YouTube Extends CTV Ad Lead as Disney and Paramount Mergers Loom

YouTube Keeps Its CTV Ad Lead as Streaming Mergers Approach

YouTube remains the default ad-supported connected TV destination for marketers, according to Digiday+ research based on a survey of 125 brand and agency professionals and follow-up interviews with marketing executives. For the fourth consecutive year, the platform led all rivals: 75% of respondents said they currently place ads on YouTube, and half said YouTube consumed the largest share of their company's CTV ad budget in 2025.

Amazon's Prime Video with ads followed in second place, with 47% of respondents placing ads there and 18% naming it their largest budget recipient. Hulu and Paramount+ tied for third in ad placement at 43%, though only Hulu was named among the largest-budget responses, at 8%.

The survey also highlights why the next 12 months matter. Disney plans to merge Hulu into Disney+ by the end of 2026, and Paramount Skydance's pending acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery is expected to combine Paramount+ and Max, subject to regulatory approval. If those consolidations proceed, the fragmented ad-supported streaming market that marketers currently buy against could become more concentrated.

Even so, advertisers still describe CTV as costly and difficult to measure. Lack of measurement, media cost and budget constraints were the top challenges named by respondents, with measurement and budget recurring from last year. Platform-specific concerns persist: brand safety on YouTube's user-generated content, and lack of content transparency on Disney+, Hulu, The Roku Channel and Prime Video.

What Disney and Paramount Consolidation Would Change for Marketers

YouTube's Lead Thrives in a Fragmented Market

The survey suggests YouTube's position is partly a function of simplicity. In a market with multiple ad-supported platforms and walled gardens, marketers gravitate toward one scaled destination where audience reach and direct-response tools are mature. Roku and other operating-system players have built a similar advantage by reaching viewers across apps, which helps explain why consolidation is being framed as a way for individual streaming services to compete.

Disney's Merger Is Operational; Paramount's Is Regulatory

Disney combining Hulu with Disney+ is an internal product and data consolidation, with the company setting a late-2026 goal. The Paramount+ and Max combination is different: it depends on Paramount Skydance closing its acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery and receiving regulatory approval. That makes the second deal a broader corporate and antitrust question, not only a streaming product decision.

Measurement Is Opening, but Platform by Platform

Advertisers have long criticized CTV walled gardens for limiting audience data. The report and interviews point to genuine movement: agency tests of Netflix's conversion API, work with Amazon and Google clean rooms, and NBCUniversal's push toward smaller, more actionable datasets with retail media networks. Still, the survey shows measurement remains a top challenge, meaning any improvement is not yet universal across platforms.

The CPM Advantage Advertisers Enjoyed Could Fade

Respondents identify media cost as a central concern, yet the fragmented market has let advertisers push CPMs down. Tinuiti's Harry Browne expects consolidation to bottom out that downward pressure and stabilize CPMs. YouTube's Brian Albert frames the coming shift differently: marketers will care less about raw impression cost and more about whether spend produces measurable business lift, especially if consolidated services begin behaving more like the old cable bundle.

Brand Safety and Prestige Are Platform-Specific Problems

Brand safety remains most acute on YouTube, with 17% naming it their biggest concern because of user-generated content. On Disney+, Hulu, The Roku Channel and Prime Video, the issue is less safety and more visibility into where ads run. Ruggable's CMO argues CTV still builds trust through premium content, but as measurement and consolidation change incentives, advertisers may need to distinguish genuine inventory transparency from a general halo effect.

How Advertisers Can Use the Pre-Merger CTV Window

• Re-underwrite CTV budgets around YouTube's dominance, not from scratch. With 75% of surveyed advertisers already on YouTube and half naming it their largest CTV budget recipient, treat it as the baseline reach layer and evaluate incremental platforms for incrementality, not replacement.
• Secure measurement commitments before signing consolidated Disney+ and Hulu inventory. Disney's end-2026 merger is expected to align data across the two services; require deterministic, purchase-level reporting language in new deals, similar to the Netflix CAPI and Amazon and Google clean room tests referenced in the research.
• Price the CPM floor early. If consolidation stabilizes CPMs as Tinuiti expects, current fragmentation may be the last bargaining window. Lock longer-duration pricing or package guarantees now while multiple platforms are still competing for share.
• Split brand-safety audits by platform, not by channel. Seventeen percent of respondents see YouTube's user-generated content as their top brand-safety risk, while 19% cite content transparency as their top concern on Disney+ and Hulu. Set distinct adjacency and content-alignment requirements for each platform before Disney completes its Hulu integration.
• Build a contingent budget around the Paramount Skydance timeline. The Paramount+ and Max combination is explicitly pending regulatory approval; maintain alternate platform plans that can shift budget if the deal stalls or restructures.