The connected TV advertising market is becoming increasingly fragmented across smart-TV operating systems, OEMs and streaming environments. Teads is taking another step toward consolidating that supply with the global expansion of its partnership with Whale TV, bringing Whale TV HomeScreen and native CTV inventory into Teads Ad Manager across more than 100 countries.
For advertisers, connected TV has become less about simply buying video and more about navigating a growing collection of platforms, devices and advertising environments.
Teads is trying to simplify that equation.
The company announced the global expansion of its partnership with Whale TV, making Whale TV’s HomeScreen and native CTV inventory available worldwide through Teads Ad Manager. The agreement expands a European relationship launched in 2024 and gives advertisers access to Whale TV inventory across more than 100 countries.
Whale TV operates an independent smart-TV operating system used by more than 400 TV brands. The company says its platform reaches more than 47.5 million monthly active TVs globally, giving Teads another source of inventory as advertisers increasingly look beyond traditional in-stream CTV placements.
The focus here is particularly interesting because HomeScreen advertising sits outside the conventional video ad break. HomeScreen placements can appear when viewers first interact with a connected television, putting advertising closer to the content-discovery experience. Whale TV inventory includes masthead and native display formats, some of which can expand into full-screen video when viewers interact.
For Teads, the deal strengthens a strategy built around aggregating premium CTV supply across multiple television operating systems and OEM environments.
The company says advertisers can now access Whale TV inventory alongside campaigns running across CTV, web and mobile from Teads Ad Manager. That means media teams can use a common workflow for planning, activation, audience targeting, creative and measurement rather than managing separate regional relationships with individual TV platforms.
Teads says its HomeScreen network now provides access to more than 500 million addressable TV devices globally, while more than 6,000 HomeScreen campaigns have been delivered since 2023.
The Whale TV expansion also follows Teads’ recent moves with other connected-TV ecosystems, including Google TV, LG Ad Solutions, V (formerly VIDAA) and TiVo.
That multi-OEM strategy matters because CTV is increasingly behaving like a collection of walled gardens rather than one uniform advertising channel. A campaign targeting viewers across Roku, Google TV, smart-TV operating systems and streaming services can otherwise require different buying relationships, data environments and measurement approaches.
Teads is effectively positioning its advertising platform as an intermediary layer across those environments.
The timing is favorable. eMarketer forecasts U.S. CTV advertising spending to reach $36.95 billion in 2026, with spending increasingly extending beyond traditional in-stream video into other connected-TV formats. Another eMarketer forecast puts CTV upfront spending at $17.73 billion in 2026, exceeding primetime linear TV upfront spending for the first time.
That growth is increasing the value of the television interface itself. HomeScreen placements can give advertisers access to consumers before they begin watching a program, creating a different advertising opportunity from conventional pre-roll or mid-roll inventory.
For agencies and enterprise advertisers, however, scale alone will not determine whether the model succeeds. The more important question is whether platforms such as Teads can provide consistent audience definitions, frequency management, measurement and attribution across fundamentally different TV environments.
Teads is attempting to address that challenge through its broader CTV offering, including Teads CTV Ensemble, which combines HomeScreen and InStream inventory with audience intelligence, predictive AI, creative capabilities and measurement.
The competitive landscape includes large platform ecosystems such as Google TV and Amazon, alongside OEM advertising businesses and specialist CTV marketplaces. Teads’ differentiation is therefore less about owning the television operating system and more about connecting multiple sources of CTV supply through a single advertising workflow.
For publishers, TV manufacturers and operating-system providers, that model can create another monetization route. For advertisers, it could reduce the operational burden associated with fragmented CTV buying.
The broader shift is clear: CTV is evolving from a video-only advertising category into a wider media environment encompassing streaming content, HomeScreen discovery, native placements, data and cross-screen activation.
Teads’ global Whale TV expansion is another sign that the next competitive battle in CTV may be fought not only over audiences, but over who can make fragmented television inventory easier to buy, measure and optimize.
Market Landscape
CTV is entering a more mature phase in which scale, supply aggregation and measurement are becoming as important as video reach. eMarketer forecasts that U.S. CTV ad spending will grow by more than 19% in 2026, while its broader 2026 forecast estimates $36.95 billion in U.S. CTV spending.
At the same time, CTV buying is becoming more fragmented. Advertisers increasingly need access to inventory across streaming services, OEM platforms and smart-TV operating systems.
This creates an opening for independent ad-tech platforms that can aggregate supply without forcing advertisers to manage every individual relationship. Teads’ partnerships with Whale TV, Google TV, LG Ad Solutions, V and TiVo point toward that aggregation strategy.
The strategic challenge will be maintaining transparency and consistent measurement across those environments. As HomeScreen advertising becomes a larger part of CTV media plans, advertisers will need to determine how these placements contribute to incremental reach, attention and business outcomes compared with conventional in-stream inventory.
Top Insights
- Teads is adding Whale TV’s global HomeScreen inventory to its advertising platform, giving brands broader access to smart-TV audiences across more than 100 countries.
- The partnership expands Teads’ multi-OEM CTV strategy, allowing advertisers to activate Whale TV alongside other television environments from one media-buying workflow.
- HomeScreen advertising extends CTV beyond video ad breaks, giving brands access to native and interactive placements during content discovery on connected televisions.
- CTV’s rapid spending growth is increasing demand for aggregated supply, but advertisers still need consistent audience targeting, frequency management and cross-platform measurement.
- Teads is positioning itself as an independent CTV activation layer, connecting fragmented TV operating systems with omnichannel buying, predictive AI and measurement.
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