For years, connected TV (CTV) has been treated as the domain of brand advertisers — a big-screen storytelling channel, strong in reach and emotional impact, but rarely considered a performance engine. That perception is now rapidly shifting.

In this App Talk video interview, Kaitlin Stebbins, Performance Media Lead at Samsung Ads, breaks down why CTV has become one of the most underrated performance channels in mobile marketing — and why 2026 will be the year mobile teams meaningfully shift budgets beyond search and social.

This article distills the key insights from the video interview, covering how CTV drives measurable in-app conversions, what makes OEM-powered data uniquely strong for performance, and why early adopters are gaining a competitive edge as acquisition on traditional platforms becomes more expensive and less predictable.

From brand awareness to bottom-funnel outcomes

Most mobile marketers still associate CTV with brand awareness — a misconception Kaitlin encounters often. But she has spent six years at Samsung Ads working directly with performance-focused advertisers, and the reality is clear: CTV has been driving measurable performance for years.

The difference now is sophistication.

Samsung Ads has spent the past two to three years integrating deeply with mobile measurement partners (MMPs), enabling precision targeting and performance optimization specifically for in-app marketers. These integrations unlock the ability to attribute mobile installs, purchases, and in-app actions directly to TV exposure — a key shift in proving CTV’s performance value.

Even before the technical enhancements, user behavior made the case for CTV. Around 77% of people use their phones while watching TV, creating a natural bridge between awareness and action. “It’s not hard to believe that having a big, beautiful ad on the TV with a clear call to action drives action on mobile,” Kaitlin notes. 

With better measurement now in place, the perception of CTV as “just brand” is increasingly outdated.

Why mobile marketers must diversify beyond search and social

Traditional UA channels still dominate mobile budgets — particularly Meta and Google — but relying solely on these environments means ignoring massive, high-value audiences that CTV reaches and social platforms don’t.

From the App Talk conversation, three themes stood out as reasons to diversify:

1. CTV reaches audiences the dominant platforms consistently miss

Samsung data shows:

  • 88% of U.S. households own a smart TV, a reach unmatched by social platforms
  • Facebook reaches ~54% of the market; Snapchat/TikTok skew young
  •  Samsung’s median viewer is aged 35–49, has a household income of $90K+, and often has children present
    — a profile far more aligned with purchase power than the youngest social cohorts

These are precisely the audiences many app categories struggle to reach cost-effectively on social.

2. CTV delivers diverse, action-oriented ad formats

CTV today includes interactive placements, native units, and vertical video — far beyond the traditional 15- or 30-second spots. These formats are built specifically to drive immediate action on mobile.

3. The industry’s macro trend: installs decreasing, revenue increasing

Kaitlin references an insight she encountered at App Promotion Summit:
installs may be declining industry-wide, but revenue per user is going up.

That means:

Each install carries more financial responsibility.

Marketers need stronger predictive targeting — and OEM-level data offers advantages social platforms can’t replicate.

CTV as a competitive edge: scale, data, and predictive signals

As the largest smart TV manufacturer globally for 19 consecutive years, Samsung Ads sits on some of the richest household-level datasets in the industry.

And crucially, this data isn’t limited to media consumption.

Samsung sees that:

  • 80% of smart TV usage involves activities beyond entertainment
  • Among users aged 25–34, this threshold is even higher
  • Shopping and other non-video activities offer predictive signals for mobile behavior

This gives Samsung Ads the ability to:

  • identify which households are likely to install specific app categories
  •  optimize campaigns toward users with higher revenue potential
  • reach audiences that simply don’t surface in social lookalike models

In an environment where Meta and Google auctions grow more expensive each quarter, this type of predictive, cross-device understanding becomes a powerful competitive advantage.

CTV powering mobile conversions

Source: Business of Apps via YouTube

How Samsung Ads measures CTV-driven mobile outcomes

In the App Talk interview, Kaitlin gives a clear explanation of attribution mechanics for CTV → mobile in-app actions.

It all hinges on the household IP address:

  • TVs stay in the home
  • they remain connected to Wi-Fi
  • the IP is persistent and stable

This creates a durable bridge between CTV ad exposure and mobile device conversion, enabling MMPs to measure everything from installs to in-app purchases.

Samsung is also accelerating toward a combined TV + mobile + web measurement model, aiming for more holistic attribution in 2026.

Metrics that matter most to performance marketers — ROAS, CPA, D7 performance, retention, and purchase events — are all measurable and actively used by Samsung Ads clients today.

How much budget should mobile marketers allocate to CTV?

Mobile marketers are still early in their adoption curve, typically allocating 5–10% of budgets to CTV. But Kaitlin draws a compelling parallel to Samsung’s earlier “Rule of 40” guidance for linear advertisers.

Three years ago:
• linear advertisers were told to shift 40% of budgets to CTV
Today:
• many spend 60–80% on CTV

Her view is that mobile marketers are on the eve of a similar shift. Early adopters — those who test now, learn now, and scale now — are the teams who will retain the advantage as competition rises.

The 2026 takeaway: CTV is becoming essential for mobile performance

At the end of the App Talk interview, Kaitlin boils it down simply:

Lean heavily into CTV in 2026 — especially with your OEM partners.

With Samsung owning both the smart TV and the smartphone in many households, it can deliver:

  • cross-device understanding
  • predictive household-level signals
  • premium, high-intent inventory
  • full-funnel performance measurement

CTV is no longer a “branding-only” channel. It has matured into one of the most undervalued engines of mobile growth at a time when acquisition costs and privacy constraints make traditional channels less predictable.

In 2026, the biggest wins will go to marketers who diversify early — tapping into rich OEM data, unique household reach, and performance capabilities that finally connect the biggest screen in the home to the most important screen in the user’s hand.