One of the biggest promises of connected TV was its ability to offer the precision of digital targeting, but the reality is more complicated. Most CTV campaigns are still being targeted at the household level, not the individual. That means even if an ad is technically “served,” it may not reach the right person in the home, let alone at the right time.
It gets messier when you look at how identity is actually handled behind the scenes. IP-based signals, which many platforms relied on, are quickly disappearing due to privacy concerns and technical limitations. And since there’s no universal standard, every platform and publisher builds its own identity graph usually combining a mix of first-party data, third-party inputs, and probabilistic signals. These graphs are often opaque, unaudited, and inconsistent.
If you’re not asking questions about how identity is sourced, managed, and resolved across your media buys, there’s a good chance you’re overpaying for reach that isn’t relevant.
In my opinion, the gold standard is authenticated 1:1 identity, where a known user has opted in and is matched based on a direct relationship, like a login or subscription. That kind of identity brings clarity, control, and real accountability to your CTV strategy.
Everything else is a compromise. And in many cases, it's a compromise that quietly erodes your performance.
Sam Khoury
Founder, Cedar Consultants
Creative consulting solutions for Adtech