Display & Video 360 Expands CTV Capabilities Across Planning, Buying, and Measurement

 

Display & Video 360 Expands CTV Capabilities Across Planning, Buying, and Measurement

A practical update for media planners and buyers on evolving CTV planning, buying, and measurement workflows

Display & Video 360 has introduced a series of updates designed to improve how advertisers plan, buy, and measure connected TV (CTV) campaigns, with continued enhancements refining these workflows across streaming and linear environments.

Core Areas of Update

These updates focus on three core areas:

→ Reach planning and forecasting
→ Inventory discovery and activation
→ Measurement, overlap, and frequency control

 

What Reach Planner is in Display & Video 360

Reach Planner is a planning tool within Display & Video 360.

It is used to:

→ Forecast how many users a campaign is likely to reach
→ Estimate expected performance before budget is committed
→ Discover available publishers and CTV inventory

In practical terms, this is where advertisers plan:
→ If I invest a certain budget, how many unique users can I reach, and which platforms should I prioritize?

 

What Changed in Reach Planner (CTV Functionality)

Reach Planner now includes TV-specific capabilities for connected TV planning.

Advertisers can now:

→ Evaluate unique reach across streaming platforms such as YouTube, Hulu, and Roku
→ Understand incremental reach, which shows what each platform adds beyond overlap
→ Compare streaming reach vs linear TV reach

This improves how advertisers allocate budgets across platforms by showing which channels contribute new users versus repeated exposure.

In addition, Deal ID forecasting has been introduced.

This allows advertisers to:

→ Estimate how Preferred Deals and Programmatic Guaranteed deals may perform before activation
→ Plan more effectively for premium CTV inventory, which is typically transacted through deal-based buying

In supported markets such as the United States, advertisers can also use TV consumption data based on Comscore market insights across the top 150 local markets to refine audience planning further.

Availability Notes

→ These Reach Planner TV features are currently available only in select markets
→ Availability includes regions such as the United States, Japan, Vietnam, France, and Germany
→ In contrast, Unique Reach Overlap reporting is available globally across all Display & Video 360 accounts and Campaign Manager 360

 

Example 1: Ecommerce Brand (Multi-market Fashion Retailer)

A fashion ecommerce brand is running CTV campaigns across:

→ YouTube
→ Hulu
→ Roku

Before These Updates

→ Total reach could be estimated
→ But overlap between platforms was not clearly visible

Example Scenario

→ YouTube reaches 1M users
→ Hulu reaches 800K users
→ A significant portion of users overlaps

So actual unique reach is lower than expected.

With Updated Reach Planner

→ The advertiser can identify duplicate vs incremental reach
→ Budget can be shifted toward platforms that add new users instead of repeating exposure

With Deal ID Forecasting

→ The brand can estimate performance of premium placements (for example, seasonal campaigns or sale periods) before committing budget

It is also important to consider that CTV environments often include co-viewing scenarios, where multiple users may be exposed on a single screen, which can influence how reach is interpreted.

 

Marketplace Updates for CTV Inventory

The Marketplace within Display & Video 360 has been updated to improve how advertisers discover and activate CTV inventory.

Advertisers can now:

→ Use audience filters to find inventory packages aligned with targeting needs
→ View forecasting against third-party audience segments
→ Access curated CTV inventory packages within the TV section

→ Inventory availability reporting is now integrated into Instant Reporting, allowing planners to view inventory availability immediately instead of waiting for reports to run

→ A dedicated section for curated live sports packages is available, enabling advertisers to access live sports inventory through pre-built packages without complex deal setup

How Premium Inventory is Secured

→ Direct deals (Preferred Deals, Programmatic Guaranteed)
→ Pre-packaged inventory options

Instant Reserve

A key addition here is Instant Reserve.

With Instant Reserve, advertisers can:

→ Reserve YouTube CTV inventory across curated packages
→ Access placements within YouTube TV and YouTube Select lineups
→ Secure premium inventory more directly without complex deal setup

This introduces a reservation-style buying approach, similar to traditional media buying, within a programmatic environment.

Audience Strategy

Advertisers can also:

→ Use first-party audience data to reach existing users
→ Expand reach using broader audience segments such as interest-based groups

→ Targeting and inventory source settings are now consolidated at the line item level, simplifying campaign setup and ensuring all activation decisions are managed within a single workflow

 

Example 2: DTC Brand (Subscription-based Wellness Brand)

A DTC wellness brand focused on subscriptions wants to:

→ Acquire new users
→ Retarget high-intent audiences

Using Marketplace Updates

→ The brand activates curated CTV inventory aligned with health and lifestyle audiences
→ Uses first-party data to reconnect with existing users on streaming platforms
→ Expands reach into new but relevant audience segments

→ The brand can also leverage curated live sports packages to reach high-attention audiences in premium streaming environments

Outcome

This creates a combination of:

→ Known audience targeting
→ New audience discovery

All within premium CTV environments.

 

Unique Reach Overlap Report and Frequency Management

A reporting feature called Unique Reach Overlap is now available across Display & Video 360 and Campaign Manager 360.

This report helps advertisers:

→ Identify duplicate reach across publishers, campaigns, and devices
→ Measure how much overlap exists in campaign delivery
→ Understand which publishers contribute incremental reach

→ Overlap analysis is available at campaign-level dimensions in Display & Video 360 and placement-level dimensions in Campaign Manager 360, allowing precise identification of where duplication occurs

This feature is available globally.

Frequency Management

In addition to reporting, Display & Video 360 also supports frequency management across CTV devices.

Advertisers can:

→ Control how often ads are shown to the same user
→ Reduce overexposure across multiple platforms
→ Align frequency with campaign objectives

 

Example (Applied to Ecommerce and DTC)

Without overlap visibility:

→ A user may see the same ad multiple times across platforms

Example Scenario

→ 3 impressions on YouTube
→ 4 impressions on Hulu
→ 2 impressions on Roku

→ Total = 9 impressions to the same user

With Overlap Reporting and Frequency Management

→ Duplicate exposure is identified
→ Frequency caps are adjusted
→ Impressions are distributed more efficiently

Result

→ Reduced wasted spend
→ Improved reach efficiency
→ Better control over campaign delivery

 

Summary

The latest updates in Display & Video 360 strengthen key aspects of CTV advertising:

→ Planning through improved reach forecasting, incremental reach visibility, and Comscore-based insights
→ Buying through enhanced Marketplace functionality, curated inventory access, Instant Reporting, live sports packages, and Instant Reserve
→ Measurement through Unique Reach Overlap reporting and frequency management across CTV devices

These changes provide advertisers with more structured tools to plan, activate, and optimize CTV campaigns across streaming environments.