By Kimeko McCoy  •  July 15, 2026  •

Ivy Liu

The IAB’s latest findings suggests buyers’ confidence in the quality of digital video inventory they’re purchasing has slipped. Spending has exploded. The IAB expects digital video ad spend to surpass $80 billion this year as it continues to outpace the broader ad market. 

And with increased spend comes increased scrutiny. According to the report, direct I/O, programmatic guaranteed, and self-serve — considered the more trusted CTV buying methods — saw 43% of buyers express “somewhat to no confidence” in the quality of the inventory they’re buying. For private marketplaces, that figure rose to 55%. For open exchange/RTB, that figure rose to 67%. 

Digiday spoke with six media buyers, all of which agree on the uptick in scrutiny. Blame it on supply chain fragmentation and complexity, lagging transparency in inventory and gaps in measurement and reporting. 

“CTV has matured into a premium channel with premium price tags, and when you’re paying TV-sized CPMs, you expect TV-sized transparency,” Lyndsey Garza, vp of programmatic at Dept told Digiday in an emailed statement. 

Sources told Digiday that this isn’t a confidence crisis where buyers suddenly trust CTV less even as transparency in CTV has been debated for some time. As more ad dollars flow into the increasingly complex supply chains that make digital video, buyers expect to understand exactly what they’re buying.

Complexities in modern CTV buying

Once upon a time, before the current streaming boom, buyers would strike a deal with one partner and know where their content was running. Now, buyers are managing deals across a smorgasbord of SSPs, OEMs, content providers and platforms — each with their own rules, bundles and measurement frameworks.

“It requires us to put a lot of trust and faith into whatever these partners are sending us, whether it’s through a programmatic guarantee deal or a PMP deal,” said Ben Vaske, media supervisor of brand media at Collective Measures.

Redefining premium content

While CTV as a whole is considered premium inventory, there’s no longer a clear consensus on what constitutes premium. Some agency execs are moving away from relying on brand recognition alone, like Disney+, ESPN or Peacock. Instead, third-party measurement tools are used to gauge quality. Meanwhile, other agency execs define premium as recognizable content, like major sports and award shows.

Two buyers cited experiences where they thought they were paying for ads to run alongside premium content, but the buy included other types of programming. For example, live events often encompass pre-shows, post-shows and other content that makes it difficult for buyers to verify if their ads actually ran during the main event. 

“We do have sellers in the marketplace that are coupling inventory in, and it’s not necessarily just what you think you’re buying,” said one buyer who spoke on the condition of anonymity. They added, “There have been times where there have been things placed into plans that we would not consider streaming.” 

Agencies pivot to direct relationships

With bigger ad budgets — and more educated clients asking questions about their ad spend — buyers are looking for greater control over the infrastructure. Meaning, agency-SSP relationships matter more than ever. 

Buyers are spending “infinitely more time” with SSPs than a few years ago, rather than relying on programmatic automation or DSP interfaces alone, said the anonymous buyer. 

That’s been Kepler Group’s solution as the digital video ad market only gets more convoluted. The digital marketing and media agency is taking a deals-first, curated supply approach, said Kevin Cahn, vp and head of media COEs at Kepler.

“Generally, we strongly favor a deals-based approach where we’re accessing supply from known partners,” Cahn said.

It’s similar to Crispin’s approach, where chief transformation officer Freddy Dabaghi said the agency is working more closely with SSPs to glean more detailed data. As scrutiny around ad spend and inventory continues, the agency is looking for details beyond general performance. 

“We have to have relationships with the SSPs, we have to understand the partners direct, not just run it through programmatic,” Dabaghi said. 

Maturing marketplace

Call it a maturity correction. Given the $80 billion in U.S. ad spend flowing into digital video ads by the end of the year, CTV and streaming is no longer considered the Wild West, per buyers. 

Garza at Dept sums it up this way: “Quality isn’t determined by whether I bought direct or programmatically, it’s determined by whether someone can explain exactly how that impression reached me.”