The biggest screen in the house is now a performance channel. CTV advertising puts your app in front of streaming audiences with the impact of television — and, done right, with measurable install outcomes. This guide explains how app-install CTV works, what it can and cannot measure, and where it fits in a mobile growth plan.
Register as an advertiser and tell us about your app, goals and target GEOs.
Audiences, formats, pricing and measurement approach are prepared individually and confirmed in writing.
TV-ready 15/30s creatives with QR paths; your MMP is configured for CTV attribution.
The campaign runs with placement-level reporting; budgets scale only on measured results.
Mobile user acquisition lives inside a crowded auction where every app fights for the same in-app placements. CTV opens a different arena: full-screen, non-skippable, sound-on video in a lean-back living-room context, with far less ad competition per viewer. For app categories with broad audiences — games, streaming-adjacent utilities, finance, dating — CTV builds the brand awareness that makes every performance channel cheaper, and increasingly drives installs directly.
A viewer cannot tap a TV. The response paths are: QR codes in the creative that open your store page on the viewer's phone; spoken or shown search prompts that drive store search; and second-screen effects — the viewer reaches for the phone they are already holding. Direct-response CTV creative is built around these paths: a persistent QR code, a clear verbal call to action, and a store listing ready to convert the traffic. Deep links can take scanners straight past the store into the app for existing users.
The standard unit is the 15 or 30 second non-skippable in-stream spot — enough time to show the product and land one message. Interactive extensions add QR or remote-press actions where platforms allow. What consistently works for app install: show the real product in the first seconds, one benefit stated plainly, and a QR code that stays on screen long enough to scan. CTV is a reach medium — creative repetition across a campaign matters more than a single perfect execution.
CTV measurement is honest about its limits. Installs are attributed through device graphs — linking the TV that showed the ad to phones in the same household — and through incremental lift methods. This is probabilistic, not the deterministic click-to-install tracking of in-app advertising: expect modeled attribution windows, household-level matching, and results read as ranges rather than exact counts. QR scans and direct store-search spikes are deterministic signals you can measure exactly. Serious CTV measurement combines both, and any partner should show you the methodology, not just the dashboard.
CTV rarely replaces in-app UA; it multiplies it. The working pattern: run your measurable in-app and push channels as the performance backbone, add CTV to expand reach and pull branded search and store visits up, then read CTV's contribution through lift in your deterministic channels and household-level attribution reports. Budgets and pricing for CTV campaigns are set individually — they depend on audience, GEO and season, and are confirmed in a written media plan before spend.
Four things determine whether a CTV test reads cleanly: an MMP configured to receive CTV attribution data; a store listing that converts cold traffic (screenshots, ratings, first-screen description); creative built for TV — 16:9, broadcast-safe, readable at three meters; and a measurement agreement stating how installs will be attributed and reported. With those in place, a controlled test answers the only question that matters: does TV exposure move your install economics.
Yes — through QR scans, store search lift and household attribution. What CTV does not offer is click-level deterministic tracking, so results are read as attributed ranges plus exact QR and search signals.
Test budgets are set individually per campaign — they depend on target audience and GEOs. A media plan with expected reach and pricing is prepared in writing before any spend.
Through device graphs linking TVs to household phones, lift methodology, and deterministic signals like QR scans. Attribution is modeled — ranges and confidence, not click-exact counts. We show the methodology before launch.
Categories with broad living-room audiences: games, streaming and entertainment utilities, finance, dating, delivery. Niche B2B apps rarely fit. Fit is assessed per app during planning.
A 16:9 video in 15 and 30 second cuts, readable on a TV at distance, with a persistent QR code and one clear call to action. Creative requirements per platform are confirmed in the media plan.
YouTube on TV screens is one inventory source; CTV covers the broader streaming ecosystem — apps, channels and platforms beyond a single service, bought programmatically or directly.
Targeting works at household level: geography, demographics, interests and viewing context. It is broader than device-level mobile targeting but far richer than traditional TV.
Register as an advertiser and describe your app and goals. Planning — audience, GEOs, formats, pricing — is prepared individually and confirmed in writing before spend.