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Dive Brief:

• The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) has developed an industry guide and road map for developing conversion APIs (CAPI) for the connected TV (CTV) ecosystem to support measurement, privacy-safe data collaboration and performance outcomes.
• The guide acknowledges the shortcomings of the CTV channel, like extensive fragmentation, limited identifiers and technical barriers, which could hinder future growth at a time when performance-driven marketing is a key focus for marketers.
• With widespread adoption of a common framework, CTV ads have the potential to deliver accountability and performance on the same level as social and search, per the IAB. On the buy side, nearly two-thirds of advertisers using a CAPI report an improved return on ad spend, its research shows. However, 72% of publishers said technical complexity is hindering adoption.

Dive Insight:

As an advertising medium, CTV holds great promise, but it still has a long way to go to match the value proposition of its digital brethren, search and social. A key takeaway from the IAB’s research is that without a way to show clear, measurable ROI, CTV is likely to face reduced demand from advertisers seeking platforms that can demonstrate clear results and accountability.

“As advertisers shift toward outcome-based buying, platforms that can’t prove results will be deprioritized,” reads the executive summary of the report. This is already bearing out: IAB’s most recent 2025 ad spending forecast indicated marketers were shifting budgets to media where their spending could be better tied to results, like search and social. Still, IAB predicted CTV spending would reach more than $72 billion in 2025 and that 58% of all video spending would be on digital video.

IAB’s guide lays out a framework to standardize CTV reporting, addressing concerns and recommendations on both sides of the equation. The report is based on extensive research from both buy-side advertisers and sell-side publishers, including a survey of brands, agencies, publishers and technology leaders across the industry.

On the buy side, nearly two-thirds of advertisers who are currently using CAPI report an improved return on ad spend, including more complete conversion data, stronger attribution and more efficient optimization. Most of these advertisers user CAPI as part of a hybrid measurement strategy, combining it with pixels, SDK integration and third-party attribution tools to ensure resilience and redundancy.

The biggest barriers to adoption are the complexities of integration, compliance and lack of standardization. In addition, many are concerned about privacy. More than 70% of advertisers express reservations about sharing data, citing competitive sensitivities and fear of misuse.

“The implication is that for CAPI to scale, the ecosystem must collectively address both the technical and trust gaps—streamlining implementation while embedding privacy-first frameworks that instill confidence in data sharing,” according to the report.

The report calls upon advertisers to align internally, make clear what they want and push their publishing and technology partners to adopt those standards. According to the IAB, publishers have indicated a willingness to implement a standardized CAPI framework, they are just waiting to see what shape it should take.

That does not mean the sell-side can’t make improvements on its own, particularly in the areas of transparency and conversion tracking. Only 21% of publishers say they always provide advertisers with access to logs or dashboards, while 18% sometimes provide access and 36% never do and a quarter are unsure, according to the IAB’s research. Such fragmentation creates friction for advertisers, who are trying to validate their performance and troubleshoot integrations.

Similarly, publishers have become adept at supporting bottom-funnel actions like sign-ups, purchases and subscriptions, but are less experienced with mid-funnel events such as cart abandonment, logins and searches, which are critical for remarketing and richer consumer journey insights.