How To Price Media Quality for CTV

CTVamp8217s 2026 Upfront negotiation season shows two different financial dynamics at play a gold rush for dollars and a price war for inventoryCTV is becoming a necessary media channel for advertisers According to eMarketer Digital Video Forecast and Trends Q2 2026 2026 will be the year CTV secures more dollars in the upfront market than primetime linear TVAt the same time the major CTV providers continue to expand their ad inventory offerings even as average CTV CPMs which ranged from 35 to 50 in 20232024 according to Adwave What is the average CTV CPM Q1 2025 have softened CTV ad inventory supply and demand are both growing but their growth rates are not aligned which is causing the net CTV CPM floor to drift downwardBrands want CTV on media plans for its reach and targeting buyers want it for value But in a market where similar prices can mask very different levels of media quality CTV CPM alone is no longer a sufficiently discerning tool to help buyers decide where to invest their CTV dollarsToday Adelaide is publishing new US CTV channel and daypart ratings for AU its attentionbased media quality metric AU scores media placements on a 0amp8211100 scale based on their probability of capturing attention and contributing to business outcomes These data have not been previously publishedAdelaide AU Media Quality Ratings US CTV JanMay 2026What the data showExamining Adelaideamp8217s data we can observe CTV daypart AU patterns look a lot like the daypart audience rating patterns of traditional broadcast TVWithin each CTV format Prime is the highestrated daypart for media quality as expressed in AU For CTVFAST and SVOD AU ratings grow throughout the day from Early Morning on while BVOD shows its highest AU rating after Prime in Early Morning mirroring the traditional strength of broadcast TV in morning dayparts from newsweathertraffic programmingThe second observation we can make is these are some pretty wideranging media quality ratings Across the 18 daypartformat combinations shown above AU scores span 230 points from 705 AU for SVOD Prime to 475 AU for BVOD Overnight The highestquality segment of the CTV day as expressed in AU scores 48 higher than the lowestquality segment across inventory that often transacts at similar CPMsThe third observation is that the AU daypartformat gap probably understates the outcomes gap Adelaideamp8217s research has shown that the AUtooutcomes relationship is not linear it accelerates as AU scores increase Optimizing campaign media quality from 62 AU to 68 AU can produce a larger lift in measured KPIs than optimizing from 56 to 62 AU MediaSense independently audited and confirmed this AU materiality pattern in 2025 MediaSense Audit Validating the Predictive Power of AUSo the difference between CTV39s highest and lowestquality inventory is not just a 48 AU gap In business KPI impact terms it39s likely even widerThe data above clearly show the necessity of using a quality metric to evaluate media opportunities for outcomes CPM can tell buyers what an impression costs but not whether that impression sits above or below the quality threshold needed to move an outcomeThis is the central paradox of this upfront season Buyers have more CTV inventory options than ever Every streamer has an adsupported tier FAST supply continues to expand and the CTV unit price floor has dropped from past years But the metric most often used to compare those media optionsamp8211CPMamp8211still treats CTV impressions as more or less interchangeableCTV viewersand media buyerscan see with their eyes the ad load and frequency management differences between the highest and lowestquality CTV environments available for investment this upfront season Our clients deserve better optionsHow to use AU to identify quality thresholdsOne of AUamp8217s most important advantages is its stabilityAU scores are deterministic at the placement level meaning they do not move simply because marketplace supply and demand dynamics change An AU score changes when an ad placement changes its size characteristics position on a page or in a pod or when its effectiveness correlations with thirdparty outcomes change for a particular advertiser or KPIFor buyers the practical application of AU is straightforward determine the AU level your campaign needs to hit then buy against that number The required AU level will differ by advertiser campaign and objective Once established it becomes a media quality target It tells you the AU threshold at which the inventory you are buying is more likely to contribute to the business outcomes you care aboutBelow that threshold you may be paying for impressions that won39t move your KPI Above it you have room to negotiate and separate efficient pricing from overpriced supply but only if you have visibility into those thresholds and what they mean for your clientsamp8217 goals This approach does not require an omnichannel rate card because an AU floor is not a rate it39s a quality valueFor sellers applying AU works the same way in reverse The sellside can assign a quality value to undermonetized media in their portfolios and use that inventory to amp8220bring in the buyamp8221 on a quality basisShould we use CostPerAUGiven the AUbydaypart chart above and the materiality audit from MediaSense some Adelaide clients have asked whether they should use AU data to calculate CostPerAU or CPAUCPAU can be a useful market marker It can help buyers assess price and quality in a more disciplined way than using CPM alone But CPAU is not a universal market pricing or broadlyapplicable channel selection metric and it shouldnamp8217t be treated as oneThatamp8217s because CPAU is clientspecific Advertisers should be most interested in the specific AU thresholds that correspond with their own business objectives An advertiser whose mediaKPI impact curve inflects at 65 AU has no use for CPAU benchmarks built around 55 AU An advertiser whose mediaKPI impact curve inflects at 55 AU does not need to pay 65 AU pricesCPAU is a useful number but it39s a clientbyclient numberamp8212not a single gauge the whole market should track or trade againstPricing in media qualityConsidering AU as a measure of quality when evaluating CTV costs represents a new way of working But what weamp8217ll achieve by adopting this new way of working is what advertising has been needing a shared understanding of the quality of the media we buy and sell As CTV becomes a larger and more complex part of the plan that shared understanding matters more Buyers need to know what their investments are likely to deliver in business outcomes terms and sellers need a consistent way to prove when their inventory is worth more than the CPM suggests AU gives the market a new common outcomedriven basis for that conversation this upfront yearPosted at MediaVillage through the Thought Leadership selfpublishing platformClick the social buttons to share this story with colleagues and friendsThe opinions expressed here are the author39s views and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillageorgMyersBizNet

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How To Price Media Quality for CTV

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Claire Browne

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