Efforts by some traditional and connected television distributors to move more sports programming over to streaming services paid off in the form of higher connected TV(CTV) advertising on those platforms last year, according to a new report released by IAB this week
The data was revealed in IAB’s “2025 Digital Video Ad Spend & Strategy Report: Part One” released on Monday, which showed that CTV advertising grew 16 percent over a 12-month period last year compared to the same time frame in 2023. The uptake in CTV advertising was spurred by more high-profile live events like football, baseball and soccer games being made available on streaming, even as most of those events continued to be accessible on traditional TV platforms like broadcast, cable and satellite.
“With high-quality content moving to streaming, advancements in advertising technology, and an influx of new inventory accelerated growth for both consumers and advertisers,” David Cohen, the CEO of IAB, said in a statement, characterizing last year as one “pivotal…for digital video advertising.”
“CTV is making it clear it’s a go-to channel for both viewers and advertisers and is expected to continue growing along with social video and online video,” Cohen noted.
Traditional broadcast and cable networks continue to hold the lion’s share of premium sports rights in the U.S., with games from the National Football League (NFL), National Basketball Association (NBA), Major League Baseball (MLB) and National Hockey League (NHL) among those still available through ABC, CBS, ESPN, Fox and NBC, along with regional sports outlets like FanDuel Sports (previously Bally Sports), NBC Sports, Altitude, NESN, YES and MSG Network, among others.
Most of those broadcasters also have streaming platforms where simulcasts of premium sports programming are made available — or, in some cases, where they are exclusively offered. Comcast, for instance, has made at least one NFL wild card playoff game available through its NBC Universal-owned streaming service Peacock every year for the past two football seasons. Likewise, some regular-season NFL games have been made available exclusively through Disney’s ESPN Plus streaming service when they conflict with another game airing at the same time on the ESPN cable multiplex.
Other platforms, like Netflix and Amazon, have aggressively pursued sports rights as they build up their advertising businesses, figuring live events will draw and retain subscribers to their services over time. Netflix gained distribution rights to two Christmas Day NFL games last season, and will share rights with Amazon this year. Amazon will also serve as one of the exclusive national distributors of regular-season NBA games during the 2025-26 season and for 10 years afterward.
It isn’t just sports that is helping connected platforms capture the attention of audiences and advertisers: Some streamers are also leaning into the so-called “creator economy,” which is allowing services like YouTube, Prime Video and Spotify to differentiate themselves from traditional broadcast and cable networks with unique, premium offerings.
The end result: digital platforms captured 51 percent of video advertising dollars during 2024, up from 48 percent the prior year. It marked the first time digital platforms surpassed traditional linear TV networks in terms of share of spending, with traditional TV coming in at 49 percent of the overall market. That situation will reprise itself this year, according to IAB, which forecasts digital video’s share of ad revenue will be 58 percent in 2025, compared to 42 percent of traditional TV’s share. (Digital video includes CTV platforms along with social and non-TV online video services.)
“The video industry continues its transformative shift towards streaming driven by content, creators, technology, and improved measurement,” Cohen affirmed. “However, it is important to acknowledge that ongoing economic uncertainty, including tariffs, geopolitical conflicts, and changing consumer confidence, the marketplace in 2025 is more difficult to predict than ever before.”
