No primary source publishes one measured average CTV CPM for the US in 2026. The dated figures that exist depend on buying route, inventory quality and season. The ANA measured an all-format programmatic CPM of $4.42 in Q1 2026, and political demand pushed battleground-state CTV CPMs to about $43 in October 2026.
Why there is no single average CTV CPM
CPM is cost per thousand impressions: what an advertiser pays for 1,000 ad views. For a refresher on the metric itself, see how CPM pricing works. CTV (connected TV) refers to ads that are sold digitally and shown on internet-connected TV screens. That includes smart TVs and devices such as Roku players, Amazon Fire TV Sticks and Apple TV, running apps like Netflix, Hulu, Prime Video and YouTube, as eMarketer’s CTV FAQ describes it.
Most “average CTV CPM” numbers you see online blend things that shouldn’t be blended. A direct deal for live sports, a run of free ad-supported streaming inventory and an open-exchange programmatic buy can differ several times over in price. Some quoted figures include platform fees and others don’t. A national average also hides seasonal spikes, such as the political flights that raise local prices every election autumn. Many articles repeat each other’s numbers without pointing to a dataset at all.
This page reports each figure separately, with its publisher, period, scope and type. It does not compute a blended guess.
CTV and programmatic CPM figures by source and date
The rows below measure different things. Don’t rank them against each other or 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.
How to budget CTV without a fixed CPM
Since no reliable single price exists, 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. Adwave charges no fee on media spend and credits undelivered media back. 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:
- 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 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.
