Under the Hood of CTV: Buying Smarter in 2026

By now, every political paid media campaign knows CTV belongs in the media mix. The real question isn’t whether to buy CTV – it’s how to buy it well.

With political ad spending projected to reach $11.6 billion this cycle, CTV is expected to account for roughly $2.5 billion, or about 22% of total political spending, making it the second-largest paid media channel after broadcast TV. If you haven’t reexamined your buying strategy recently, consider this your wake-up call.

Welcome to the fourth edition of the SBDownload, SBDigital’s informational newsletter. Here to discuss smarter CTV buying, please welcome the author of this edition: Carly Neubauer!

Under the Hood of CTV: Buying Smarter in 2026

Buying CTV has become far more complex than simply uploading a voter file and letting your DSP do the work. Campaigns today are navigating:

• Record political demand that’s driving up CPMs and making premium streaming inventory harder to secure.
• Commercial advertisers fleeing election-season inventory, leaving many premium streaming environments dominated by wall-to-wall political advertising.
• AI-powered buying algorithms that prioritize the cheapest impression – not necessarily the highest-quality one.
• A streaming ecosystem that’s both fragmented and concentrated, with voters spread across thousands of platforms but media buying concentrated on a handful of dominant players.
• Growing risks of ad fraud, low-quality inventory, and opaque supply paths that make it harder to know where your dollars are actually going.

The era of “set it and forget it” programmatic buying is over. The campaigns that win this cycle won’t simply spend more; they’ll ask better questions, demand greater transparency, and buy smarter.

In this edition of The SBDownload, I’ll share practical strategies for buying smarter, from understanding where your ads are actually running and avoiding fraudulent inventory to leveraging YouTube strategically, improving creative performance, and maximizing every media dollar.

1. Treat YouTube and CTV as Different Tools

While YouTube and CTV are often grouped together under the broader streaming video umbrella, campaigns should think about them as different strategic investments.

YouTube is now the number one online video platform matching broadcast for reach in most markets. We should think of it as the “broadcast of digital” because it delivers premium, broadcast-scale reach across every screen, excels at reaching mass audiences, rewards larger budgets with greater scale and efficiency, and is best suited for broad 

awareness rather than highly granular audience targeting. If your objective is statewide or national awareness, like introducing a candidate, defining an opponent, driving a ballot initiative, or delivering a broad GOTV message, YouTube should be a core part of the media mix. Google’s political advertising policies limit audience targeting, so campaigns aren’t buying YouTube for precision. They’re buying unmatched reach, premium video inventory, and sustained voter attention. While the lack of targeting requires spending more to reach your target audience, campaigns are paying for access to the largest streaming video audience on the internet and one of the highest-quality video environments available. In most cases, you get what you pay for.

CTV serves a different role. I think of it as the “linear cable of digital” because, unlike YouTube’s broad, broadcast-scale reach, CTV is built for more targeted TV buying. It gives campaigns the ability to reach specific households, persuadable voters, geographic areas, or custom audiences through voter-file matching and programmatic buying, delivering the premium viewing environment of TV with the precision and accountability of digital.

The strongest media plans don’t choose between YouTube and CTV, they leverage both. YouTube delivers the scale to shape the conversation. CTV delivers the precision to reach the voters most likely to decide it.

2. Don’t Chase the Lowest CPM

AI has made media buying faster and more efficient than ever, but it hasn’t replaced good judgment. Most buying algorithms are built to find the cheapest available impression. The problem? The cheapest impression isn’t always the best one, and it likely isn’t always a real voter. Left unchecked, automated buying can drift toward low-quality inventory and even outright fraud, all because it’s cheaper.

In 2026, campaigns can’t afford to set it and forget it – that’s the old way of programmatic buying. Today’s best media buyers look under the hood! They ask whether premium publishers are prioritized, what optimization signals are being used, how fraud is being monitored, and if the DSP is optimizing for more than just CPM.

3. Demand Transparency

Before you commit a single dollar, ask: “Where exactly are my ads going to run?” Don’t settle for a vague answer. Be annoying. Be a stickler. Your media partner should be able to tell you exactly what you’re buying, not just that it’s “premium CTV.” Ask for publisher 

and app lists upfront. Ask what third-party fraud and brand safety partners they’re using and how they monitor invalid traffic. Confirm they can share reporting after the campaign launches, ideally through a live, self-service dashboard rather than a static end-of-flight PDF, so you can see publisher-level delivery, pacing, and fraud metrics in real time, not just after the fact.”

CTV is only as good as the data behind it. Your media partner should be working with DSPs and data providers that maximize voter-file match rates, use strong identity graphs, and continuously refresh their audience data in today’s cookieless environment. Ask how they’re matching voters to devices, how they minimize wasted impressions, how often their data is updated, and how they verify ads are reaching the intended audience. Those questions can make the difference between simply buying CTV and buying CTV that actually reaches the right voters.

The more transparent a partner is, the more confidence you should have in the quality of your buy. If they can’t clearly explain where your budget is going, keep pushing. You deserve to know where every dollar is being spent.

Remember: You’re buying opportunities to reach voters. Make sure you know exactly where those opportunities are coming from.

4. Creative Is Your Biggest Competitive Advantage

As political CPMs continue to rise, creative has become one of the biggest competitive advantages campaigns still control.

If you’re investing in content creators, don’t think of that content as “just social.” Your best-performing creator videos should be tested as paid creative across YouTube, Connected TV, and other programmatic and social platforms.

Why? Because creator content looks and feels different. In a cycle where voters are surrounded by polished political commercials, authentic creator-led videos can help your campaign stand out, feel more credible, and break through political ad fatigue.

There’s another advantage: good creative makes your media work harder. Platforms like YouTube and other AI-powered buying systems increasingly optimize toward ads that hold attention and generate stronger engagement signals. When viewers watch longer, skip less, and engage more, campaigns often benefit from more efficient delivery, greater reach, and lower effective media costs over the life of a campaign. Strong creative improves both performance and purchasing proficiency.

The takeaway is simple: don’t build one television commercial and run it everywhere. Test creator content, testimonials, behind-the-scenes moments, and issue explainers alongside traditional TV spots. Let performance determine what gets scaled. In today’s media environment, your creative strategy should be just as data-driven as your media strategy.

5. Don’t Overwhelm the Same Voters

More impressions don’t always equal more persuasion. One of the easiest ways to waste money is over-serving your ads to the same people.. Instead of hammering the voters you’ve already reached, focus on expanding your reach, refreshing your creative, and using smart frequency caps to keep your message from wearing out its welcome. The goal isn’t to get one voter to see your ad over and over. It’s to reach as many persuadable voters as possible before Election Day while still leaving a lasting impression.

The Bottom Line

In 2026, your competitive advantage needs to be having a smarter, more efficient media buyer. Every campaign has access to YouTube, can buy CTV, and can use AI-powered programmatic tools. The difference is how they’re used. The campaigns that break through this cycle won’t be the ones with the biggest budgets. They’ll be the ones who ask better questions, invest in stronger creative, demand greater transparency, and make every impression count!