How Smart Curation Helps SMBs Win In A Fragmented CTV Landscape

Author: Blake Hebert, Senior Director of Publisher Operations, Premion.

CTV has become a powerful full-funnel channel, attracting advertisers of all sizes – and the momentum isn’t slowing.

CTV ad spend is projected to rise another 16% this year to $26.6 billion, according to the IAB. But with rapid growth comes complexity. Advertisers now face a maze of platforms, apps and channels, each with different buying models, audience access and inconsistent measurement. For SMBs without large teams or budgets, this fragmentation is especially challenging to navigate.

That’s where curation makes the difference. Running campaigns across multiple CTV platforms on their own would require significant resources, technical expertise and manual reporting – a cumbersome and costly process. Curation cuts through that complexity, allowing SMBs to buy once and reach audiences everywhere with less friction, stronger brand safety and advanced targeting that scales. What’s more, it delivers consistent measurement through a single, unified report that ties performance directly to business outcomes.

But, more importantly, smart curation is key. Trusted providers with direct connections to premium inventory simplify execution while ensuring scale, efficiency and control. They help SMBs extend campaigns across publishers, manage frequency and maximize return without the overhead of large in-house teams.

The value lies in how inventory is curated. Instead of bulk buying with limited visibility, smart curation ensures every placement is carefully vetted to safeguard brand safety and deliver ads in premium, trusted environments. Advertisers gain full transparency into where ads run, with granular insights and outcome-based measurement.

Smart curation empowers SMBs to harness the full power of CTV – combining efficiency, transparency, premium inventory and control – so campaigns drive meaningful business results in an increasingly complex ecosystem.

The power of smart curation in CTV

Scale is one of the most pressing needs in today’s CTV marketplace. Local and regional advertisers can’t effectively target or leverage attribution tools without it. Curated buying delivers the reach necessary to break beyond the limitations of individual publishers, while also unlocking layers of precision targeting – by interests, behaviors or content types – that ensure campaigns connect with relevant audiences. And with attribution capabilities, advertisers can draw direct lines between CTV exposure and real-world outcomes.

Frequency management is another crucial consideration. Viewers frustrated by seeing the same ad repeatedly are less likely to engage positively with a brand. Choosing a partner with the right tech stack to power smart curation helps track delivery across streaming platforms at the household level, ensuring campaigns strike the right balance between familiarity and fatigue. This minimizes wasted spend and creates a better ad experience for consumers.

Measurement and reporting are also strengthened through curation. Instead of piecing together disparate reports from multiple publishers, advertisers gain a unified, transparent view of performance that makes optimization easier.

Reaching audiences behind walled gardens is just as critical. Consumers are spread across countless services, and advertisers who rely on only one or two platforms inevitably leave reach on the table, especially with rising subscriber churn. Viewers jump to must-watch content, subscribe, then cancel when the season ends. Curated inventory approaches solve this by following audiences wherever they go, delivering continuity and scale across the full breadth of streaming services despite shifting consumer behavior.

Why the right partner matters

While some label curation a buzzword, it has long been central to CTV’s success in local markets. What’s changed is that fragmentation has made it essential for advertisers of every size. You need a partner with the right ad tech to take curation to the next level – one that safeguards brand safety, provides transparency into placements, unifies measurement and follows audiences across shifting platforms.

As CTV investment accelerates, advertisers should focus on outcomes: Which partners can deliver scale without sacrificing trust? Who can connect campaigns to business results with clarity and control?

For SMBs in particular, choosing a curator who turns complexity into simplicity is the key to making CTV a true business driver.

You can read the article on Cynopsis here.