Connected TV advertising means video ads served on a television that streams over the internet: smart TVs, streaming sticks, game consoles and set-top boxes. The ad runs on the big screen, in a break, usually full screen with sound. That separates it from OTT in the broad sense, which includes streaming on phones and tablets, and from online video in general, where most impressions are pre-roll on a phone.
The money is moving towards it. dentsu's Global Ad Spend Forecasts (December 2024) projected connected TV ad spend to grow 18.4% worldwide in 2025, while broadcast TV declined 2.5%. Across Asia-Pacific the shift runs at a different speed in every market, and planning around that is the first job for a brand starting out.
Inventory types in APAC
Most of the inventory sits with 3 kinds of seller.
Streaming platforms with an ad tier. Global services with ad-supported plans, and regional on-demand platforms such as Viu, iQIYI and Vidio. Premium content, logged-in audiences, the highest prices. Most of it is sold direct or through private deals.
FAST channels and TV maker platforms. Free linear channels built into smart TV home screens and some apps. Lower prices, lean-back viewing, inventory owned by TV makers and channel owners. Our guide to FAST in Southeast Asia and the Middle East covers this in detail.
Broadcaster and telco apps. National broadcasters' streaming apps and telco TV services, carrying linear channels, live sport and local drama. Strong local audiences, often the best fit for a local-language campaign, and the least standardised to buy.
YouTube watched on a TV set also counts as CTV, and in parts of Southeast Asia it is a large share of big-screen viewing. The e-Conomy SEA 2025 report notes that logged-in viewers in Indonesia and Vietnam spend over 4 hours a day watching YouTube on TV screens.
Device reach varies by market. In eMarketer's Global Media Intelligence 2024 report, based on GWI polling in the first half of 2024, smart TV ownership averaged 41% across the South and Southeast Asian markets surveyed. Check the figure for each market you plan in before you set a reach goal.
Buying models
Direct, on an insertion order. You negotiate with the publisher: named placements, a fixed CPM, an impression goal, a flight, and terms for shortfall and make-goods. Most premium CTV in the region is still sold this way. It is also slow. An AdExchanger guest column by a sell-side software founder described what each CTV deal involves: custom packaging, negotiated pricing, creative requirements, delivery commitments and advertiser-specific measurement, spread across systems that were never built as one workflow. The column's conclusion was that publishers end up prioritising only their largest deals.
Programmatic. 3 versions. The open exchange is the broadest and cheapest, with the least control over where the ad runs. A private marketplace is an auction a publisher opens to selected buyers through a deal ID. Programmatic guaranteed fixes price and volume with the publisher in advance and runs the delivery through your buying platform. Premium sellers rarely put their best inventory on the open exchange, and CTV bid requests are easy to fabricate, so open-exchange CTV needs reporting by app and independent verification.
A mix. Many brands start with direct deals with 1 or 2 publishers in each market for the inventory they care most about, then add private marketplace deals for reach.
Creative requirements
Start from broadcast-quality files. 15 and 30 seconds are the common lengths; have both cut before the brief goes out, because a plan that offers a cheaper 15-second rate is no use if you only have a 30. Each publisher has its own spec sheet for file format, resolution, bitrate and loudness, and its own approval process. Allow time for creative review on a first booking, and more time in categories with local rules such as alcohol, finance or health.
Design for the room. The screen is seen from across a living room, often by more than one person. Use large type, show the brand early, and do not leave the message only in the voice-over. A cut that works on a phone often has text too small to read on a TV.
Plan for language. A regional campaign in Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam and Malaysia needs local voice-overs or subtitles for each. Budget for the local cuts from the start, not after the plan is signed.
Give the viewer a way to act. A QR code lets someone respond on their phone without leaving the sofa. Make it big enough to scan from a distance and keep it on screen long enough for someone to find their phone.
Know what each route allows. An AdExchanger report on agent-to-agent CTV buying noted that auction specifications limit ad length and structure, so programmatic TV ads tend to be simple. A first-in-break slot, a sponsorship or a full-screen moment at the end of a match is usually a direct conversation. Our guide to in-content CTV formats covers how to specify them.
A first campaign, step by step
- Write the brief. The planner sets the objective (awareness or consideration for a first campaign), the market, the audience, flight dates, the budget and the KPIs: reach, frequency, completion rate and delivery against plan.
- Pick 1 market and 1 or 2 inventory types. Choose a market where you already run TV or online video, so the results have something to stand next to.
- Choose the buying model. Direct for the publishers you want named on the plan, a private marketplace deal if you need extra reach.
- Send the brief and compare plans. Ask every publisher for the same structure: placement, CPM, impressions, flight, and make-goods terms. Compare them line by line.
- Confirm the plan. A person on the buy side approves the plan and signs the insertion order; the publisher confirms the booking. Nothing runs before this. Our note on CTV insertion order terms lists the clauses to check.
- Traffic creative. Send files to spec, early, and confirm approval before the flight starts.
- Watch delivery from week 1. Check pacing per line and ask for shortfall to be reported as soon as it appears. Watch frequency across publishers, not just within each: research published through IAB SEA+India found that 2 in 3 consumers in Southeast Asia feel fatigue from seeing the same ads repeatedly on the same channels.
- Read results against the plan. Settle any make-goods, then decide whether to add a market or deepen the first.
On budget, rates vary widely by market, format and route. Size the test so each market gets enough impressions to read reach and frequency with some confidence, rather than spreading a small budget across 5 markets.
Where agents fit
Steps 4 and 7 are where most of the time goes: the same brief to 5 publishers, answers in 5 shapes, delivery reports chased by email. With Skopa, the buying agent from Oderra, the brief goes once to every matching selling agent, plans come back side by side, and the buyer confirms the one to book; delivery is then read against that plan, shortfall first.