Digital video ad spending is booming – trust in premium inventory isn’t.

July 15, 2026

By Kimeko McCoy Marketers have taken their digital video ad budgets and thrown rocket fuel on it, growing that spend to surpass $80 billion in the U.S. this year, according to estimates by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB). Clarity and control in those ad buys, however, aren’t keeping pace.

Wavering confidence in inventory

The IAB’s latest findings suggests buyers’ confidence in the quality of digital video inventory they’re purchasing has slipped. Spending has exploded. The IAB expects digital video ad spend to surpass $80 billion this year as it continues to outpace the broader ad market.

And with increased spend comes increased scrutiny. According to the report, direct I/O, programmatic guaranteed, and self-serve — considered the more trusted CTV buying methods — saw 43% of buyers express “somewhat to no confidence” in the quality of the inventory they’re buying. For private marketplaces, that figure rose to 55%. For open exchange/RTB, that figure rose to 67%. Continue reading this article on digiday.com. Sign up for Digiday newsletters to get the latest on media, marketing and the future of TV. …read more

Source:: Digiday