Quick answer
Streaming's share of legal ad spend ranges from 3% in Washington DC to 48% in Atlanta across the deep markets we track. In raw dollars, Atlanta firms spend $6.2M/month on streaming and Los Angeles firms $7.4M/month, while New York firms spend just 11% of a larger pie. CTV cost is a market decision, not a CPM.
Atlanta law firms now spend $6.2 million a month on streaming, 48% of every legal ad dollar in the market, while Washington DC firms spend $78,000, or 3%. That’s a 16x gap in streaming’s share between two top-10 markets, and it tells you more about what CTV will cost you than any rate card.
The common question is “what’s the CPM?” The better question is “what does streaming cost in my market?” Because the answer changes everything about your budget.
CTV Cost Is a Market Decision
A CPM is a unit price. Your real CTV cost is set by how much streaming inventory competitors in your DMA have already claimed and how much you need to claim to be seen. Across the markets we track, that varies more than 15x by share and by raw dollars.
These are not estimates off a national average. They’re the actual channel mix in each market, firm by firm. Atlanta and Washington DC are both top-10 DMAs with multimillion-dollar legal ad markets, yet one runs nearly half its budget through streaming and the other almost none.
The Per-Market Numbers
Here’s streaming spend and share across the deep markets we track, ranked by share. The dollar column is what local firms collectively route to streaming each month.
| Market | Total Legal Ad Spend/Mo | Streaming Share | Streaming $/Mo |
|---|---|---|---|
| Atlanta | $12.9M | 48% | $6.2M |
| Los Angeles | $22.5M | 33% | $7.4M |
| Charlotte | $2.4M | 22% | $537K |
| Chicago | $7.3M | 20% | $1.5M |
| Houston | $7.2M | 18% | $1.3M |
| Philadelphia | $4.6M | 12% | $552K |
| San Francisco | $4.7M | 12% | $564K |
| New York | $14.5M | 11% | $1.6M |
| Dallas | $6.9M | 10% | $690K |
| Boston | $3.2M | 9% | $288K |
| Washington DC | $2.6M | 3% | $78K |
The pattern that matters for budgeting: the biggest market by dollars is not the biggest by streaming share. New York is a $14.5M legal ad market but routes only 11% to streaming. Atlanta, less than half New York’s size, runs nearly five times the streaming share. So the firm that wants to own streaming in New York is bidding against far less competition than the firm chasing the same in Atlanta.
What This Means for Your Budget
Two firms with identical $50K monthly CTV budgets get very different outcomes depending on the market.
In a low-share market like Washington DC, Dallas, or Boston, where streaming runs under 10% of legal spend, that budget can make a firm one of the largest streaming advertisers in the DMA. The inventory is open and effective costs stay low because few firms are bidding.
In a saturated market like Atlanta, where firms already pour $6.2M a month into streaming, the same $50K is a small fraction of category demand. You’re competing for the same households against firms that moved early. You can still win, but you’ll pay more per qualified impression and need sharper targeting.
This is the difference a market-by-market view buys you. A generic CPM tells you the door price. The local share tells you how crowded the room is.
The Gap Between Viewing and Spending
Across all 30 DMAs we track, streaming averages roughly 20% of legal ad spend and 22.7% on a dollar-weighted basis. Streaming is now a much larger share of actual TV viewing than that, per Nielsen’s measurement of where audiences watch.
In most markets, legal advertisers still spend like it’s a broadcast world while their audience has already moved to streaming. The firms closing that gap first, in the markets where it’s widest, get the cleanest math on cost.
Your CTV cost isn’t a number on a rate card. It’s a function of which market you’re in and how early you move.
References
- Taqtics Market Intelligence. Per-DMA Legal Advertising Channel Mix, December 2025. 2026.
- Nielsen. The Gauge: Streaming Share of TV Viewing. 2025.
- IAB. 2025 Digital Video Advertising Spend Report. 2025.
- ATRA. "Legal Services Advertising in the United States, 2020-2024." 2025.