Media Buying Briefing: Google’s CTV updates show how the DSP arms race is accelerating

But investment in CTV has accelerated in recent years. Global ad spend on CTV rose 16% between 2023 and 2024, and is expected to reach $26.6 billion in 2025, per an IAB study released in April (and 36% of the dollars invested in CTV came from budgets previously earmarked for linear TV). And as more of that CTV investment gets allocated programmatically, Google wants to make sure it’s getting a share.

Because streaming TV is often watched in groups, it can make more sense for media buyers to target ads based on data held on a household, than to aim for individuals. “In CTV, we recognize that a lot of impressions are served to a household, to multiple people viewing at once. So different household targeting capabilities are always an advantage,” said Harry Browne, innovation and growth lead for TV, audio and display at Tinuiti.

In an update Google made to DV360 in March, the tech firm began offering audience targeting across demographics, shared interests, or purchase intent signals at a household level, as well as household conversion measurement. Google did not respond to a request for comment by time of publication.

The move was part of an ongoing effort to bring DV360 to “feature parity” with Amazon DSP and The Trade Desk, which already offer household targeting, according to Forrester analyst Nikhil Lai.

Though it’s early days, the tools have gained some traction among brand clients, according to Skyler McGill, head of programmatic and video at Wpromote. The media agency has been testing the new capabilities with three advertising clients, he said. (He didn’t name the brands).

Wpromote’s clients have typically preferred The Trade Desk as their gateway to CTV spending, but “[t]hat paradigm is now shifting,” McGill said, as providers like Google close the gap with the independent DSP’s head start.

“I don’t think it’s going to be the silver bullet per se to open advertisers’ pockets. … It certainly will be a positive catalyst [for spending on Google],” he said.

For now, those clients are in the minority. Partly, that’s because the household targeting features added to DV360 have only been available for a matter of weeks. But the move does come in time to become a possible factor in upfront negotiations with media agencies.

“It has not had a dramatic impact on investment. … These kinds of impacts take much longer to materialize in the market,” one holding company media buyer, who exchanged anonymity for candor, told Digiday.

And partly, it’s because the update brings Google to par with established competitors – but not beyond their capabilities. “They’re playing catch-up. They’re not in the driving seat,” said Guillermo Dvorak, managing partner of digital and data at Mediaplus.

Still, the update highlights the growing competition between DSPs outside the walled gardens to attract more programmatic investment. Amazon, for example, harbors a well-documented ambition to displace The Trade Desk as the primary DSP for brand advertisers and it’s used Prime Video as an effective wedge. 

Google adding tools that bring its CTV targeting abilities in line with rivals, and which make investing in YouTube as CTV-like as possible, is another facet of that struggle. YouTube isn’t just a major advertising asset in its own right — it’s a way of getting more advertisers through the DV360 door for other video inventory, according to Andrew Sandoval, vp of biddable media at Croud.

Whether YouTube belongs in the CTV bucket remains in the eye of the beholder. But, as viewing habits on that platform continue to shift towards living-room viewing, advertisers are aware they at least need to consider it alongside other CTV destinations.

They want to avoid a situation where viewers end up tired of seeing the same ads run on CTV channels (for example, Netflix) and YouTube, on the same screen. “They need a way to measure the overlap and the reach of frequency in one place,” said Sandoval. To achieve that, he noted, “there’s only one game in town.”

And for advertisers concerned about platform fees during a time of economic uncertainty, the opportunity to collapse the number of DSPs they’re using across their programmatic buying is “game changing,” said Noble People’s director of performance marketing Peter Hlinka.

As competition increases, Forrester’s Lai noted the differences among the DSPs, save the key assets like Prime Video or YouTube, are likely to fall away.

“I think that you’re seeing the commodification of DSPs because there aren’t enough viable alternatives to the walled gardens,” he said. “If you don’t have enough independent alternatives, then you squelch innovation across the open market.”

Color by numbers

The IAB released its latest study on the digital economy, claiming it has doubled since 2020 to a whopping $4.9 trillion in economic activity. Conducted with Harvard Business School, findings include: 

• That $4.9 trillion represents nearly one-fifth (18%) of U.S. GDP
• 28 million jobs are tied to the digital economy
• Internet-related jobs are growing 12 times faster than the overall U.S. labor market.
• There are at least 1.5 million Americans working as full-time digital creators — a sector growing 5 times faster than traditional media.

Takeoff & landing

• Publicis Groupe has been in serious acquisition mode recently, its latest purchase being Adopt, a sports marketing, creative and culture agency founded in 2021 by ex-Nike execs. Adopt is being housed within Publicis Connected Media. 
• The 4As and ANA jointly issued a report on the evolving relationship between clients and agencies. Among other findings, the report noted that integrated full-service agencies enjoy an average tenure of 87 months, while media agencies have a significantly shorter average tenure of 44 months (3.7 years). Click here to see the full report. 
• Personnel news: 3C Ventures founder and CEO Michael Kassan joined the board of directors of  ad tech firm Cognitiv … Longtime TVB president and CEO Steve Lanzano is retiring, and the organization is currently looking for a replacement … Media consultancy R3 named APAC media agency veteran Li Shan Lim its Asia Pacific principal consultant … Martech firm Circana named Kara Pratt its new president of global retail and media, coming over from Kroger’s 84.51 where she was an svp … Agency veteran Jon Bond joined the advisory board of martech firm ONAR. 

Direct quote

“Things have started to shift a bit in the month of April. Specifically it’s in two categories we’re seeing: in CPG and in auto. We’re beginning to see a bit of softness. The overall market is still up [and] robust — the only question is, is that the beginning? Is that sort of the canary? Or will we see things recover?” 

— Andrew Casale, CEO of Index Exchange, in a video interview with Digiday at Possible. 

Speed reading

• I wrote a feature story on how Jacki Kelley, Interpublic Group’s chief client officer is a linchpin to the success of Omnicom’s acquisition of the holding company. 
• I also took a look at the upside and downside of keeping up ad spend during the current economic uncertainty. 
• Digiday had lots of coverage coming out of the Possible conference last week, including worries over said economic uncertainty, adapted positions on generative AI, and reactions to Google’s about-face on cookie deprecation.