The Smart Set: OEMs, OS Wars, and the New CTV Playing Field
In early 2025 Forbes article titled Battle of the Backends: What Do the CTV OS Wars Mean for AdTech? observed that choosing a television today is less about the screen or the hardware brand than “the platform that defines the user viewing experience.” As a result, “the tech battles to control the OS market” increasingly define the state of play in the smart TV and CTV space and the way content is positioned, discovered, and monetized in that ecosystem. As streaming monetization continues a multiyear trend toward free distribution and ad-supported models, and smart TV OS giants like Samsung, LG, Hisense, Roku, Amazon, Google, and Vizio continue to vie for the largest slice of the pie, the ripple effects of the OS wars are felt throughout the streaming world.
How are the OEM and OS battles changing the way TV is marketed and distributed, from live linear to FAST, AVOD, and all other forms of free streaming? Are we heading toward a closed society in terms of CTV, as the worldwide competition for control of TV interfaces continues and dominant OEMs consolidate their power as content gatekeepers? In this article, several leading industry figures weigh in on these questions, offer insight about what is at stake for providers and users, and discuss the current CTV landscape.
Many factors currently impact these questions. The importance of strategic partnerships, the potential of AI and machine learning in enhancing user experience, the need for standardized measurement and data-sharing across platforms, and the political and social dynamics of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives within the industry are all at play in the present CTV landscape, influencing how its future will take shape for viewers.
In addition, this article will explore the ways that these industry figures are tackling such issues, along with their insights about how to craft solutions that will best benefit not only providers but also viewers.
The Importance of Strategic Partnerships
Greg Barnard, senior director of content acquisition at Vizio (which was acquired by Walmart in 2024), stresses the importance of strategic partnerships among OEMs, OSs, and streaming providers. Rather than maintain a constant stance of competition, he believes that the more dynamic, productive, and profitable approach is for everyone to work together. “I look at us as strategic collaborators,” Barnard says. “We’re forming strategic alliances. In fact, when I got to [Vizio] 4 1/2 years ago, I was very clear about that to everybody, and I was hoping that they would agree, and they did. We don’t call [anyone we work with] clients; [whether] content providers or vendors, they’re all partners. We are partnering together to build something great for our customers, which is the number-one thing for us. We have to work together to create the best user experience, and that’s across all forms of content, with a robust content relationship with [our providers].”
Greg Barnard, Senior Director, Content Acquisitions & Strategy, Vizio
Barnard notes that this is especially important for Vizio because it does not produce its content but rather aggregates content from a wide range of providers, and a more collaborative approach is crucial for success. “We do have a plethora of insights and data that help inform what works and how to curate on our platform,” he says. “And it’s up to us to leverage that and use it to work with our partners to create the best user experience.”
Paige Sherman, director of digital video programming at Shout! Factory, notes that not all OEMs are keen on sharing insights and data. “It can make it challenging to super-serve that type of content if we don’t know what’s doing well, especially if you have a single feed that might get shared to multiple endpoints,” she says. “It can make it hard to mine through and understand what’s working on which platforms if they’re unwilling to share that [data] back to you. In my mind, a rising tide lifts all ships.”
Paige Sherman, Director of Digital Video Programming, Shout! Factory
Chris Hock, VP of monetization at independent OS-maker Whale TV, echoes these sentiments, especially considering the nature of his company’s business model and offerings. “We are not fans of the word ‘gatekeeper,’” he says. “We see our role as really bringing people together, being super-connectors. There are 400 different TV brands around the world, and not all of those have the opportunity or the resources to go out and build an operating system to put together a biz dev team and acquire content to put together an ad stack and get advertisers on board. We help fill a gap where we can provide some of these services. We can come up with a full-featured operating system with content through our FAST services and our content partnerships, ready for advertisers to start reaching audiences and helping brands. [We are] more of a connector than a gatekeeper.”
Chris Hock, VP of Monetization, Whale TV
Jeff Clanagan, president and chief distribution officer at Hartbeat, makes a unique distinction between the “gatekeeping” of content conducted in the old Hollywood studio system versus the ways that OEMs are not trying to control content making. “[OEMs] actually enable us to be a partner and distributor. Although you start to see [an OS provider like] Roku dabble in original content, by no means are they gatekeeping or inhibiting an indie publisher like myself to get onto the platform. As a matter of fact, they’re working with you to help you with positioning and discovery of the content,” he contends. “So, they’re an enabler for us. They’re a partner. They enable us to circumvent the gatekeepers, which are the Hollywood studios, to get our content out and reach audiences.”
Jeff Hartbeat, President & CDO, Hartbeat
Damian Pelliccione, CEO and co-founder of Revry, a network that focuses on queer content and creators, argues that gatekeeping remains when it comes to sharing ad inventory for smaller platforms in the FAST space. “When you are a smaller publisher that addresses, in our case, the LGBTQ audience— which in the U.S. is the third-largest consumer group, spending over $1.7 trillion a year, just below Hispanic—we are held to the same standards as AMC or Heartbeat Media, and we don’t have the same resources. It’s that inventory split and what is equitable between the publisher and the platform.” Pelliccione says that larger platforms are getting a more favorable inventory split. “Studios are dying. They’re a thing of the past because when we look at the demographics between Gen Z and Millennials, they’re not going to subscribe to or watch studio stuff like we used to. But there is still gatekeeping happening. Some platforms will take 100% of the inventory and not allow the publisher to sell any of it, which is completely inequitable.”
Damian Pelliccione, CEO & Co-Founder, Revry
The Need for Standardized Measurement and Data-Sharing Across Platforms
Pelliccione emphasizes how important insights and data are for a platform that serves a niche audience. One major issue, they note, is the continuing lack of data standardization, which makes the process of gaining useful information from data more difficult.
“Without data, we don’t know how to daypart,” Pelliccione says referring to the way programmers schedule ads for maximum reach and engagement. “We don’t know how to program, we don’t know what is working. We license from Lionsgate, Warner Bros., and the BBC. [We ask if we] should take that title again for another run or not. It’s hard. We have a full-time VP of data who tries to translate Chinese into French and Italian. [This means] figuring out what little data we’re given by the OEMs, because there’s no standardization. That’s another thing we’re waiting for to happen.” Ultimately, Pelliccione notes, the FCC will have to address this crucial need for standardization.
The Potential of AI and Machine Learning to Enhance the User Experience
AI and machine learning (ML) have been hot topics in recent years, and their rapid evolution has created benefits while also challenging providers and programmers to stay on top of their constant developments and find ways to best harness these benefits.
Hartbeat’s Clanagan is a big advocate of AI and ML, especially when it comes to working with brands and helping them conceptualize outcomes. “As we approach brands versus going in with a deck, I’m actually producing a trailer, saying, ‘Hey, this is what this campaign can look like,’” he notes. “So, I’m using [AI] for sales tools, and the brands are really buying into it because they can actually visualize what we’re pitching to them.”
Vizio’s Barnard stresses that while AI has the potential to dramatically improve efficiency, companies also need to be more flexible with the changes it can bring to branding and intellectual property, especially when it comes to marketing. “As we get into more robust and complex models, we can be more efficient if we can be more real-time with these tools,” he says. “I think that it could be interesting, but if we were to go into that space, it would require us to have partners willing to do that as well. And I think the issue with AI is, if you unleash it, there’s a lack of control there. When you work with Sony, they have their creative assets for promo, and that’s it. That’s what you’re going to use. We’re not dynamically creating things for Sony, and that’s where I think, as it evolves and as a lot of companies get more and more comfortable with the lack of hands-on control, you might see a lot more of this.”
Revry’s Pelliccione, however, believes that gen AI is not yet sophisticated enough to be useful for creative, whereas it is now best optimized for data analysis. “From a publisher standpoint, where we’re using AI is on our audience segmentation and analysis of our data,” they say. “We’re not using it for creative because AI for creative is just terrible. It’s like clip art. We’re in the days of clip art right now with AI. But as it relates to data and segmentation and analyzing that data, we’re finding a lot of great use cases for that.”
DEI and CTV: A Closing Society?
The recent shift in America’s political climate has made DEI a polarizing and potentially risky stance for companies to embrace. However, Pelliccione is adamant that now is the time to increase the representation of marginalized groups rather than give in to government pressures to back off from a progressive and inclusive stance. They also note that while many prominent companies are publicly removing their DEI initiatives, they are only doing so to protect themselves legally while still maintaining their commitment to diversity.
“I’m going to quote Jane Fonda from the SAG Awards: ‘Woke just means you give a damn about people.’ Period,” Pelliccione says. “DEI is not a bad thing. We are obviously in a political climate [where it’s] being politicized,and this is an issue. There are CMOs that I’m friends with from Fortune 500 brands who I’ve had conversations with in the last couple of months around this topic specifically. There’s one major brand that we work with that is one of our greatest advertising partners, and the CMO of this brand called me almost immediately after the new year to say, ‘I want to let you know we’re not changing our spend or our commitment to working with you.” If anything, we’re going to double down.’ And the only reason you may see [their] name and a headline saying that they are regressing from DEI practices is for legal exposure that this government could impose on them. So, this is a whole different thing. All these brands that we see in the headlines that are regressing from their employee resource groups (ERGs) and DEIs, they’re not necessarily giving up on those communities. What they’re doing is making sure that they’re protected against their legal exposure.”
Pelliccione also notes that with significant events such as WorldPride, which Revry participates in with its Vogue Ballroom showcase, many advertisers will not withhold from these celebrations’ lucrative advertising potential and the importance of reaching a diverse audience. They state that the brand they previously mentioned is a platinum advertiser for Pride. “They’re still putting money into our community, and I will publicly stand by them as much as I’m legally allowed to,” Pelliccione says.
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