From proving to performing: 2025 reflections and predictions for the year ahead in streaming TV

If 2025 was about proving what streaming TV could deliver, then 2026 will be about scaling it – faster, smarter, and with more precision.

Across the ecosystem, leaders are seeing signs that streaming TV has matured beyond reach and experimentation. This is a medium that now drives full-funnel outcomes: across awareness, engagement, and conversions, and everything in between.

To mark the end of a transformative year, we asked industry leaders from across the ecosystem to share their biggest takeaways from 2025, and what they expect will define the year ahead. Here’s what they had to say.

Streaming TV got serious about performance

In 2025, CTV really started to mature – moving from being seen as a pure top-of-funnel play to a true results-driving channel. “People are using advanced data to make really sophisticated decisions regarding activation, measurement, and curation,” said Yan Liu, CEO at TVision.

CTV emerged as a true full-funnel medium with advertisers embracing new signals – like emotion and context – to deliver outcomes from brand lift to foot traffic. As Scott Dahlgren, Senior Business Development Lead at Wurl, put it: “We were really able to test new ad targeting capabilities like emotions – and prove their ability to drive performance up and down the funnel.”

The increased adoption of programmatic also helped sharpen CTV’s ability to deliver performance at scale – particularly in live environments. “Overall, we’re seeing more and more TV and video inventory in programmatic,” said Laura Grover, SVP, Head of Client Solutions at EDO. “And I think one of the most interesting things there is that we’re now seeing live sports inventory be part of programmatic inventory.”

This evolution is changing the way streaming TV is viewed across the media landscape. Even historically brand-led buyers are starting to reframe their thinking about the medium. “People will no longer see CTV as just a brand uplift or brand awareness channel,” said Zach Rosenstock, Director, Inventory Development at StackAdapt. “They’ll see it as a real performance channel as well.”

The contextual shift: Smarter data, smarter outcomes

Advertisers are doubling down on contextual data in streaming TV – getting smarter about how and when they show up on the biggest screen in the home. The focus is shifting from audiences to moments and relevance. As Rachelle Minnis, Chief Media Solutions Officer at Kantar, summed up well: “I think the industry is going from reach and eyeballs to authenticity and connection.”

“In 2025, we saw a ton of lean-in from more premium publishers in terms of contextual,” said Marika Roque, Chief Innovation Officer at Kerv. Next, she predicts, “I see a really big push to interoperability within contextual metadata, and more innovation within creative outlets in terms of what to do dynamically as a result of the metadata.”

“We saw a clear shift: buyers are now recognizing the value of content-level signals,” said Mikey Garcia, VP of Advertising Engineering at Wurl. “Campaigns built on those insights are performing better across the board.”

Mario Diez, CEO of Peer39, added: “Every impression will be transacted using a contextual signal. I think from the advertising market, we are laying the groundwork for a fully transparent ecosystem in 2026.”

Still, the promise of contextual goes beyond better targeting. As the tools mature, the challenge now is scaling them in ways that improve the core infrastructure of streaming TV. “2025 was the year when the promise of new technologies – like contextual targeting – started to deliver real momentum,” said Dave Bernath, CEO of Wurl. “And, while those tools will continue to get attention in 2026, the real breakthrough will come from applying them to solve the foundational challenges still holding back CTV investment – things like genre classification, brand suitability, and scalable execution.”

From collaboration to consolidation: Platforms get strategic

While technology drove much of the streaming innovation in 2025, business strategy matured alongside it. We saw major partnerships reshape the ecosystem – and signs that more consolidation may be just around the corner.

“I think 2025 was the year of the collab,” said Chris Murphy, SVP, Strategy & Business Development at Innovid. “We saw Amazon and Roku get closer, we saw Walmart and Vizio finally come together as well.”

But, 2026 may bring a different kind of convergence. These collaborations reflect a larger shift: publishers and platforms are starting to focus less on building everything in-house, and more on creating streamlined, scalable experiences for audiences and advertisers. “Fewer content owners are going to want to manage their own apps, deal with subscribers, and deal with ad loads,” Murphy added. “I think there might be some more acquisitions and roll-ups in the market as well.”

That shift in mindset is part of what’s fueling the growth of free ad-supported streaming. As content owners look for models that simplify distribution and increase monetization, free streaming channels have become a strategic pillar. “FAST has been especially exciting because it’s this emerging platform – it’s becoming a lot more of this tentpole event space like we’ve seen with the Super Bowl on Tubi this year,” said Leah Dixon, Director, Audience & Behavioral Insights at the VAB.

Free ad-supported streaming is no longer being positioned as a workaround or alternative to traditional TV. For many, it is the new broadcast. “My bold prediction for five years down the road would be that FAST is the new broadcast,” said John Rogers, Director, Global Programmatic Partnerships at Roku. “Broadcast television right now is in fact free, just like free ad-supported TV. So, as that scale continues to grow, it’ll be broadcast television realized with addressability.”

What’s next for streaming TV

Streaming TV is no longer a question mark – it’s proving itself a performance channel. The foundation is there. Now, it’s about building the infrastructure, partnerships, and measurement to support real growth at scale.

At Wurl, we’re proud to help power the platforms, partnerships, and performance outcomes shaping the future of streaming TV. Here’s to 2026: the year we stop proving, and start unlocking.