new york-According to IAB's 2025 Digital Video Ad Spend & Strategy Full Report, the transition to the future of Video is accelerating.
Part 2 of the report, produced in collaboration with advertisers' perceptions and guidelines, provides insight into the impact of Genai on advertising production, what advertisers are demanding from CTV and live sports, and the focus on business outcomes. Part 1 of the report was released in April.
“The economics of advertising are changing. As production costs drop, opportunities for advertisers are increasing,” said David Cohen, CEO of IAB. “The pool of potential advertisers is growing as it is easier than ever to plan, buy, optimize and creatively connect consumers with new technologies across all forms of media. The democratization of advertising and marketing is entering an exciting new phase, with a new outlook coming quickly.”
genai is a way to create video ads
According to the IAB, generative AI will be the basis for creating video ads, transforming the way campaigns are developed, tested and scaled, adding that 86% of buyers use/plans to create video ads.
“The economics of advertising are changing. As production costs decrease, opportunities for advertisers are increasing.”
David Cohen, IAB
Buyer Project Genai Creative will reach 40% of all ads by 2026, with small and medium-sized brands (SMBs) adopting faster than the largest brands. SMB leverages Genai's ability to help create high-quality digital video ads quickly, affordable, and at scale, bypassing the need for large teams and expensive production.
Advertisers also use the Genai Creative Enhancement feature to create different audiences (42%), visual style changes (38%), and context-related (36%) versions.
“Marketers are increasingly looking for partners who can help not only provide access to Genai Solutions, but also unlock complete strategic and creative possibilities,” Cohen added.
Advertisers are looking forward to more from CTV
The latest IAB report also shows that buyers expect 47% of CTV stock to be bidable, starting from 34% last year. Three out of four (74%) plan to build or build an internal team to manage self-service CTV activations within the company.
According to the IAB, CTV has a bigger role, but buyers want to gain more options and inventory control. With the rise of live content on streaming platforms, 60% of buyers expect more from these platforms than linear television. A third wants unique interactive experiences and real-time data.
“Buyers are excited about the arrival of sports and other live content on streaming,” says Cris Brudale, vice president of IAB's Industry Insights & Content Strategy. “They expect to see better abilities than they can get linearly.”
When you activate CTV in your program, over 80% of digital video buyers are seeking human support from sell-side partners. For CTV platforms that provide self-service activation tools, this underscores the ongoing need to continue to engage directly with buyers.
“It's a table stakes to be programmatically available. Being a strategic partner that delivers ideas and results is becoming an essential part of ad spending.” “As digital video democratizes small business ads, many of these brands struggle with measurement complexity, standardization, cross-channel data, and scalability.”
Buyers focus on business outcomes
CTV is rapidly filling the gap in social video, and buyers are now maintaining similar expectations to drive business outcomes, including sales and offline store visits. Economic uncertainty this year – tariffs, geopolitical conflicts, and changes in consumer sentiment – these outcomes are becoming even more important, the IAB says.
Advertisers are always hoping for results, but more and more (especially on CTV) they are demanding them now. Bruderle concluded, “Driving the business results of bottom hunnels is the most important KPI for video buyers, it will be delivered or reduced.”
The report said that the reason why digital video buyers are reducing or removing spending with streaming partners is not able to deliver business outcomes.
Access full IAB 2025 digital video ad spending and strategy reporting here. The report was released on July 15th at the IAB Media Centre's Video Leadership Summit.
