The boundaries between TV, streaming and social video continue to blur, putting premium publisher inventory into a much broader competitive mix. Advertisers have more options for where and how they invest in video, even as overall marketing budgets show limited growth. For publishers, this means more video environments are competing for the same pool of advertising dollars. 

New research from iSpot provides a closer look at how marketers are navigating these choices. The study examines where advertisers plan to invest, how they buy video and what they prioritize when evaluating performance. 

Video ad dollars continue to move 

This competition is playing out in a market with little overall budget growth. More than two-thirds of marketers expect their 2026 marketing budgets to remain flat or decline, leaving publishers and other video providers competing largely for dollars already in the market. 

Where those dollars go continues to change. More than half of marketers expect to increase investment in national streaming/CTV and social video. More than one-quarter expect their streaming investment to grow at least 10%, while one-third expect similar growth for social video. 

Publishers remain an important part of a buying mix that includes multiple routes to video inventory. Publisher-direct buying appears in the plans of 75% of marketers, the same percentage that plans to use DSPs. Social platforms, including YouTube, appear in the plans of 78%. Smart TV manufacturers also gain considerable ground, rising as a buying destination from 25% in 2025 to 55% in 2026. 

The way advertisers use creative reinforces how closely these channels now intersect. Marketers place an average of 55% of their TV and streaming creative on social media, and nearly two-thirds say at least half of those ads also run on social platforms. The same campaign can therefore extend across environments that once occupied more distinct parts of the media plan. 

For publishers, the movement of video ad dollars is more complex than a straightforward shift from one channel to another. Publisher-direct remains a significant buying channel even as advertisers increase investment in streaming and social and use the same creative across multiple environments. With limited overall budget growth, publishers are competing within a broader video mix for dollars that advertisers can deploy in more ways. 

Business outcomes increasingly influence the buy 

As video ad spend move across more channels, publishers also face a changing standard for how advertisers evaluate those investments. Business outcomes rank as the most critical factor in buying and negotiating media, selected by 45.5% of marketers. Verified ad delivery follows at 28.5%, while efficiency accounts for 14.5%. Only 9% select program ratings. 

But the increased focus on outcomes comes with a problem for buyers and sellers alike: outcomes remain difficult to measure. Nearly half of marketers rank outcomes as their most significant linear and streaming measurement challenge, and another 26.5% rank it second. 

That leaves advertisers trying to compare a growing range of options for video advertising without always having the same information across them. Most marketers receive reach and frequency data from streaming partners, for example, but fewer receive information about the programming surrounding their ads, audience overlap between linear and streaming, or attribution data that connects exposure to results. 

These gaps put premium publisher data and measurement capabilities into a broader competitive context. Audience and contextual information can tell buyers more about where an ad appeared and whom it reached, while attribution can help connect that exposure to an outcome. As advertisers compare publisher inventory with streaming and other video options, bringing those pieces together can help them assess the role each investment plays. 

Independent measurement also becomes more valuable in this environment. More than two-thirds of marketers, 68.5%, say independent third-party measurement is essential to optimizing media buying. When a campaign stretches across publishers, streaming services and social platforms, advertisers need to understand performance across those environments rather than view each piece separately. Consistent measurement can help them see how the investments work together and where each contributes. 

AI moves deeper into advertising decisions 

AI adds another dimension to these decisions. Nearly 80% of marketers use AI somewhere in their video advertising strategies. Measurement and analytics lead at 50.5%, followed closely by media optimization and automation at 47.5%. 

Advertisers are using AI to help understand performance and manage media investments, even as they remain cautious about the results it produces. Accuracy ranks as their biggest concern about AI output, followed by bias and transparency. As AI takes on a larger role in measurement and optimization, confidence in the data and analysis behind those decisions becomes more important. 

Video advertising is becoming a more connected market: ceative moves across environments, buyers use multiple routes to purchase inventory, and advertisers place greater emphasis on business outcomes. Premium publishers bring valuable audiences, context, trusted environments and measurement capabilities to this broader competitive arena. The challenge is ensuring those strengths remain visible and comparable as advertisers evaluate video across channels.