In 2026, Premium Video Fragmentation Creates a New Wave of Aggregators
We're witnessing an unprecedented expansion of premium advertising inventory driven by two powerful forces: the rapid adoption of ad-supported streaming services and dramatic improvements to the infrastructure that makes this inventory accessible at scale.
The numbers tell a compelling story. Ad-supported tiers now represent 46% of all subscriptions across major streaming platforms, with 57% of new subscriber additions in Q1 2025 choosing ad-supported plans. This isn't just about subscriber counts. It's about where advertising dollars are flowing. Digital video is expected to capture nearly 60% of total TV/video ad spend in 2025, with CTV ad spending projected to reach $33.48 billion in 2025.
But subscriber growth alone doesn't explain the surge in advertiser confidence. What's changed dramatically is the plumbing: the technological infrastructure that makes premium video inventory both accessible and effective. More than 90% of both display and video ad spending on CTV will be transacted programmatically in 2025.
Yet here's the paradox: as premium inventory has become more abundant and accessible, it has also become exponentially more fragmented.
The Fragmentation Challenge
Ad-supported tiers are proliferating across streaming services, each with its own tech stack, data capabilities, and buying processes. For advertisers, this abundance creates complexity that threatens efficiency. More inventory should mean more opportunity, yet when premium video moments are scattered across streaming services, publisher platforms, and emerging channels – each with different buying mechanisms, measurement standards, and data integrations – finding the right inventory at the right time becomes exponentially more difficult.
Yet, premium inventory consistently delivers stronger key performance indicators. Brands that prioritize professionally produced environments benefit from contextual relevance and brand safety.
Enter the Aggregators
This fragmentation crisis will accelerate demand for a new generation of platforms; sophisticated aggregators that can unify supply and help marketers identify the premium moments that truly move the needle.
These platforms will need to do more than simply compile inventory. They'll require:
- Intelligent Classification: The ability to distinguish genuine premium content from the noise, applying consistent quality standards across disparate sources.
- Unified Access: Streamlined pathways to premium inventory across CTV, digital publishers, and emerging platforms, eliminating the inefficiency of managing dozens of direct relationships.
- Performance Intelligence: Advanced analytics that connect premium placements to actual business outcomes, helping marketers optimize in real-time.
- Scale with Precision: The capability to execute campaigns at scale while maintaining the targeting precision and contextual relevance that premium environments enable.
The aggregators that succeed won't simply warehouse inventory—they'll curate it, contextualize it, and make it actionable. They'll serve as trusted guides through complexity, helping marketers separate signal from noise in an increasingly crowded landscape.
What This Means for Marketers
As we move into 2026, several strategic imperatives emerge for brands and agencies:
- Prioritize premium strategically. Not every campaign requires premium placement, but for brand-building, consideration-driving, and high-value acquisition efforts, premium environments will increasingly justify their premium pricing through superior performance.
- Invest in measurement sophistication. The ability to accurately attribute outcomes to specific premium placements will become the definitive competitive advantage. Marketers who can demonstrate the incremental value of premium inventory will secure better inventory and negotiate more effectively.
- Embrace aggregation thoughtfully. The right aggregation partners will become strategic enablers, but choosing partners requires diligence. Look for platforms with demonstrated quality controls, transparent pricing, and genuine performance insights.
- Plan for integration opportunities. As the value of integrated placements within premium content becomes clear, forward-thinking marketers will shift budget toward these formats, working with partners who can facilitate sophisticated integrations at scale.
Looking Ahead
The fragmentation of premium video isn't a problem to solve; it's a reality to navigate. The brands and platforms that thrive in 2026 will be those that recognize that in a world of infinite content, curation is currency. Premium inventory will command premium attention, and the aggregators who can make sense of the complexities will become indispensable partners within the advertising ecosystem.
[Editor's note: This is a contributed article from Dailymotion Advertising. Streaming Media accepts vendor bylines based solely on their value to our readers.]
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