Connected TV is the hardest media buy to shop for right now, and not because the channel is difficult. It is difficult because the vendor landscape is genuinely confusing. Search for a CTV advertising agency and a large share of what comes back is not an agency at all: it is a demand-side platform, a self-serve streaming ad tool, or a measurement vendor. Several of the real agencies then blur the line further by operating buying or measurement technology of their own.
This guide is an independent shortlist of the connected TV agencies worth considering in 2026: what each one actually does, what a CTV test costs to stand up, and how to separate a media partner from a software licence. We publish benchmark data on what advertising costs around the world, so our interest is in helping you compare like-for-like, not in steering you toward any one firm. No agency paid to appear here, and none of the profiles below were supplied by the agencies themselves.
Why connected TV (CTV) is a distinct buy
Most agency roundups treat CTV as one more programmatic line item. It is not. Three structural facts make it its own discipline, and they shape which partner is right for you.
It sits at the seam of two trades. CTV is television buying and programmatic buying at once, which is why the vendor set is so mixed. Marketing Architects built its own DSP, Annika, rather than white-labelling one. Havas Edge runs proprietary VantEdge and RAMP measurement platforms. Tinuiti’s patented Bliss Point technology is its stated differentiator. Amsive activates CTV off connected IDs through its Xact data platform. So the first screening question is not whether a firm is good at CTV, but whether you are buying media, software, or both, and who carries the outcome.
Inventory is fragmented, and that is the whole problem. Supply is spread across hundreds of streaming apps, FAST channels and smart-TV operating systems, each with its own audience data and reporting. Strategus, which states it ran the first programmatic CTV campaign in 2015, frames its value explicitly around this, integrating a network it describes as 400+ data and media partners because no single supply path reaches the whole audience. An agency with one DSP seat is buying a slice of the market and calling it the market.
There is no click. Attribution therefore defaults to view-through and household-level matching, both of which flatter the channel. This is the live argument in the category, and it is the fastest way to sort credible partners from confident ones.
What CTV advertising actually costs
The useful thing an independent publisher can add to an agency roundup, and the thing agency-written lists rarely include honestly, is what the media itself costs. The agency fee is only part of your budget. The auction is the rest.
There are two cost layers to understand, plus a third that is specific to CTV:
- The agency’s fee: retainer, percentage of media spend, or a performance model. Some CTV shops fold more into that fee than others. Marketing Architects bills clients for media only and includes brand positioning, creative pretesting and production, conversion technology and attribution inside its All-Inclusive TV model, which changes the comparison entirely.
- The media cost: the CPMs you pay for streaming impressions, which vary sharply by app, daypart, audience data layered on top, and whether the inventory is live sport or on-demand catalogue.
- The entry threshold: the practical gatekeeper. Published floors in this category vary by an order of magnitude, from no stated minimum to roughly $50,000 per month, so an agency can be excellent and still be unbuyable at your budget.
Market-level cost benchmarks land here
This section is where our sourced, market-level cost figures embed: a composite view of what video and streaming inventory costs in this market, drawn from the same dataset behind our benchmarks. We publish these at market level deliberately. It is the more useful view for planning a budget, and it is the number an independent source should stand behind. Every figure is dated and sourced per our methodology.
The practical takeaway: before you sign with any agency, know roughly what streaming inventory costs in your market, so you can tell whether a proposed test budget is realistic and whether the fee on top is a sensible fraction of it.
How to choose a CTV advertising agency
Once you have a budget range, the choice comes down to fit. The best partner for a digital-native brand testing streaming for the first time is rarely the best one for an advertiser shifting an established linear television budget.
Are you moving an existing TV budget into streaming, or starting from zero with no television history? The honest answer to that question eliminates most of this list immediately.
Work through four things, in order:
1. Agency, platform, or both. Decide what you are actually buying. If you want a team accountable for the result, rule out self-serve software early. If a firm operates its own technology, ask whether you are contracting for the technology, the service, or a bundle, and what happens to your campaign if you leave.
2. Convergent or pure programmatic. Several of these agencies were built on linear direct response and carried that discipline into streaming. Havas Edge describes its foundation as linear buying, DirectAvenue buys linear and CTV together, and Marketing Architects treats linear and streaming as one television buy. If you already run linear, that convergence matters more than programmatic pedigree. If you have no TV history, the reverse is true.
3. Supply breadth. Ask how many supply paths and data partners they can actually reach, and whether they are restricted to one DSP. Fragmentation is the defining constraint of the channel, and a narrow seat becomes a targeting ceiling.
4. The measurement position. Ask how they would prove that CTV spend produced sales that would not have happened anyway. Incrementality and lift are a different claim from attributed ROAS, and the answer separates the field faster than any case study.
Before you sign anything
- Am I contracting for media buying, for software, or for both, and who is accountable for performance?
- What is your stated minimum monthly spend, and what does a credible test look like at that level?
- How many supply paths and data partners can you reach, and are you tied to a single DSP?
- How would you demonstrate incrementality rather than attributed ROAS?
- Is creative included, and how many variants do you need to read a test properly?
- Do I own the campaign data, audience segments and creative outright when we part ways?
The agencies
Our selection criteria are stated up front: each firm has a genuine connected TV buying practice (not a self-serve platform or a measurement tool), a verifiable public track record, and a published account of how it works. Demand-side platforms and streaming ad software were excluded on purpose, however often they rank for the query. This is a curated shortlist rather than an exhaustive directory: we would rather profile a smaller number of firms accurately than pad the list. Inclusion is never paid.
1. Strategus
Strategus is a connected TV advertising agency that states it pioneered programmatic CTV in 2015 by running the first programmatic CTV campaign. It operates a managed-service model covering campaign strategy, execution, optimisation and reporting, integrating with a network it describes as 400+ data and media partners. Beyond CTV it buys online video, display, streaming audio and digital out-of-home, and its Blueprint product packages vertical performance data into pre-launch campaign planning. The site claims more than 600 brands served, 60,000+ campaigns delivered and 64 million conversions driven. Best fit: brands and white-label agency partners that want CTV-first managed service with multi-screen retargeting attached.
2. Havas Edge
Havas Edge describes itself as the largest vertically integrated full-service performance media agency in the world, founded over 30 years ago in San Diego and now part of Havas Worldwide and the Edge Performance Network. It buys across linear TV, connected TV, programmatic, digital, audio and DOOH, with in-house data science, attribution and a Health Media Hub for pharma brands. Measurement runs on its proprietary VantEdge and RAMP platforms alongside third-party tools. The site names DraftKings, Norton LifeLock, The Hartford, American Home Shield, Aetna, Tripadvisor, Shutterfly, Blue Nile and Hungryroot among past and current clients, and cites a 5.7-year average client tenure. Best fit: advertisers migrating an existing linear TV budget into CTV without losing the linear buying leverage.
3. Marketing Architects
Marketing Architects is a TV-only agency, and its positioning is that it does not treat television as one channel among many. Its All-Inclusive TV model bills clients for media only and folds in brand positioning, strategy, creative pretesting and production, conversion technology, attribution and reporting. Rather than white-labelling a third-party buying platform, it built its own DSP, Annika, to find value across linear and streaming inventory. Measurement is framed around capturing both immediate response and longer-term brand effects. Best fit: performance advertisers who want streaming and linear planned as one TV buy with creative included in the media fee.
4. Tinuiti
Tinuiti describes itself as the largest independent full-funnel marketing agency, with roughly $4 billion in digital media under management and 1,000+ employee owners. It traces back to Elite SEM, founded in New York City in 2004, and has since expanded across search, social, shopping, streaming and retail media. Its patented Bliss Point measurement technology is positioned as the connective tissue between media and measurement, used to separate incremental growth from wasted spend. Streaming TV is offered as a dedicated service line inside that full-funnel stack. Best fit: large advertisers who want CTV bought inside one accountable full-funnel stack alongside search, social and retail media.
5. DirectAvenue
DirectAvenue is a data-driven direct response television agency that plans, buys and measures across linear TV and connected TV, plus digital, creative and advanced analytics. It positions itself as a nimble media buying and technology team focused on measured outcomes and daily account stewardship rather than traditional brand TV work. President and CEO Scott Kowalchek is described on the site as having 30 years of industry leadership across linear, CTV, brand and performance. Its stated target clients are tech disruptors and emerging brands. Best fit: direct response advertisers testing CTV alongside a linear TV base with daily hands-on buying.
6. AI Digital
AI Digital is an end-to-end programmatic consultancy that builds custom data, technology and inventory stacks for advertisers rather than selling a single platform. Its channel list covers CTV and OTT plus a distinct Live Sport CTV practice, alongside online video, display, paid social, search and digital audio. It runs a data marketplace spanning people and intent, location, purchase, health and pharma, B2B and financial, and TV/OTT data. The site cites a 90+ person hands-on-keyboard optimisation and strategy team and a 98% client retention rate. Best fit: advertisers wanting a custom programmatic CTV stack, especially where live sports streaming inventory matters.
7. Amsive
Amsive is a performance agency combining direct and digital marketing, with a video and streaming practice built around CTV and OTT buying using connected IDs inside a multichannel strategy. It offers inventory access with no minimums, naming Hulu, YouTube, Sling TV, AMC, ESPN and Viacom among available environments. Targeting runs on its Audience Science method and proprietary Xact data platform, drawing on a database it describes as 260 million strong. In-house data scientists and analysts handle predictive modelling, first-party data activation and cross-channel custom reporting. Best fit: data-heavy advertisers who want CTV activated off first-party audiences and identity matching, with no inventory minimums.
8. Socium Media
Socium Media runs connected TV as a defined service line with a documented four-step process: audit existing paid media for CTV fit, mine existing video and display assets for reuse, build creative testing roadmaps and activate, then optimise against performance data. It buys across streaming services, smart TV apps and on-demand video platforms, positioning CTV as a full-funnel channel for both prospecting and remarketing. The agency publishes a clear entry bar: a recommended minimum of roughly $50,000 per month and three to four video ads across a three-month test. It is also transparent that analytics depth depends on what each CTV vendor exposes. Best fit: mid-market brands adding a structured, test-and-learn CTV layer to existing paid search and social.
9. ATTN Agency
ATTN Agency is a performance team serving DTC and retail brands across paid social, paid search, email and SMS, direct mail, retail media and connected TV. Its CTV offer, marketed as Performance TV, covers programmatic audience targeting, full-funnel strategy, creative recommendations and cross-channel audience integration, with an entry point stated at around $10,000 per month. Published CTV results include a 42% gross revenue increase for Bones Coffee, 453% incremental ROAS for Goose Creek and a 4.2x marketing efficiency ratio for Wolfgang USA. The agency also cites helping Grüns reach a $500M valuation in 20 months through integrated paid media. Best fit: DTC and ecommerce brands wanting a low-entry CTV test wired into their existing acquisition mix.
10. Brill Media
Brill Media positions itself as a white label media buying agency working primarily on behalf of other agencies, with in-house programmatic, search and social buyers and branded client-facing campaign dashboards. Its omni-channel offer spans apps, sites and streaming channels, with CTV appearing in its published case work, including a legal advertiser campaign reporting a 97% CTV view rate and a regional tourism campaign at $18 per location visit. The company is based at 16133 Ventura Blvd, Encino, California. Best fit: agencies that need CTV buying executed under their own brand rather than hiring a programmatic team.
Compare any agency's numbers against the market.
Before you commit to a test budget, check what video and streaming inventory actually costs in-market. Our benchmark database is free to browse and free to cite.
How to measure CTV ROI
CTV is the channel where measurement discipline matters most, because the default reporting is the most generous. Agree the metrics before the first impression runs.
Define the conversion, then define the window. A purchase, a booked call, a qualified lead: pick the outcome that maps to revenue. Then agree the view-through window, because that single setting can double or halve the reported result without anything changing on the media side. Households reached is an input, not a result.
Insist on incrementality, not attribution. With no click and no cookie, household-level matching will happily credit CTV for sales that would have happened anyway. The more credible agencies talk in these terms already: ATTN Agency reports incremental ROAS specifically, Tinuiti positions its measurement stack as separating growth from waste, and Havas Edge combines real-time attribution with mixed media modelling. Ask for a holdout or geo test on the first flight.
Judge over a quarter, not a month. Three-month test windows recur across this category for a reason. Reach builds slowly across fragmented supply, creative needs several variants to be read at all, and view-through effects take volume to stabilise. Any agency promising a clean CTV ROI read in four weeks is selling, not measuring.
What’s changing in 2026
Three shifts are reshaping how connected TV gets bought, and each is worth raising with any agency you shortlist.
Convergent TV buying is becoming the default. The split between linear and streaming buying teams is closing, and the agencies built on direct response television are carrying that discipline into streaming rather than being displaced by pure programmatic shops. Ask whether the same team plans both, or whether you are being handed to two.
Live sport is pulling budget and pricing up. Streaming rights for live sport have created a distinct, scarcer, more expensive inventory class inside CTV, to the point that agencies now run it as a separate practice. If sport is part of your plan, confirm that supply access explicitly rather than assuming it comes with the seat.
The measurement argument is being settled by holdouts. Incrementality testing is moving from a nice-to-have for large budgets to the standard evidence bar in the category. The agencies pulling ahead are the ones volunteering that test rather than defending a view-through number.
How to shortlist from here
Use this list as a starting point, not a verdict. Screen first on the two things that eliminate fastest: the agency’s stated minimum spend against your real test budget, and whether they buy linear as well as streaming. Then shortlist two or three, take them through the questions above, and go in knowing roughly what streaming inventory should cost. That last part is what we are here for.
- Agency profiles compiled from each firm’s official website, August 2026: Strategus, Havas Edge, Marketing Architects, Tinuiti, DirectAvenue, AI Digital, Amsive, Socium Media, ATTN Agency, and Brill Media.
- Media cost benchmarks and sourcing policy: International Media Buying Methodology.