• by Wayne Friedman , 4 hours ago

Connected TV (CTV) is estimated to see another solid, double-digit percentage gain -- 13.8% -- this year, according to a recent survey from the Interactive Advertising Bureau.

Only social media will see a slightly better result -- with a 14.6% gain.

“Supported by ongoing audience consumption shifts, measurement capabilities, and a robust calendar of major cyclical events, social and CTV are projected again to lead growth in 2026,” said the authors of the report.

This year, major advertising-based events include the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics, the U.S. midterm elections, and the FIFA World Cup.

These events will also help linear TV narrow its advertising losses of a year ago to just a 1.7% drop.

In 2025, a non-Olympics, non-political year, linear TV fell sharply -- a 14.4% fall.

A year ago CTV was at 11.4% improvement. Other digital video (excluding CTV) is projected to rise 9.6% (higher than the 7.4% gain in 2025 over 2024).

Digital video and CTV together are projected to have a leading 23% share of U.S. ad spend among all media channels. Social media is next at 18.4%; paid search (16.2%); digital display (11.2%); and linear TV (11.1%).

IAB estimates came from a survey of 205 U.S. buy-side media investment executives, primarily at brands and agencies from November 24, 2025 to January 16, 2026.