AMENIA, NY — Connected TV and commerce are becoming more tightly joined. And that’s creating new ad formats that capture consumers at moments of peak engagement and peak purchase intent.
“CTV and commerce are great together. It’s a way to engage the audience at the highest points of relevance,” Cassidy Diamond, Vice President of Brand Partnerships and Demand Facilitation at Magnite, told Beet.TV contributor David Kaplan at the Beet Retreat Berkshires 2025.
Diamond related a recent experience that illustrates the ways CTV and commerce are complementing each other.
She was watching streaming TV and got up. At that moment, her favorite snack brand delivered a pause ad featuring an Instacart QR code. It directed her to the nearest store that offered the new flavor with Instacart delivery. “This is a clear demonstration of really great execution and how advertisers are delivering more value straight through the funnel through CTV to action,” she said.
New ad formats drive engagement
The evolution extends beyond traditional video advertising into interactive formats designed for streaming environments. Diamond listed pause ads, interactive overlays, and tile ads as significant opportunities for brands looking to capitalize on engaged viewing moments.
In Diamond’s view, these formats represent more than creative innovation. They address the fundamental challenge of converting viewer attention into measurable commerce outcomes.
Unlike traditional TV advertising that relied on brand recall and delayed purchasing decisions, these connected formats enable immediate action within the viewing experience.
“Some of the best opportunities for brands to tap into offsite commerce media are really tied to the growing ad format opportunity with the engagement happening across these new ad formats,” Diamond said.
Audio emerges as performance channel
Audio advertising is experiencing a similar transformation. It’s gone from brand-building tool to performance driver.
Magnite recently completed a joint study with IPG media unit Magna suggesting that thoughtful creative sequencing in audio can generate both brand lift and awareness metrics traditionally associated with visual media.
“Audio was typically thought of as an upper funnel channel and we recently did a joint study with Magna releasing that, showing that with thoughtful creative sequencing that can create both brand lift and awareness,” Diamond said. “So it’s a great opportunity for our performance minor marketers.”
This finding bucks traditional media planning assumptions about audio’s role in the marketing funnel. And that could open significant budget shifts for performance-focused advertisers.
Sell-side curation advantages
Magnite’s strategy centers on inventory curation that provides transparency and control for commerce brands expanding their offsite media investments. The company’s ClearLine self-service buying solution enables brands to maintain visibility into both fees and inventory sources.
“Commerce brands are unlocking more value from their offsite commerce media by really leaning into the transparency, efficiencies, and premium inventory that programmatic savvy advertisers have come to expect today,” Diamond said.
In April 2025, Magnite unveiled the updated platform by combining SpringServe ad server with advanced programmatic capabilities. More recently, the company rolled out general availability of the new platform, enabling all clients to access unified inventory curation tools.
“The unification and bringing these two together allows publishers to curate the inventory to get the best possible outcomes for these partners,” Diamond said.
Early planning integration
The sell-side’s influence extends beyond campaign execution into strategic planning phases. Diamond argues that supply-side platforms can improve campaign outcomes by participating in budget planning discussions rather than just fulfilling predetermined strategies.
“The sell side can better influence decision making from the start by being in earlier in the process,” she said. “We have a distinct advantage on the sell side. By being closer to how that inventory is packaged, the data fidelity and being able to surface that before the budgets are planned, that can really help create a better outcome.”
This front-end curation capability allows publishers to package inventory and data more effectively for commerce objectives, potentially improving both relevance and performance metrics.
Bespoke commerce expansion
The shift reflects broader advertiser demand for customized solutions across multiple channels and formats rather than standardized programmatic offerings. Publishers are responding by developing more sophisticated curation capabilities that align inventory characteristics with specific commerce objectives.
“Advertisers are really excited to expand their commerce investment across multiple channels in multiple formats in a bespoke way,” Diamond said. “And publishers are stepping up to better curate their inventory and their data and how they package and surface that for these opportunities.”
The strategy is intended to position Magnite to better capture growing commerce media budgets by promising the transparency and control that performance marketers demand while maintaining the scale and efficiency that programmatic advertising promises.
“Having the opportunity to lean into your partners like Magnite gives you a chance to get better results through that curation on the front end,” Diamond said.
