By Katharine Dunlap, Senior Commercial Director, Global Accounts and Agencies, Comcast Advertising
The TV and video advertising ecosystem is a fast-moving and dynamic space, with several drivers shifting the landscape. Data-driven marketing, the advent of connected TV and the rapid growth of streaming are just a few examples of new territories media companies, advertisers and technology partners have learnt to navigate.
As a new battleground builds around performance, it’s important for stakeholders to take stock of what is happening in the industry, and understand the trends and dynamics that will shape the next phase of its evolution. In this article, I’ll explore how four key trends are set to develop through the second half of 2025.
Walled gardens vs unified marketplaces
Marketers looking out across the media landscape over the years would have become accustomed to a series of walled gardens, standing alone from each other. While walled gardens offer expansive proprietary reach, the inner mechanisms have prevented media buyers from maximising audience insights across platforms. Marketers have also run into issues such as a lack of control over pricing and campaign optimisation, as well as limited access to comprehensive measurement tools.
Broadcasters are recognising the need to offer simpler ways to access premium inventory and are joining forces to create unified marketplaces as an alternative to walled gardens. With the launch of Comcast’s Universal Ads in the US, and the announcement of a self-service UK marketplace from Sky, ITV and Channel 4 that will be launched in 2026 and powered by the platform, industry collaboration is now in vogue.
Unified marketplaces signal the ambition to democratise access to premium inventory, offering smaller businesses easier access and flexible pricing for high-quality inventories, while strengthening the broadcasters’ position against global streamers. As the proposition of unified marketplaces builds up, we will see an acceleration in the development of cross-publisher measurement solutions.
More media operations get the ‘AI’ treatment
Optimisation will continue to be at the heart of marketers’ strategies throughout the second half of 2025. While AI and automation technologies are being used extensively on the creative side, applications are becoming more established across media operations from planning and buying to reporting, with 37% of European marketers saying that using automated ad tech to buy advertising and optimise campaigns is a strategic priority.
Breaking down data siloes has long been recognised as a fundamental part of creating better connections between the buy and sell sides. AI and automation are enabling media companies and technology partners to centralise data and media assets, which is key in optimising the campaign cycle; the more centralised the data, the better the chances of generating accurate insights to inform campaigns based on real-time information.
Some areas that are historically riddled with delays and inefficiencies, such as contracts and approvals, will also improve with the use of AI, increasing efficiency and facilitating a faster path to execution. At campaign-delivery level, speed is becoming more and more important, especially in live environments where the stakes are high and any delays can be costly. Data syncing and streamlined workflows will help marketers achieve a unified view of campaigns, meaning better performance analysis, timely optimisation, and more efficient feedback loops.
Premium content continues to set the standard for brand safety
In the era of misinformation and deepfakes, brand safety is still very much at the forefront of marketers’ minds. In many ways, content analysis has developed beyond the initial remit of keyword blocking. However, the standard of brand safety practices in ad environments can vary widely, especially in an overcrowded video landscape where blunt instruments are applied across all types of content, regardless of the premium nature.
Protecting the premium blueprint is what has allowed broadcasters to maintain high standards of brand safety and advance the development of sophisticated tools for contextual analysis and content taxonomy, providing a gold standard for all premium video platforms. With advertisers facing an overwhelming choice of video advertising channels, selecting strong brand safety tools, such as those from regulated frameworks, will become even more crucial.
The performance narrative extends to TV
With the growth of CTV and streaming, broadcasters and new premium content providers are invested in building better platforms for both consumers and marketers, aiming for stronger audience engagement and more impact for advertisers.
With quality and impact already being TV’s hallmarks, the natural next step was to focus on aligning TV performance with that of other digital channels. And digital provided the runway for initiatives to take off. Through industry partnerships with retailers and data providers for example, broadcasters have been able to integrate data to provide a more holistic view of the customer journey. This enables more targeted advertising at every step of the funnel, but also allows for more accurate attribution, linking conversions back to TV ad exposure.
The progressive use of interactive ad formats and homescreens is also paving the way for a new TV experience, where entertainment, ads and shopping opportunities are coming together in a seamless, personalised flow.
While TV has traditionally been viewed as an upper-funnel activity, with the vast reach of broadcasters a perfect vehicle for driving brand awareness, thanks to these initiatives it is now fast becoming a full-funnel proposition.
As TV continues to evolve to meet the needs of consumers and advertisers, staying abreast of the latest trends and technologies is crucial for understanding its success as a marketing channel. While collaboration, streamlined access to quality, brand-safe video inventory, improved optimization and measurement are gaining momentum, they are ultimately driven by an overarching goal: making TV advertising as simple, accessible, and effective as possible.
