IAB Report Reveals Growing Transparency Gaps in Digital Video Ad Market
Event summary
- U.S. digital video ad spend doubled in five years, with social video (13%), CTV (11%), and online video (10%) projected to grow.
- 43% of buyers express 'somewhat to no confidence' in the quality of CTV inventory, rising to 67% for open exchange/RTB.
- 96% of buyers see a role for agentic AI in programmatic but lack consensus on its application.
- Two-thirds of buyers now use GenAI for digital video creative, up from half in 2025.
The big picture
The IAB report highlights a digital video ad market where spending growth is outpacing trust in inventory quality. As signal loss and AI-driven automation complicate audience targeting, buyers—especially SMBs—are demanding greater transparency to replicate successful campaigns. The lack of consensus on agentic AI's role further complicates the landscape, suggesting a period of experimentation ahead.
What we're watching
- Transparency Challenges
- How the erosion of buyer trust in ad inventory quality will force sellers to invest more in fraud reduction and performance tools.
- AI Integration Dynamics
- Whether the industry can reach consensus on the role of agentic AI in programmatic buying, particularly around human oversight and audit trails.
- GenAI Adoption Pace
- The pace at which smaller buyers will overcome integration hurdles to adopt GenAI for creative ad production, currently lagging behind larger players.
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