SMiT Brings UWB to CTV Advertising

The connected TV screen is becoming more than a place to deliver programming, but advertisers still have limited visibility into who is actually present when an ad plays. At IBC2026, SMiT is set to demonstrate a new Presence-Aware TV platform that combines UWB sensing, interactive applications and privacy-conscious audience identification to turn the television into a more measurable advertising surface.

SMiT will showcase its Presence-Aware TV platform at IBC2026, built around a CI+ 2.0 USB dongle with Ultra-Wideband (UWB) technology. The system is aimed at Free-TV and Pay-TV operators and broadcasters looking to add audience awareness, interactive experiences and measurable advertising capabilities without replacing their existing television infrastructure.

The core idea is relatively straightforward: rather than treating the television as a device that simply plays content and advertisements, SMiT wants it to understand when an opted-in viewer is present and use that signal to enable more relevant interactions.

The platform combines SMiT’s secure TV-access hardware with TrueSense UWB, The Hashgraph Group’s BrandBoost TV Awareness product and Sofia Digital’s TV application and user-interface technology.

UWB provides the underlying proximity signal. When an authorized viewer’s smartphone or tag approaches a compatible television, the system can associate that device with the TV session and determine its relative position. The process is designed around consent rather than anonymous tracking, giving operators a way to connect audience awareness with an existing customer relationship.

That distinction could become increasingly important as connected TV advertising matures. Advertisers have access to increasingly sophisticated targeting and measurement across digital platforms, but the shared nature of the television screen makes individual-level audience understanding more complicated than it is on personal devices.

SMiT’s platform attempts to bridge that gap without requiring a separate set-top box. The USB dongle connects directly to a compatible integrated digital television, potentially allowing operators to introduce presence-aware services without replacing their installed TV platforms.

The advertising applications are where the technology becomes particularly relevant to the AdTech ecosystem. BrandBoost can support interactive experiences such as advertising trivia, rewards and gamification. During a commercial break, for example, an operator could present an interactive question and reward an opted-in participant with a voucher or other incentive.

The same infrastructure could support personalized menus, offers and content experiences. In live sports, SMiT demonstrates a “Guess & Glory” concept involving predictions and polling, turning passive viewing into an interactive engagement channel.

For advertisers and media operators, the larger opportunity is measurement. Instead of relying solely on broad reach estimates, the system is designed to connect an authorized viewer presence with specific engagement and reward events.

There is also a security application. Proximity between an authorized device and the television could provide an additional authentication signal, potentially supporting account protection and password-sharing controls.

The architecture incorporates Hedera distributed ledger technology where operators choose to record engagement and reward events. This could provide an auditable layer for campaign interactions and tokenized reward models, although its commercial value will depend on adoption and how operators integrate the data into existing measurement systems.

SMiT’s approach enters a market where Samsung, LG, Amazon, Google and major streaming platforms are already competing to make connected-TV advertising more addressable and measurable. Unlike conventional CTV targeting, however, the company’s proposition focuses on the physical presence around the shared television screen.

That makes the technology potentially interesting for Pay-TV operators seeking alternatives to purely device-level advertising models. The challenge will be translating a technically precise proximity signal into meaningful advertising outcomes while maintaining user consent and minimizing friction during viewer onboarding.

SMiT will demonstrate the platform at Stand 2.C36 during IBC2026, with the demonstration showing smartphone-to-TV association, viewer onboarding, interactive TV experiences, gamification and cloud-based operator management.

Market Landscape

Connected TV advertising is moving toward greater addressability, measurement and first-party data integration as traditional television and digital advertising increasingly converge. The global CTV advertising market is projected to continue expanding as advertisers shift budgets toward streaming and measurable premium video environments.

The next challenge is not simply identifying a household or television. It is determining which authorized audience is engaging with the screen and whether that engagement produces an outcome.

SMiT’s presence-aware architecture represents one approach to that problem. By combining UWB proximity, operator applications and interactive advertising, it places the operator between the viewer and advertiser rather than making the advertising platform the primary owner of the audience relationship.

For enterprise broadcasters and Pay-TV providers, that could create opportunities around interactive CTV advertising, loyalty programs, authenticated services and audience engagement. But deployment will depend on compatible televisions, viewer consent, operator integration and sufficient advertiser demand for presence-based experiences.

Top Insights

SMiT’s Presence-Aware TV platform uses UWB to connect opted-in viewers with television sessions, creating new possibilities for interactive CTV advertising and personalization.
The CI+ 2.0 dongle could let Pay-TV operators add presence-aware services without replacing existing television infrastructure or requiring a separate set-top box.
BrandBoost enables advertising interactions, gamification and rewards, potentially giving broadcasters new ways to measure engagement beyond conventional television reach metrics.
UWB-based proximity signals could support personalized content, offers and authentication while reducing reliance on conventional individual-level advertising identifiers.
The platform reflects the broader CTV shift toward addressable, interactive and measurable television advertising controlled through operator-owned customer relationships.

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