Grant Roth

Ex-AppLovin. Building a CTV ad platform using deep learning models to drive profitable outcomes

[Grant Roth @GrantPrevise]

@brenden_delarua YouTube is simultaneously the worst channel (0.12x), a fine channel (2.5x), and the best channel (3.4x), depending on how you measure it. Most budget fights are really measurement fights.

[Grant Roth @GrantPrevise]

@gurgavin Netflix still sells TV like TV: sales teams, upfronts, CPMs. Meta built a much bigger ad business by letting anyone self-serve and bid on outcomes. The $300M ad guide-down isn’t about inventory. It’s about who’s allowed to buy it and how.

[Grant Roth @GrantPrevise]

@Amanda_Goodall Netflix just cut its ad forecast from $3B to $2.7B. The reason: ad products shipping slower than planned.

Building ad tech is harder than building audiences

[Grant Roth @GrantPrevise]

8 in 10 Google PMax advertisers are now on CTV. Almost all of it is YouTube on the living room TV, switched on by a checkbox. Performance brands clearly want the TV screen. They just won’t jump through hoops to get it. Whoever makes streaming as easy as YouTube gets the next wave

[Grant Roth @GrantPrevise]

@vinny_rinaldi3 @AdtechGod What’s the right KPI then? Feels like incremental new customers is the one that matters. Not ROAS on people who were already going to buy, and not reach/frequency either

[Grant Roth @GrantPrevise]

@AdtechGod Most “performance CTV” is retargeting people who were already going to buy, then calling it ROAS. CRM lists and broad demo targeting don’t find new customers. Deep learning impression-level bidding does. That’s what Meta and AppLovin built. CTV hasn’t to date, will change soon...

[Grant Roth @GrantPrevise]

CTV makes your other channels work harder:

Viewers were 232% more likely to Google + click a search ad after seeing a CTV ad

They needed 50% fewer impressions before visiting the site

Paid search conversions up 22% when paired with CTV

Last-click misses most of what TV does

[Grant Roth @GrantPrevise]

@codyplof @TatariTV Showing up to the Tatari fireside with the Vibe badge still on is like wearing your ex’s hoodie to the first date 😅

[Grant Roth @GrantPrevise]

CTV is the biggest gap in advertising:

➡️ ~20% of time spent with media
➡️ ~8% of ad spend
➡️ ~$38B in US spend this year, up 14%
➡️ 2026 was the first year CTV upfronts beat primetime linear

Budgets haven’t caught up to where people are watching.

[Grant Roth @GrantPrevise]

@mrfeldmanSEM Agree on creative. Disagree on the catch.

CTV ads are served to a real household, so you can match that household to the purchase that happens on their phone a few days later.

Branded search lift is a good signal. Actual purchases are a better one, and they’re measurable today

[Grant Roth @GrantPrevise]

@DiscussingFilm Cuts everywhere except ads. 60% of new Netflix sign-ups pick the ad plan and ad revenue is doubling this year. That tells you where they see the growth.

[Grant Roth @GrantPrevise]

@joe_zappa @This_Liss @BishPlsOk @ericfranchi CTV is the biggest gap in advertising:

➡️ ~20% of time spent with media
➡️ ~8% of ad spend
➡️ ~$38B in US spend this year, up 14%
➡️ 2026 was the first year CTV upfronts beat primetime linear

Budgets haven’t caught up to where people are watching.