Transparency & Control in a Programmatic Marketplace | tvScientific

Marketers buy programmatically for two key reasons: efficiency and accessibility. It helps brands reach audiences where they’re most likely to convert, at scale. Plus, it gives brands of all sizes access to premium inventory without massive upfront budgets or paying premium CPMs. 

With 80% of marketers now using Connected TV (CTV) as part of their programmatic strategy, the medium has become essential for maximizing reach and performance. But as programmatic Performance TV grows, a critical issue is surfacing: a lack of transparency and control.

Measuring performance and revenue impact is the #1 challenge for marketers. Yet this isn’t just about having the right tools or strategies. Many advertisers struggle because they’re buying Performance TV in a way that isn’t conducive to measurement, often with limited insight into where their ads are running and little control over targeting parameters.

This isn’t just an isolated concern — it’s an industry-wide challenge. The explosive growth of CTV has led marketers to take a step back and demand more clarity into:

• Where their ads are running (content, network, genre, show-level data)
• Brand suitability and targeting options
• Proper attribution and optimization methods

In this guide, we’re diving deeper into the challenges advertisers are facing with programmatic Performance TV buying, and more importantly, how to overcome them. Let’s get started.

The Transparency & Control Problem in Performance TV Advertising

Today, 58% of marketers primarily buy Performance TV ads programmatically in order to buy across a broad range of inventory, expand audience reach, and measure performance in a single place. And while programmatic provides efficiency and scale, not all platforms offer true transparency or control over where ads appear or how they’re targeted. 

In traditional linear TV, advertisers are used to knowing exactly which network, program, and even episode their ads appear in. But in programmatic CTV, these details are often hidden, making it harder for advertisers to align their campaigns with relevant, brand-safe content. Many advertisers are left in the dark regarding:

• Ad placements: They may know their ad is running on a streaming platform like Pluto TV or Tubi, but not whether it’s appearing alongside live sports, a drama series, or a news program.
• Targeting parameters: Advertisers often can’t refine their targeting to avoid misalignment with brand values or campaign goals.
• Performance data: Without visibility into specific placements, optimizing for high-performing inventory becomes nearly impossible.

This lack of transparency leads to real-world risks:

• Wasted ad spend: If marketers can’t verify placements, they can’t optimize for high-performing inventory.
• Brand safety concerns: Without control over categories, a cruise line ad could end up running after a news segment on a tropical hurricane.
• Measurement challenges: Proving ROI is difficult when ad placements are unknown or data is fragmented across platforms.

So, What’s Holding Back Full Transparency?

CTV buyers consistently say they lack content signals in their programmatic buys — especially at the show level. But why?

It’s not that the industry lacks the tools for transparency. In fact, CTV has the potential to offer more transparency than linear TV because it uses first-party data to optimize ad buys. The challenge is that there’s no industry-wide agreement on which data signals publishers should share in a bidstream.

Here’s where the disconnect happens:

• Incomplete data sharing: Unlike linear TV, where advertisers always know the show and airtime, streaming platforms and ad exchanges don’t always share detailed content data. Publishers might provide general signals like genre, language, or network data, but often stop short of revealing show-level insights.
• Lack of placement clarity: Without clear data, advertisers can’t always ensure their ads appear in relevant, brand-safe environments. This forces them to take a leap of faith with their placements.
• Missed optimization opportunities: Without transparency, advertisers struggle to identify high-performing placements, leading to wasted ad spend and measurement challenges.

The transparency issue in CTV isn’t new — it mirrors the evolution of web advertising. In the early days of programmatic display ads, publishers resisted sharing detailed inventory data. However, over time, they realized that transparency improved monetization, reduced fraud, and built trust with buyers. Eventually, passing full URL-level data became the norm.

CTV is now undergoing a similar shift. But because many CTV buyers come from a linear TV background, their expectations differ. They’re used to upfront deals, scatter buys, and knowing content details down to the specific episode. The digital transformation of TV has caused misalignment, requiring new technical solutions to pass necessary transparency signals from media owners to buyers.

How tvScientific Moves the Market Forward

While supply partners aren’t always sharing all the transparency signals advertisers need, that doesn’t mean the problem is unsolvable. At tvScientific, we’re helping advertisers regain control and clarity — while also proving the value of transparency to supply partners. 

Our platform bridges the gap by empowering advertisers with tools that maximize visibility, improve targeting precision, and drive performance outcomes. At the same time, we work to demonstrate to supply partners that sharing richer content signals leads to stronger demand and better monetization.

Here’s how we do it:

• Show-level targeting facilitation: While not every publisher allows show-level targeting yet, our relationships grant advertisers increased visibility into premium inventory whenever possible.
• Premium inventory access: Advertisers can run campaigns on high-quality content with category controls and blacklisting features to prevent ads from appearing in unsuitable environments.
• Performance-focused audience targeting: Instead of limiting inventory through rigid placement criteria, we help advertisers reach audiences most likely to drive outcomes — maximizing scale and efficiency.
• Contextual targeting: Similar to search and social platforms, we use contextual data to align ads with relevant content.
• Full transparency and control: Unlike many programmatic providers that operate as black boxes, we offer full visibility into ad placements and targeting categories, giving advertisers the clarity they need to optimize campaigns effectively.

We recognize that real industry progress requires collaboration. That’s why we’re not just solving transparency challenges for advertisers — we’re also working to prove to supply partners that greater transparency benefits everyone by increasing demand, improving monetization, and fostering long-term trust.

Make tvScientific Your CTV Partner

Not all programmatic Performance TV platforms are created equal. Many don’t offer transparency around where ads run or control over targeting categories. But tvScientific does.

tvScientific was co-founded by senior executives with deep roots in search, programmatic advertising, digital media, and ad verification. We think scientifically, and our results are driven by a belief in one, simple formula: Trust = Data x Transparency x Control.

With powerful attribution capabilities, real-time reporting, automated optimization, and built-in, always-on testing, tvScientific provides the most robust, transparent, tailored CTV advertising platform. Once you see it for yourself, we know you will too. Request a demo to see for yourself.