Short answer: CTV works when the conditions are right. Most firms disappointed with results either started before they were ready, expected the wrong outcomes, or quit before the channel had time to compound.
Here’s how to know which category you fall into.
The Three Conditions
CTV advertising needs three things working simultaneously. Miss one and the whole model breaks.
Budget that sustains frequency
CTV isn’t a test-it-for-a-month channel. You need enough impressions hitting the same households repeatedly before anyone remembers your name. In smaller DMAs, that’s $15-25K/month. Mid-size markets need $30-50K. Major metros, $50K+.
Below those floors, your ads run but not enough people see them enough times. You end up with one or two exposures per household per week. Not enough for recall. Not enough for action.
Search coverage to capture demand
This is the mistake that kills more CTV campaigns than bad creative or low budgets combined. CTV builds awareness. It doesn’t capture it. Google Ads and SEO do that.
Someone sees your spot Tuesday night. Two weeks later, car accident. They search “car accident lawyer Houston.” If you’re not in those results, your competitor signs the case you paid to generate. CTV without search coverage is funding your competitors’ growth.
Patience for 90+ days
ROAS improves 24% between day one and day 90. CPA drops 64% over the same window. Those improvements require continuity. Firms that bail at week six never see the compounding effect that makes CTV profitable.
Month one looks expensive. Month three tells the truth.
Worth It vs Not Worth It
CTV Makes Sense When
- Budget supports $15-20K+ monthly for at least 90 days
- Search and SEO are already functioning
- Market has 500K+ TV households in your DMA
- Intake team can handle increased lead volume
- You measure branded search lift, not just direct calls
CTV Doesn't Make Sense When
- Budget is under $10K/month (frequency too thin)
- No search presence to capture CTV-generated demand
- Can't commit for a full quarter minimum
- Market is too small for household-level targeting to work
- Expecting direct-response attribution like paid search
What CTV Actually Does
Understanding the mechanism prevents wrong expectations.
CTV doesn’t generate phone calls directly. It builds familiarity. When someone in your market gets injured, they’re more likely to search for (or click on) a name they recognize. That recognition came from repeated CTV exposure over weeks and months.
The data shows up in three places. Branded search volume increases. Direct website traffic climbs. And conversion rates on every other channel improve because prospects have already heard of you. A Google Ads click from someone who saw your streaming ad converts at 2-3x the rate of a cold click.
CTV is connective tissue. It makes everything else work harder.
The Readiness Check
Before spending a dollar on CTV, confirm these are in place.
Ready to Launch
- Ranking page one for primary keywords or running paid search
- Website converts visitors to leads (calls and forms working)
- Call tracking in place with source attribution
- Branded search volume baseline established for comparison
- Budget secured for 90+ days at market-appropriate levels
Fix These First
- No search visibility means CTV demand leaks to competitors
- Slow intake response kills leads CTV generates
- No tracking means you can't measure what CTV produces
- No baseline means you can't prove lift when it happens
- Insufficient budget creates noise, not awareness
Missing any of these creates friction that undermines performance. The firms that succeed with CTV aren’t the ones with the biggest budgets. They’re the ones who had the infrastructure in place before they launched.
The Honest Assessment
CTV ad spend grows 14-16% annually because it works. But it works for firms that approach it correctly. Realistic expectations, proper infrastructure, and enough runway for the math to compound.
If you’re not ready, that’s fine. Fix the gaps first. Get search working. Build intake capacity. Establish tracking. CTV will still be there when you’re prepared to do it right. And when you launch with everything in place, the results come faster because nothing’s leaking.