optimization tool.

How To Choose The Right CTV DSP

Selecting the best demand-side platform for your CTV campaigns requires evaluating how well a partner’s underlying infrastructure aligns with your business goals. 

Prioritize these five essential evaluation criteria:

• Inventory access & supply path: Prioritize platforms that minimize intermediate tech fees through direct-to-publisher connections. Our Direct Access ensures your budget goes straight to premium inventory, maximizing working media rather than losing value to supply-chain markups.
• Identity & targeting: Look for platforms with robust deterministic data models. A household-level identity framework guarantees precise targeting across connected devices without relying on third-party cookies or unstable IP signals alone.
• Measurement & attribution: Ensure the DSP offers comprehensive, mid-flight reporting alongside closed-loop attribution. Marketers need the ability to track real-time performance and link big-screen exposures directly to digital conversions on mobile and desktop devices.
• AI & optimization: Evaluate bidder maturity and automated decisioning tools that drive down programmatic costs. Sophisticated machine-learning algorithms optimize bids in real time, securing higher-quality impressions while drastically improving overall CPM efficiency.
• Flexible service models: Select a partner that accommodates your team’s operational resources and trading expertise, offering tailored options that fit your specific workflow:
  • Managed Service: Perfect for lean marketing teams that require full execution support and hands-on help from platform experts.
  • Co-Managed Service: Designed for sophisticated teams that want data visibility on the DSP but require collaborative trading support.
  • Self-Service: Built for independent programmatic traders prepared to log in, leverage the platform tech, and manage campaigns directly.

Get Started With A DSP Built For CTV

• One platform, every screen: Whichever model you choose, campaigns run on the same household identity, premium supply paths, and closed-loop measurement covered above, across CTV, audio, display, and beyond.
• Room to grow: Many advertisers start managed and graduate toward self-service as their programmatic confidence builds, without switching platforms or losing campaign history.