Connected TV accounted for 53% of ad views across Europe in the first half of 2026, according to a new report from Comcast Advertising, cementing the screen's position as the dominant platform for video advertising on the continent.

The figure marks the latest milestone in a shift that has been building for several years, as European households abandon linear broadcast in favour of streaming on large screens. Advertisers have followed the audiences, and programmatic pipes have matured enough to make CTV inventory accessible at scale.

Live programming drives the next shift

Beyond the headline number, the report identifies a pronounced turn toward live content in Europe. Live ad views rose from 25% of the total in the second half of 2025 to 32% in the first half of 2026 — a seven-point swing in just six months.

A dense summer sports calendar explains much of the increase. Live events carry strong co-viewing appeal, meaning a single ad impression often reaches several viewers gathered around the same screen. That dynamic lifts the effective value of live inventory and pushes broadcasters to protect and expand their live rights portfolios.

Addressable inventory expands on both sides of the Atlantic

Addressability is growing in Europe and the US alike, the report finds, as data availability and transparency improve across the supply chain. More than half of bid requests now carry enriched data. Among video-specific fields, 'Genre' is the most widely used, appearing in 57% of enriched requests — a sign that contextual targeting is maturing alongside audience-based buying.

Targeted-audience ad views grew 11% year over year in Europe and 5% in the US, suggesting European broadcasters and streamers are closing part of the gap with their American counterparts in data-driven selling, even as privacy regulation continues to constrain identifier availability on the continent.

Completion rates above 90%

The report also points to engagement metrics that advertisers rarely see at comparable levels on other screens. Average completion rates across pre-roll, mid-roll and post-roll formats exceeded 90% on the three most popular CTV sub-devices.

Comcast Advertising attributes part of that performance to supply-chain automation and improving interoperability between buying and selling platforms. Fewer handoffs and cleaner integrations reduce wasted impressions and improve both the viewer experience and ad exposure quality — a claim vendors in the sector make routinely, though the completion figures here are drawn from measured campaign data rather than projections.

Broadcasters under pressure to build programmatic scale

Emmanuel Josserand, Senior Director of Brand, Agency and Industry Relations at Comcast Advertising, framed the commercial stakes for European broadcasters in direct terms.

"We are seeing CTV and streaming opening up a bigger, more accessible opportunity for advertisers, bringing high-quality, high-impact inventory within reach through programmatic and enabling businesses of all sizes to compete," Josserand said. "To unlock the full potential of this opportunity, European broadcasters must continue to evolve their streaming and programmatic strategies and build the scale, simplicity and flexibility needed to thrive in this high-speed and increasingly AI-driven media environment."

The message lands at a moment when Europe's largest broadcast groups are still consolidating their ad-tech stacks and negotiating platform partnerships, while US giants scale automated buying across the region. The 11% growth in targeted-audience ad views in Europe indicates real progress, but the gap with the US market — where programmatic CTV trading is further entrenched — remains.

For operators and telcos with media ambitions, the numbers reinforce the commercial case for bundling connectivity with streaming inventory. For broadcasters, the second half of 2026 will test whether they can convert the live-content surge and expanding addressable supply into durable programmatic revenue before global platforms capture the same demand.