The clearest new public figure for a streaming CPM is a national upfront average, not a small-business quote. On August 11, 2026, Media Dynamics estimated the 2026-27 primetime upfront average streaming CPM for adults at $25.90, down 4.9% from the prior season. The same release puts broadcast at $41.65 per thousand adults for a 30-second announcement (down 4.2%) and cable at $17.70 (down 8.5%).
The 2026-27 upfront CPMs
These are Media Dynamics estimates for the 2026-27 primetime upfront, published August 11, 2026. They are not Adwave prices, and they are not a rate card for one streaming app.
Source: Media Dynamics, Inc., press release, August 11, 2026, The 2026-27 Primetime Upfront.
The same release estimates primetime upfront ad investment at $33.8 billion (up 9.1%), with $17.2 billion in streaming and $16.6 billion in linear. Streaming spending was up nearly 30%. Broadcast dollars were down 5.3%. Cable dollars were down 7.7%. Primetime CPMs, counting linear and streaming together, were down 6.2%. The release also says streaming accounts for 25% of available primetime ad GRPs and received more than half of the 2026-27 upfront's primetime ad dollars.
MediaPost's August 11, 2026 report of the same estimates gives the prior-season levels as $27.75 streaming, $43.50 broadcast, and $19.35 cable, and rounds the declines to 5%, 4%, and 8.5%. The press release states 4.9%, 4.2%, and 8.5%. This page uses the press release for the 2026-27 CPMs and the percent changes. MediaPost's dollar total for the upfront ($33.7 billion) also differs from the press release ($33.8 billion). The press release is the figure used above.
What this average measures
Read $25.90 as one specific average:
Whose number: Media Dynamics, from its upfront estimates. Sellers do not publish one public rate card that matches this average.
Which buy: the 2026-27 primetime upfront, the summer market where large advertisers buy a large share of the coming season.
Which audience: adults. The broadcast line is explicitly a 30-second announcement. The streaming line is the average streaming CPM for adults.
What it is not: a YouTube-only CPM, a YouTube TV subscription price, a local scatter quote, or the price Adwave charges.
Your price still moves with targeting, geography, season, length, and how you buy. The release says some sellers held prices and a few raised them.
Other dated CTV and programmatic CPM figures
The upfront average above is one buy. The rows below measure different things, so don’t rank them against it or against each other, and don’t average them. The ANA figures cover all programmatic formats. The political figure is regional and seasonal. The Tatari and Keynes figures are older or undated.
| Figure | What it measures | Publisher and period | Scope | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $4.42 CPM (down from $5.55 in Q4 2025) | Overall programmatic CPM | ANA Q1 2026 Programmatic Transparency Benchmark, released May 27, 2026 | Web, mobile and CTV combined, not CTV only | Measured, log-level data |
| $7.46 vs $19.04 | TrueCPM: cost per thousand qualified impressions, higher vs lower performing advertisers | ANA, Q1 2026 | All programmatic formats | Measured, quality-adjusted |
| About $43 CPM | Battleground-state CTV CPMs during the political season | The Streaming Wars report, October 26, 2026 | Competitive US states, Q4 2026 | Reported market price |
| About $9.50 streaming vs about $2.50 linear | Average CPM in client campaigns | Tatari client data 2019-2023, reported by Web Tonic | Cross-industry, Tatari clients | Historical |
| $35-$65 CTV; Hulu $30; broadcast/cable linear $10-$15 | Typical quoted rates | Keynes CTV rate guide, undated | General market | Agency estimate |
The Keynes page itself says rates fluctuate with demand and are negotiable, so read its ranges as an agency’s starting quotes. For a platform-by-platform view of TV pricing, including linear and streaming apps, see our page on TV ad CPM by platform.
What changed since the last release
The newest measured national figure points down. The ANA benchmark recorded an overall programmatic CPM of $4.42 in Q1 2026, compared with $5.55 in Q4 2025. The ANA says that drop followed elevated pricing pressure in late 2025. The benchmark also grew: participating marketers rose from 54 to 86 in Q1 2026. A larger sample means the newer figure isn’t drawn from exactly the same group as the Q4 2025 one, so the change reflects both a market move and a panel change.
eMarketer’s Q4 2025 digital video report, published December 9, 2025, described the same direction for CTV specifically. It said surging CTV ad supply was putting downward pressure on CPMs and narrowing the price gap between premium and lower-cost inventory.
Autumn 2026 runs the other way in some places. AdImpact projects $11.6 billion in political advertising for the 2025-2026 cycle, including $2.7 billion on CTV, according to The Streaming Wars. That spending is concentrated in competitive states, which is how battleground CTV CPMs reached about $43. Retailers and local businesses in those states are competing for the same impressions during the holiday quarter. Our guide to how political ads affect CTV covers that overlap in more detail.
Earlier snapshots remain available for historical reference. Our Q4 2025 CTV CPM snapshot and the Q2 2026 edition record what was published at the time. This page is the one we update going forward.
How buying route changes the CPM you pay
The same household watching the same show can carry very different prices depending on how the impression was bought. The table below is our summary of the main routes, not a ranking.
| Buying route | How it works | What tends to drive the quoted CPM |
|---|---|---|
| Direct IO (insertion order) | Negotiated directly with the publisher | Premium programming such as live sports and tentpole events, guaranteed delivery, fewer intermediary fees |
| Programmatic guaranteed / PMP | Inventory reserved in advance but executed through a demand-side platform (DSP) such as The Trade Desk, DV360 or Amazon DSP | Publisher pricing plus DSP fees |
| Open-exchange programmatic | Real-time auction across many apps | Lower headline prices, more variable inventory quality, layered tech fees |
| Self-serve CTV platforms | Advertiser-run tools with low or no minimums | Platform margin and the inventory mix the tool buys |
Fees are a large part of the gap. A sponsored AdExchanger article argues that programmatic DSP and SSP fees can take 30% to 50% of spend. That figure comes from a vendor promoting a direct-integration product, not an audited measurement.
Sources disagree on how much CTV inventory moves through each route. Tatari’s 2026 platform guide says most premium streaming inventory still sells through direct deals. A separate sponsored piece on AdExchanger’s programmatic archive says over 90% of CTV ad dollars were transacted programmatically this year. Both can hold if “premium” and “all CTV” are different pools, but neither statement settles the question.
Entry points vary as well. Tatari lists Vibe.co at under $1,500 a month, MNTN with no advertised minimum, and The Trade Desk at six-figure enterprise commitments. Our guide to comparing CTV advertising platforms covers fit beyond price.
Why a low CTV CPM can cost more per real view
You pay for every impression served, including invalid ones. Pixalate’s Q3 2025 North America benchmark, reported by Web Tonic, found 18% of US open programmatic CTV traffic was invalid. Peer39’s Q3 2026 benchmarks, reported by NA Media Experts, found that 25.21% of open-exchange CTV content was fake CTV, compared with 2.98% for Peer39’s clients.
The ANA data shows what that waste does to effective price. In Q1 2026, lower-performing advertisers lost 38.4% of programmatic spend to media quality issues, while higher performers lost 19.0%. The gap between the two groups in converting spend to qualified impressions reached 21.9 points. The ANA calculated that a $1.95 difference in CPM became an $11.58 difference in TrueCPM once waste was counted. Higher performers also paid lower average CPMs.
When a seller quotes a CTV CPM, ask:
- What is the CPM by inventory tier, not just blended?
- Which fees are included, and which are added on top?
- Who verifies the inventory, and against what standard?
- What frequency cap applies per household?
For completion rates and other delivery measures to track alongside price, see our CTV performance benchmarks.
An earlier forecast, labeled as a forecast
On December 9, 2025, EMARKETER's Digital Video and Forecast Trends Q4 2025 (Ross Benes) said streaming-service CPMs will average around $26 to $27 over the next few quarters, per our estimates. That sentence is a forecast of streaming-service CPMs. It is not a count of money already spent, and it is not the August 2026 upfront transaction estimate. The later upfront figure ($25.90) sits near that range. Treat them as two sources, not one blended number.
Platform rows live on another page
This upfront average does not replace a platform-by-platform table. Netflix, Hulu, Pluto TV, and the other rows are on TV advertising CPM by platform, which still uses the November 4, 2024 Ad Age agency averages because no newer public table of that kind had replaced them as of that page's September 22, 2026 check.
Older guides still describe wider bands. AI Digital has described connected TV CPMs as often $25 to $65. Keynes Digital put a median CTV CPM between $20 and $35. Paramount Ads Manager says its own campaigns can start at $7 CPM, which is a vendor floor, not the upfront average. Simulmedia's TV advertising cost guide publishes platform ranges (for example Netflix programmatic and direct, Hulu, and free ad-supported services) that are not the same thing as the $25.90 upfront average. Use those pages for the range they actually publish, and keep the date on them.
What a CPM does to a budget
CPM means the price of 1,000 impressions. Impressions equal budget divided by CPM, times 1,000. At the $25.90 upfront average, a $500 budget is 500 ÷ 25.90 × 1,000, about 19,300 impressions. That is arithmetic on the published average. It is not a delivery guarantee, and a local buy will not automatically clear at $25.90.
A national average is a reference point, not your price. Start from what you can control: daily spend, campaign length and how often you want a household to see your ad. Expect costs to swing by season. If you sell in a competitive political market, Q4 ad flights may deliver fewer impressions for the same budget than spring flights do.
Adwave is built around that kind of budget. It creates ads from your website and runs them on TV, search, social and the web from one prepaid daily budget starting at $30. Its daily budget is an all-in price covering media, ads, and management, and you’re charged only for media that ran. A $30 daily budget does not unlock every channel. The Adwave FAQ explains that your budget, audience size, creative, campaign settings and content eligibility determine what can run. For how one budget is split across TV and the other channels, see running TV, search and social together.
Methodology and limits of these figures
This page uses only figures traceable to a named publisher and period:
- Media Dynamics upfront estimate. A national 2026-27 primetime upfront average for adults, from the August 11, 2026 press release. It is not a local or small-business price.
- ANA benchmark. Covers web, mobile and CTV programmatic combined, so it understates or overstates CTV-only pricing in unknown proportion.
- Battleground figure. Describes competitive US states during the 2026 political season, not national pricing.
- Tatari figures. Come from 2019-2023 client data and are historical.
- Keynes ranges. An undated agency estimate.
- Pixalate and Peer39. Both reach us through secondary reports, which we’ve credited.
All figures are US scope except where a source says North America.
We update this page when Media Dynamics, the ANA, eMarketer or another primary source releases new data. Between releases we don’t produce quarterly figures by estimating or interpolating. If nothing new has been published, the table stays as it is, with its dates.
Questions
What is the average CTV CPM?
For the 2026-27 primetime upfront, Media Dynamics estimates the average streaming CPM for adults at $25.90, down 4.9% from the prior season (press release, August 11, 2026). A small-business buy can land above or below that average.
Is $25.90 what a small business pays?
No. $25.90 is a national primetime upfront average for adults. A local campaign price depends on the inventory, the audience, and the seller.
How does streaming compare with broadcast and cable in that upfront?
In the same Media Dynamics release, broadcast is $41.65 per thousand adults for a 30-second announcement (down 4.2%) and cable is $17.70 (down 8.5%).
Where are Netflix and Hulu?
Platform averages from the Ad Age agency set are on the CPM by platform page. They are 2024 agency averages, not the 2026-27 upfront figure on this page.
