CTV as the next performance engine [live at MAU Vegas 🎤]

CTV’s share of consumer attention has long outpaced its share of performance budgets. The bottleneck is the measurement infrastructure needed to hold the channel accountable to real business outcomes. While this gap is closing, it requires alignment across the entire stack: how advertisers define success, how measurement partners connect impressions to downstream events, and how the supply side exposes the signals that make attribution possible.

At MAU Vegas 2026, Sameer Sondhi (Affle’s Chief Investment Officer & CEO, North America) moderated “CTV as the next performance engine,” a session that tackled this challenge from all three angles. The panel featured Abby Patton (Fetch), Sean Galligan (Kochava), and Kunal Nagpal (InMobi). Watch the session on demand using the link below, or read on for the key highlights.

‍

The advertiser view: How Fetch successfully added CTV to their performance media mix

Fetch came to CTV in late 2024 primarily to support an existing linear television presence, approaching it as a performance-adjacent awareness channel. That assumption didn't hold for long.

"We had viewed CTV as kind of a performance-leaning awareness channel. But we quickly found it to be very highly performant in actually acquiring users." —Abby Patton, Fetch [00:03:51]

Over Q4 2024, Fetch scaled CTV steadily, ultimately finding that new users acquired through the channel delivered efficiencies on par with their other acquisition channels, with strong retention signals to match. CTV now comprises 18–20% of their budget. Its true value, however, was proven by an unplanned pause: a technical bug forced Fetch dark on CTV for weeks, triggering an inadvertent incrementality test.

"It was kind of a forced test that proved out a lot of incrementality — not just how it affected our CAC across non-CTV campaigns, but even our resurrection. We started to see our resurrection start to soften at the times that our campaigns were off, and then pick back up as soon as our campaigns went live again." —Abby Patton, Fetch [00:05:06]

The halo effect on resurrection rates was something Fetch hadn't been actively tracking for. Its appearance—and disappearance—during the outage made the case for CTV as a full-funnel driver with cross-screen impact. This dynamic is baked into the mechanics of CTV-to-mobile conversions: when a user sees a CTV ad, they scan a QR code or search the app store, so the conversion registers on an entirely different channel. This is why many marketers notice an uptick in organic and search-driven installs during CTV campaigns without immediately connecting the two.

The attribution view: Building a measurement operating system

CTV performance now allows marketers to measure downstream events well beyond the install —website visits, store visits, subscriptions, purchases— and connect them back to CTV impressions. The issue, as Kochava’s Sean Galligan argued, is that most are still relying on a single measurement methodology to answer questions that require several.

"You can't attack those four things with just one single measurement methodology. You really need to be able to incorporate a measurement operating system, using last touch, leveraging MMM, and using incrementality solutions. Putting those together gives you clarity on a complete picture." —Sean Galligan, Kochava [00:10:16]

There are four questions the system needs to answer: which channels are lifting total outcomes, which are reaching diminishing marginal returns, which are driving genuinely incremental value, and which are simply capturing demand that would have converted anyway. Kochava’s CTV attribution also accounts for an element often missed in standard setups: the multi-device, multi-day nature of consumer behavior.

"The journey often starts with the big screen in the living room. But then the next step or action that a consumer takes is really often on a mobile phone. That's why you hear this concept of CTV pitches, but mobile catches." —Sean Galligan, Kochava [00:11:13]

A CTV impression rarely converts on the same device or in the same session. Consumers see an ad, then act hours or days later; on their phone, outside the home. Measurement partners need to be able to link devices to households and track that journey across both time and context for CTV's contribution to be accurately credited.

‍

The supply view: Inventory quality as a performance variable

InMobi’s Kunal Nagpal emphasized that supply-side quality is a performance lever, not just a logistics function. The attraction of TV as an advertising environment has always been understood. What changed is what the supply side can now deliver in terms of measurability.

"You can measure more clearly, you can attribute better, and you have the signals to then go feed back into a performance marketer's life to improve the campaign —not just for incrementality, but generally for campaign planning." —Kunal Nagpal, InMobi [00:14:13]

That shift has been driven by content owners and OEMs becoming more deliberate about exposing signals that matter—moving away from the closed-ecosystem model inherited from linear TV, where controlling content meant controlling everything around it.

Kunal’s definition of performance-ready inventory comes down to three conditions: it must pass signals sufficient for measurement, it must support proper attribution, and it must enable ongoing campaign optimization. Miss any of the three, and it doesn't qualify.

‍

The demand side: Holding CTV to outcome-based KPIs

Sameer Sondhi from Affle framed the demand-side question simply: budget follows trust, and trust follows measurement.

"You generally don't scale what you don't trust." — Sameer Sondhi, Affle [00:06:49]

For CTV, the channel's growth in performance budgets has really gone hand-in-hand with better attribution. While the inventory has always been appealing—with premium content, engaged audiences, and lean-back attention—what demand-side buyers truly needed was confidence that their spending could be traced to outcomes. As the measurement stack has caught up, so has the willingness to allocate.

"What makes CTV a performance multiplier is the fact that you've got to do a lot of things correctly. You've got to put all the ducks in a row—advertisers defining success beyond installs, the ability to measure it correctly, and making sure that supply is enabling the quality. That gets us to the premise that TV is acting like a performance amplifier, not just one benchmark." —Sameer Sondhi, Affle [00:16:35]

That last point, supply enabling quality, is where the demand and supply perspectives meet. From a buyer's standpoint, inventory that doesn't pass the right signals isn't just harder to measure; it's harder to justify. And on channel mix:

"We keep telling advertisers: you should not build a campaign only around TV." — Sameer Sondhi, Affle [00:18:15]

The demand-side view, then, is one of integration over isolation: CTV earns its place when it's held to outcome-based KPIs and treated as an amplifying input in a multi-channel strategy, not a standalone destination.

‍

Key Takeaways

CTV has moved past the "awareness only" label. Fetch scaled it to nearly a fifth of its budget due to efficiency parity with other channels, proving CTV can be held to performance KPIs, and it's delivering on them.

One measurement methodology isn't enough. Last-touch, MMM, and incrementality each answer different questions. Relying on just one leaves you blind to CTV’s cross-device, household, and multi-day conversion windows.

"CTV pitches, but mobile catches." Living room impressions rarely convert on the TV screen. Measurement must account for cross-device behavior and delayed actions, or CTV will be systematically undercredited.

Supply quality is a measurement prerequisite. Performance-ready inventory requires attribution and optimization signals to pass entirely through the stack. Without them, inventory can't be held accountable or improve.

CTV amplifies the mix; it doesn't replace it. The panel agreed that treating CTV as a standalone channel misses the point. Its true value is as a multiplier across a broader strategy.

‍

Go Deeper: Claim your copy of our CTV growth guide to get started

The themes from this panel—measurement maturity, cross-device attribution, supply-side accountability—are exactly what we set out to address in our CTV guide, developed together with Kochava and YouAppi.

If you're evaluating CTV as a performance channel or looking to pressure-test your current setup, the guide walks through attribution frameworks, measurement best practices, and what to look for in supply and measurement partners. Download the guide here to learn more or contact us to discuss how CTV could help you grow your mobile business. 

‍