What is Connected TV (CTV) & SSAI?

Also known as: CTV, Server-Side Ad Insertion, OTT

Quick definition

Connected TV advertising delivers video ads to streaming content on internet-connected televisions; server-side ad insertion (SSAI) stitches ads directly into the content stream so playback is seamless and ad blockers cannot separate them.

Key points

Ad pods: CTV breaks contain multiple slots; OpenRTB 2.6 added pod-level bidding and competitive separation.
Supply transparency: Device and app spoofing make app-ads.txt and direct supply paths critical.

Benefits

Premium, lean-back, high-completion inventory

Trade-offs

Limited measurement and identity
Fraud through server-side spoofing

FAQ

What is CTV direct supply?

Buying CTV inventory from the publisher or its primary SSP rather than through resellers, reducing fraud and fees.

Explore on AdTech Radar

Official sources

IAB Tech Lab – CTV

Last reviewed 2026-10-27. Explanations are written by AdTech Radar; consult the official specification for implementation.

Related terms

VAST

VAST is the IAB Tech Lab XML schema that tells a video player which ad creative to play, where its media files are and which tracking URLs to fire, making video and CTV ads portable across players and ad servers.

OpenRTB

OpenRTB is the IAB Tech Lab specification that standardizes how an exchange or SSP sends a bid request describing an impression to DSPs and how DSPs answer with a bid response, so thousands of buyers and sellers can trade in real time through one common JSON message format.

ads.txt & app-ads.txt

ads.txt (for websites) and app-ads.txt (for apps and CTV) are public text files hosted by a publisher that list every ad system and account ID authorized to sell its inventory, letting buyers reject unauthorized resellers and domain spoofing.