Data Accuracy Gaps Exposed in New CTV Advertising Report
Truthset says only a fraction of CTV investment ultimately reaches the intended audience
A new report from Truthset is raising concerns about the reliability of the data signals powering CTV advertising, pointing to significant disparities in accuracy rates across commonly used identity and demographic matches.
According to The State of Data Accuracy 2026, the company estimates that $7.4 billion in U.S. CTV programmatic ad spend will be wasted this year due to flawed or misaligned signals.
Among identity signals, email to postal match has the highest accuracy, but still just at 51%. For demographic signals, gender leads, at 61%. Looking at other identity and demographic signals:
- IP to email match: 16% accuracy
- IP to postal match: 13% accuracy
- Presence of children: 41% accuracy
- Age: 13% accuracy
Truthset Founder and CEO Scott McKinley says, “Whether they realize it or not, advertisers are paying an accuracy tax levied at every stage of the data pipeline, resulting in both wasted impressions and opportunities. If marketers can’t rely on the data guiding their decisions, they’re flying blind.”
The Measure’s Jon Lafayette spoke with McKinley in depth about the current state of data accuracy, including what it means for FAST channels — read more here.
