Connected TV has gotten remarkably good at capturing viewer attention—but historically not so great at proving it can drive real-world business outcomes. That gap just narrowed. PubMatic and BrightLine are teaming up to bring interactive and addressable CTV experiences directly into PubMatic’s programmatic platform, pairing high-engagement ad formats with commerce-media measurement that tracks actual product purchases.
For marketers staring down nearly $33 billion in expected CTV ad spend by the end of 2025, the value prop is straightforward: stop guessing whether your shiny CTV creative moved any units, and start seeing SKU-level receipts.
“This is not just interactive TV. It is interactive TV as a performance channel,” said Nicole Scaglione, VP of CTV at PubMatic. And for once, that claim isn’t hyperbole.
Turning CTV From Passive Viewing to Measurable Action
The partnership brings BrightLine’s polished suite of interactive CTV formats—including shoppable galleries, gamified polls, quizzes, and branded overlays—into PubMatic’s marketplace and bidding logic. These aren’t fringe placements, either. Advertisers can activate them across major smart TV environments, including Samsung TV Plus, LG Ad Solutions, and Vizio.
What elevates this beyond “TV but clickable” is the downstream measurement. Through PubMatic’s commerce media partners, such as Rippl and Instacart, brands can connect engagement metrics to verified, SKU-level purchase reporting.
In other words, if viewers browse a holiday gift carousel, interact with a poll during a live game, or pause on an overlay, advertisers can finally see whether that attention converted into a shopping cart, a buy button, or an actual product sale.
“This partnership makes high-performing, interactive formats accessible to every advertiser through the open programmatic ecosystem,” said Rob Aksman, President and Chief Strategy Officer at BrightLine. “Together with PubMatic, we’re bridging the gap between interactive engagement and commerce outcomes.”
This alignment solves one of CTV’s biggest weaknesses: advertisers have loved its storytelling capabilities but struggled to justify higher CPMs without bottom-funnel metrics. PubMatic and BrightLine’s approach aims to remove that friction.
Why This Matters Right Now
The timing is strategic. Holiday programming and live sports—two content categories where CTV viewership peaks—are prime environments for interactive formats. Sports streams in particular offer “lean-in” moments when viewers actively want extra context, options, or in-game engagement.
Brands can now insert localized offers, shoppable overlays, or dynamic creative tailored to viewer behavior and real-time context. A retailer pushing limited-time holiday bundles can turn a high-attention moment into a measurable sales window; a CPG brand sponsoring a football telecast can tie engagement from an interactive overlay to an Instacart purchase that happens five minutes later.
CTV is entering an era where advertisers no longer accept “high completion rate” as evidence of success. They want conversion, incrementality, and attribution. This partnership checks all three boxes.
A Win for Advertisers, Publishers, and Agencies
The companies outline three core benefits:
Advertisers:
Interactive CTV becomes a performance channel, with the scale of TV, precision of programmatic, and proof of commerce. Both brand and retail goals can be met within a single campaign.
Publishers:
Premium streaming platforms get access to higher-CPM, interactive ad formats without degrading the viewer experience. More revenue, better UX.
Agencies:
One unified workflow. No more stitching together CTV creative, commerce data, and programmatic buying across incompatible silos.
And the audience seems to like this stuff. Research from FreeWheel and MediaScience reports that 75% of viewers consider interactive ads “unique” and 71% say they are attention-grabbing. BrightLine adds that its formats produce 36% higher brand recall and correlate closely with increased purchase intent.
If interactive TV was once a novelty, the numbers suggest it’s fast becoming an expectation.
The Bigger Picture: CTV Accountability Is Arriving
The CTV landscape is heating up. Amazon is pushing deeper into Prime Video ad tech. Roku is flexing its first-party data. Samsung and LG are doubling down on device-level ad personalization. But even as the ecosystem grows, one question has lingered: can CTV actually prove it drives sales?
PubMatic and BrightLine’s move comes as the industry shifts toward commerce media, where ad spend is increasingly tied to shoppable experiences, SKU-level attribution, and retailer integrations. Brands want proof, not proxies. And the companies providing that proof will shape where budgets go next.
With its AI-driven programmatic backbone and deep commerce partnerships, PubMatic is positioning itself as a marketplace where CTV ads aren’t just engaging—they’re accountable.
BrightLine, meanwhile, continues to dominate premium interactive CTV creative, supplying the formats many publishers already trust. The partnership is less about inventing something new and more about removing the barriers to buying it at scale.
As CTV marches toward performance accountability, this alliance is the clearest sign yet that interactive TV isn’t a gimmick. It’s the next measurable frontier.
