CTV (Connected TV)

CTV (Connected TV) is advertising inside apps running on TVs and set-top boxes based on Android TV. CTV differs from mobile scenarios in two ways: ad navigation (through focus and a remote control) and ad targeting — the priority is shifted toward reach and impressions.

Supported formats

Only some of the mobile SDK formats are available on CTV:

• Native ads
• Adaptive inline banner
• Adaptive sticky banner
• Interstitial ads
• Rewarded ads
• InStream ads

Banners have navigation specifics on Android TV.

Reach and campaign goals

On CTV devices, clicks work differently than in mobile scenarios and are not the main goal. TVs often don't have a full-featured browser by default, or it's inconvenient to use one with a remote control.

The main goal of advertising on CTV is impressions and audience reach. As an alternative to a click, some formats can use a QR code that the user can scan with their phone to open the website.

Learn more about reach campaigns.

Banner focus on Android TV

For banner ads on CTV, it's important that remote control navigation isn't intercepted by parent containers and reaches the interactive elements of the ad.

If any parent ViewGroup hosting the banner has descendantFocusability set to FOCUS_BLOCK_DESCENDANTS, focus can't reach the ad block. Set a value that doesn't block focus on descendants — for example, ViewGroup.FOCUS_AFTER_DESCENDANTS or ViewGroup.FOCUS_BEFORE_DESCENDANTS.

Example:

parentContainer.descendantFocusability = ViewGroup.FOCUS_AFTER_DESCENDANTS

Check the container chain from the screen root down to the ad View: all intermediate ViewGroup containers with custom focus logic must behave consistently so that the banner stays reachable for remote control navigation.