The wave of consolidation we’re seeing across the CTV landscape comes as companies operating in the space seek to tie together capabilities which have traditionally sat separately, says Alex Yip, Director of Product Strategy at AppsFlyer. But as Yip explores, measurement doesn’t necessarily fit into this framework as neatly as other parts of the CTV ecosystem.
For years, the CTV market stayed fragmented enough that a company could succeed owning one part of the value chain and partnering for the rest.
Now that CTV viewing has eclipsed linear, and CTV ad spend is now poised to grow by 14 percent year-on-year, it’s safe to say that experimentation phase is over. CTV has arrived as an endemic channel, and the strategic landscape is starting to reflect it.
Companies are no longer waiting for the ecosystem to mature around them. They are buying (or building) the capabilities they believe they will need to compete in the market now taking shape.
But one capability – measurement – is the exception to the rule.
Four capabilities that define CTV Consolidation
The transactions differ in size and structure. Fox’s move for Roku is not the same kind of deal as Walmart’s purchase of Vibe.co or its acquisition of Vizio. Mediaocean’s acquisition of Innovid serves a different purpose from Pinterest’s purchase of tvScientific. Taken together, these deals show companies seeking control over more of the CTV value chain.
Underneath, they resolve into a fight over four capabilities that have historically sat in separate hands:
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The screen — the device footprint, the TV operating system, home-screen inventory, content distribution and the direct relationship with the viewer.
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The pipes — the DSPs, SSPs, ad servers, supply paths, identity infrastructure and workflow systems that connect advertiser demand to CTV inventory.
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The checkout — first-party transaction data, retail media signals and the commercial relationship that links an ad exposure to an observed purchase.
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Measurement — exposure verification, attribution, incrementality and the ability to connect media delivery to business outcomes across platforms and channels.
The recent deals can be understood as attempts to combine these capabilities in different configurations.
Walmart’s acquisitions of Vizio and Vibe bring together the screen, the pipes and the checkout. Vizio gives Walmart control of a TV operating system, home-screen inventory and viewing data. Vibe adds self-serve buying and campaign execution capabilities. Walmart already owns the checkout through its retail business and Walmart Connect.
Amazon got there first and by assembly rather than acquisition. Fire TV and Prime Video give it the screen. Amazon DSP and the broader advertising stack give it the pipes. The retail business gives it the checkout. An advertiser can buy CTV inventory, target it against purchase behaviour, and observe the downstream transaction without ever leaving the same ecosystem.
This framework also helps explain where the next deals may come from without requiring predictions about specific buyers and sellers. Retailers without a screen may seek access to one. Device companies with control of the screen may look for stronger pipes. Independent performance platforms may become attractive to companies that want to add CTV buying capabilities without building them from the ground up.
Measurement appears to be the final piece. Once a company controls the screen, the pipes and the checkout, it has a clear incentive to control how performance is evaluated. But measurement doesn’t follow the same logic as the other three.
Measurement will develop differently
Screens, pipes and checkout data become more valuable through ownership. Measurement depends in part on neutrality and independence.
Measurement is consolidating too, but largely within its own layer. Mediaocean acquired Innovid to combine ad serving, creative and measurement in an independent omnichannel platform. DoubleVerify added attribution and marketing mix modeling through its acquisition of Rockerbox. iSpot expanded its data footprint through 605. These deals are building broader measurement capabilities without folding them directly into a screen, commerce or media platform.
There is a structural reason for that. A platform may have an excellent view of activity inside its own environment. Its first-party signals may be detailed, immediate and closely connected to the media it sells. Advertisers still need to understand performance across the wider market. They need to compare platforms, account for duplication and follow customer journeys that move between television, mobile and the web.
CTV is also maturing in a market that is already omnichannel. Mobile, web and television developed with their own infrastructure and measurement conventions. CTV is growing after consumer behaviour has already spread across devices and environments. A television ad may produce a search, an app visit or a purchase somewhere else.
Measurement therefore has to scale through horizontal interoperability rather than vertical consolidation. Integrations move signals between systems. Partnerships connect exposure and outcomes across platforms. Standards make those signals more consistent. Omnichannel measurement connects CTV to the other environments through which the customer journey passes. Industry efforts to standardise converged TV measurement are advancing, even as fragmentation persists.
A neutral measurement layer gains value from working across otherwise separate channels and platforms. Concentrating it inside one of them narrows the view it is meant to provide.
Measurement will remain the contested layer
None of this will stop major CTV players from trying to pull measurement inward.
Vertical integration gives platforms greater control over their data and the performance story they present to advertisers. The closer they bring media, identity, outcomes and reporting together, the more complete their closed-loop proposition appears. Walmart’s acquisition of Vizio, for example, added viewing and measurement signals to a business that already owned the checkout. Walmart now describes the combined business as a content-to-commerce system that connects retail behaviour with closed-loop CTV measurement.
Advertisers will continue to demand an independent view across channels, particularly in a high-cost environment like CTV. Reporting from one platform cannot establish how it performed relative to another, account fully for duplication or explain the contribution of activity outside its own walls. As Keynes Digital’s Dan Larkman put it to eMarketer: “This will be the year where proving value becomes just as important as driving it.”
This tension makes measurement more valuable as the rest of the market consolidates. The more screens, pipes and checkout data are assembled into closed systems, the more advertisers need a credible view across them.
Measurement will continue to consolidate, but its path may look different. It will build scale through broader data, capabilities and interoperability even as larger platforms try to absorb it into their own stacks.
So watch measurement. Everyone else is racing to pull more of the value chain inside the same walls. Measurement is being pulled the same way, even though its value lies in the view across them. Whether advertisers keep that view is the real question this consolidation cycle leaves open.
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