The case for and against CTV in 2026 B2B marketing budgets

I’ve written extensively about CTV, often to help marketers recognize when the channel is not the right investment. While CTV remains relatively under-adopted in B2B, interest is growing as brands begin planning their 2026 marketing budgets. 

In recent months, inquiries from B2B marketers evaluating whether CTV deserves a place in those plans have increased noticeably. That shift raises a practical question: under what conditions does CTV make sense for B2B in 2026 — and when does it not?

Why B2B brands should invest in CTV

It’s a hedge against inflated CPAs 

CTV isn’t cheap. You pay a lot for premium impressions. But, building awareness on a highly compelling storytelling platform is a great way to mitigate ever-rising CPCs and CPAs on heavily saturated bottom-funnel channels like Google and, to some extent, Meta.

There are still early-adoption advantages

Compared to cost inflation on platforms like Google and Meta, CTV’s CPMs have stayed relatively static, even as spend on the channel increases. Given that the channel’s inventory still has room for growth, this trend is likely to continue. Advertisers willing to make the jump and invest now will be getting in while costs are relatively affordable.

Less competition = huge opportunity

CTV’s power users tend to be D2C and B2C brands, not B2B. That makes sense given that CTV is already a little tougher to measure than more direct response-focused channels and B2B’s longer, multi-person sales cycle adds complexity on top of complexity.

But that also leaves room for aggressive B2B brands to stand out from the competition and help shape their highest-value users’ purchase journeys from the jump. (In B2B, the wisdom is that 95% of your audience has no intent to purchase at any given time.)

Dig deeper: 4 CTV challenges for B2B and how to overcome them

Shaky economies present a chance to grab market share

During the economic downturn of the early 2010s, several now well-known brands accelerated their growth by continuing to invest, while competitors pulled back. Periods of uncertainty tend to reduce competitive pressure and soften media costs, creating openings for advertisers willing to spend with discipline rather than retreat.

With 2026 shaping up as a potentially turbulent economic environment, similar dynamics may emerge. Cautious spending across verticals could suppress CTV CPMs, leaving room for B2B brands that are prepared to invest strategically and capitalize on reduced competition.

CTV is relatively privacy-safe

CTV has never been based on cookies. It can thrive with other, more privacy-safe identifiers, including contextual targeting and first-party data. IP address targeting (which is effective in CTV) is in more of a gray area since it’s not explicitly targeting individuals.

Should IP targeting fall firmly out of favor with upcoming regulations, contextual targeting will serve as a useful proxy that remains on the right side of privacy guidelines.

It’s great for product/service launches, rebranding and updated positioning

B2B creative and positioning can be a significant challenge because it’s somewhat removed from human-to-human connection (consider how hard Salesforce has to try with the Matthew McConaughey commercials), but CTV offers an immersive platform to convey relatively nuanced messaging in unskippable formats. 

For high-stakes events like new product or service launches, advertisers looking to make an impression would do well to consider a more engaging environment than, say, LinkedIn videos that default to sound-off settings.

Engagement and audience volume are both growing

All volume-related signs are pointed up for CTV, whether it’s a steady increase in user engagement and recall or the sheer quantity of CTV viewers (now estimated to be higher in the U.S. than linear TV users). Where users go in droves, advertisers will follow and costs will rise as competition increases.

Dig deeper: How to use CTV to strengthen your ABM strategy

Why B2B brands should hesitate to invest in CTV

CTV is definitely more complicated than lower-funnel performance channels. That presents challenges for brands whose marketing fundamentals aren’t buttoned up. If any of these conditions apply, think twice before dipping a toe and getting poor results that make you hesitate to invest in the future. 

You’re not clear on how to measure CTV

If you’re used to the performance marketing world of lead gen and demand capture, you may be speaking a bit of an unfamiliar language with CTV, which is often best assessed with geo-lift tests and by measuring impact on other channels.

Without that understanding (and without setting those expectations for those with the purse strings), your CTV efforts will likely be short-lived.

Dig deeper: How to assess CTV’s impact on other ad channels

You need immediate conversions and pipeline

If you’re under the gun to drive leads and pipeline in the short term and you’re within spitting distance of target CPAs on Google, LinkedIn or Meta, optimize those channels to their fullest before you divert time and budget into the relatively long-term play of CTV.

You haven’t optimized your CRM instance or first-party data segments

First-party data plays a central role in B2B CTV campaigns. It supports audience segmentation for different messaging and positioning, enables more precise targeting through DSPs and is often required when working with platforms such as The Trade Desk or LiveRamp that rely on CTV-specific identifiers.

Contextual targeting alone can work in limited cases, but it narrows flexibility and increases risk. Given the inherent complexity of CTV, most B2B brands are better served by entering the channel with strong data foundations.

You haven’t absolutely nailed down your ideal customer profile

If you aren’t sure who your highest-value audiences are, don’t spend on CTV just yet. This is good advice for any channel and in any industry, but it’s particularly relevant for the CTV-B2B intersection, which offers a combination of storytelling impact and precision targeting that will get diluted without a precise understanding of your ICP’s main challenges and pain points.

You don’t know how to communicate campaign expectations to your C-suite

Few CFOs or CMOs are willing to approve a significant budget without a clear understanding of expected returns. In the absence of upfront alignment, CTV investment risks being reallocated to channels with more immediate payoff, particularly if its influence on other channels is not clearly communicated or measured.

CTV is best approached as a long-term investment, with executive buy-in and a measurement framework that reflects its role across the full customer journey before meaningful spend begins.

Dig deeper: Why impression-based advertising will redefine search and CTV

The CTV opportunity for B2B in 2026

For B2B brands with strong fundamentals in place, CTV offers a compelling mix of big-screen storytelling and digitally precise targeting. Its relatively low adoption within the vertical leaves meaningful room for differentiation, particularly for marketers willing to approach the channel with long-term intent rather than short-term expectations.

At the same time, rushing into CTV without the ability to measure, optimize and communicate impact is a common and costly mistake. Many otherwise capable programmatic efforts stall not because the channel underperforms, but because supporting infrastructure and expectations are misaligned. In B2B, where buying cycles are long and decisions involve multiple stakeholders, that challenge is amplified — but with the right measurement framework and organizational readiness, it remains one well worth taking on.

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