Connected TV (CTV)
CTV — The Big PictureCTV refers to any television set connected to the internet that can stream video content. This includes smart TVs with built-in streaming apps, TVs connected via a streaming device, and gaming consoles. It's the umbrella term for the entire ecosystem of internet-delivered TV. When brands buy CTV advertising, they are placing 15 or 30-second non-skippable video ads inside premium streaming content, served programmatically or directly, and watched on a full TV screen in the living room.
OTT
Over-The-TopOTT is the delivery method. It means video content delivered over the internet, bypassing traditional cable or satellite. OTT is the pipe. CTV is the screen. They are often used interchangeably, but OTT technically includes mobile and desktop streaming, while CTV is TV-screen-specific.
Ad Supported Streaming
Where CTV Inventory LivesAd-supported streaming tiers are the primary supply source for CTV advertising. Viewers opt into a free or discounted tier in exchange for watching ads. This is where Nexstar, FAST channels, and AVOD inventory all live. It is the fastest-growing segment of streaming and where brand budgets are rapidly shifting from linear TV.
FAST Channels
Free Ad-Supported Streaming TelevisionFAST channels are always-on streaming channels that play programming on a fixed schedule, like a cable channel, but delivered over the internet for free. Think of them as cable TV channels, but delivered over the internet for free and monetized entirely through advertising. Viewers tune in like traditional TV; they do not pick individual episodes on demand. FAST is one of the highest-growth segments in streaming because it mirrors how a huge portion of the country still watches TV: lean-back, passive, channel-surfing.
Tubi
Fox Corporation | FreeOne of the largest FAST platforms by monthly active users. Combines FAST linear channels with a massive on-demand AVOD library. Strong reach with cord-cutters and younger audiences. Fox-owned, so premium news and sports adjacency exists but is limited.
Pluto TV
Paramount | FreeParamount-owned FAST platform with 250+ linear channels across news, entertainment, and sports. Deep catalog content. Strong on Vizio and connected TV devices. Inventory is broad but brand safety context varies by channel.
Samsung TV Plus
Samsung | Device NativePre-installed on all Samsung smart TVs. No download, no sign-in. Reaches users at the moment they turn on the TV. One of the most passive, high-frequency FAST touchpoints available in the ecosystem.
The Roku Channel
Roku | Free TierRoku's own FAST and AVOD offering. Massive distribution advantage because it is the default channel on the most widely used streaming platform in the US. Also aggregates FAST channels from other providers, giving Roku significant inventory ownership.
Peacock (Free Tier)
NBCUniversal | FreemiumNBCUniversal's streaming service has a free ad-supported tier that functions as AVOD with FAST-style live channels including NBC News Now. Premium live sports and news adjacency. Strong brand-safe content environment due to NBC's editorial standards.
NewsNation / Nexstar FAST
Nexstar | Owned InventoryNexstar operates NewsNation as a FAST channel across Roku, Amazon, Samsung, and Apple TV. This is owned-and-operated inventory, which means Nexstar controls the ad experience, brand safety, and pricing. This is a key differentiator vs. resold network inventory.
AVOD
Advertising-Based Video On DemandAVOD is on-demand streaming content that is free to the viewer but monetized through advertising. Unlike FAST, the viewer chooses what to watch and when. They pull up a specific title or episode, and ads are served pre-roll, mid-roll, or post-roll within that content. AVOD inventory is extremely valuable because the viewer is actively engaged and the content context is known, which improves targeting precision and completion rates.
SVOD
Subscription Video On DemandPaid subscription, no ads. Think Netflix standard plan, Disney+ (ad-free tier), or Apple TV+. Zero ad inventory available. Brands cannot run ads here. The shift of SVOD platforms to hybrid ad-supported tiers (like Netflix's ad tier) has created new CTV supply.
AVOD
On-Demand + Ad SupportedFree or cheaper tier, viewer chooses what to watch, ads run in context of chosen content. Highest engagement environment in CTV because the viewer intentionally selected the content. Completion rates are strong. Tubi, Peacock Free, and Hulu (ad tier) are the biggest AVOD players.
FAST
Scheduled Streaming + Ad SupportedFree, scheduled, lean-back viewing. No subscription, no on-demand selection. Viewer tunes in like cable. High frequency, broad reach, passive consumption. Great for brand awareness and upper-funnel. Lower CPMs than AVOD but less contextual precision.
Tubi
Fox | 75M+ MAULargest pure AVOD library in the US. Free, no subscription. Strong reach with 18-49 and cord-never audiences. Fox-owned distribution advantages. Programmatic and direct inventory available.
Hulu (Ad Tier)
Disney | Premium AVODDisney/ABC content, live TV options, and on-demand catalog. One of the most premium AVOD environments. Higher CPMs but strong viewership quality. Limited addressable inventory vs. scale of the platform.
Peacock Free
NBCUniversalNBC, MSNBC, Bravo, E!, and sports content at no cost. Strong brand safe environment. Live events and news included. Solid mid-funnel performance with known household targeting.
Pluto TV
Paramount | HybridPrimarily FAST but includes AVOD content. Broad reach, especially on Vizio. Lower brand-context precision but excellent scale play for upper-funnel or frequency-based campaigns.
This is what AEs and managers need to lead with. Not features. Not platforms. The business case for why Nexstar CTV drives outcomes that digital-only or big-network buys do not.
Owned-and-Operated Local Inventory You Cannot Buy Anywhere Else
Nexstar owns and operates 200+ local TV stations. That local broadcast signal and those audience relationships are woven directly into our CTV and streaming inventory. When a brand buys Nexstar CTV in a specific DMA, they are reaching audiences who have a pre-existing trust relationship with that local station. Nobody else can replicate that. A national DSP buy gets you impressions. A Nexstar CTV buy gets you local authority at digital scale.
Key Proof Point: O&O inventory. Not resold. Not aggregated. Owned.National Scale With Local Market Precision
Most CTV buys force a choice: national scale OR local relevance. Nexstar eliminates that tradeoff. Advertisers can run a single unified campaign across 100+ markets simultaneously, with local targeting precision down to the DMA. This is a critical differentiator for regional brands, multi-location businesses, and any advertiser whose sales footprint does not match national distribution.
Key Proof Point: The only local broadcaster with national CTV reach and local execution capability in the same buy.NewsNation: Brand-Safe News Environment in a Trusted Context
News adjacency in digital is a minefield. On open web programmatic, brand safety filters miss things constantly. NewsNation is Nexstar's owned national news network available across every major FAST and streaming platform. Brands running in news-adjacent environments on NewsNation are running inside a broadcast-standard editorial environment, not beside user-generated content or algorithmically surfaced articles. For legal, financial, healthcare, and auto advertisers, this matters enormously to brand teams.
Key Proof Point: Broadcast-quality editorial standards applied to a streaming news channel. Fully brand-safe, no exceptions.Cross-Platform Audience Continuity: Linear, Digital, and CTV in One Buy
Nexstar can connect a brand's linear TV buy to their CTV and digital extension in one planning conversation. That means frequency management across screens, reach extension into cord-cutters who no longer see the linear spot, and unified reporting. Most media companies force the advertiser to stitch this together themselves or buy it from three separate vendors. Nexstar brings it under one roof, which is a real operational advantage for mid-market advertisers who do not have agency infrastructure to manage that complexity.
Key Proof Point: Linear-to-CTV audience extension. One partner. One buy. No duplication gaps.First-Party Audience Data Backed by Real Local Viewership
Nexstar's audience data is built on actual viewership of owned-and-operated stations, not modeled third-party segments. When a brand targets "auto intenders in the Dallas DMA" on Nexstar CTV, that segment is built from people who watched Nexstar's Dallas station content, engaged with their digital properties, and are active in the Nexstar ecosystem. That is first-party behavioral data. In a post-cookie world, that distinction is not a nice-to-have. It's the whole game.
Key Proof Point: First-party audience data from 200+ owned stations. Not modeled. Not licensed. Owned.Nexstar's owned inventory is the foundation. Platform X is how we extend that foundation across the entire programmatic ecosystem without sacrificing data quality or brand safety.
What Is Platform X?
Nexstar's Programmatic Audience Extension ProductPlatform X is Nexstar's audience extension solution that takes the first-party audience data built from 200+ owned and operated stations and extends it programmatically across premium CTV, OTT, display, and video inventory outside of Nexstar's owned properties. It allows an advertiser to follow their target audience across the open web and streaming ecosystem, using Nexstar's data as the targeting layer rather than generic third-party segments. The result is the reach of the open programmatic market with the data precision of a first-party broadcaster buy.
Nexstar First-Party Data as the Targeting Engine
Platform X does not rely on third-party cookie segments or modeled audiences from a data broker. The targeting is built from Nexstar's actual viewership data across owned stations and digital properties. That means when you target "legal services intenders in the Philadelphia DMA," you are reaching people who have demonstrated real behavioral signals inside the Nexstar ecosystem, not an extrapolated model.
Key Point: First-party data targeting on third-party inventory. Best of both worlds.Premium Supply Partners, Not Open Junk Exchange
Platform X buys inventory through curated private marketplace deals and premium programmatic supply sources, not the lowest-CPM open exchange. That means ads run on identifiable, brand-safe publishers and streaming platforms, not unverified long-tail inventory. AEs should be clear on this distinction when clients ask about brand safety on programmatic buys.
Key Point: Programmatic does not mean cheap or unsafe when the supply path is curated.Cross-Screen Delivery: CTV, Display, Video, and Mobile
Platform X reaches the target audience across all screens, not just the TV. A viewer who watches NewsNation on their Roku at night can be retargeted on mobile display in the morning and served a CTV pre-roll on a premium streaming platform in the evening. That cross-screen continuity is what full-funnel programmatic extension actually looks like in practice.
Key Point: One audience, every screen, one data source driving it all.The Answer to "Can You Reach Beyond Your Own Stations?"
This is the objection Platform X was built to answer. When a client says their audience is broader than Nexstar's O&O footprint, Platform X extends reach programmatically into every market, every device, and every premium supply source, while keeping Nexstar's first-party data as the audience targeting layer. The O&O buy is the core. Platform X is the multiplier.
Key Point: O&O inventory plus Platform X extension equals full-market coverage under one partner."We start with our owned inventory because that's where the audience trust and data quality lives. Platform X takes that same data and follows your audience everywhere else they go online. You get the precision of a first-party broadcaster buy at the reach of the open programmatic market. No other local broadcaster can offer that combination."
IQx is the part most AEs skip over or can't explain clearly. That's a mistake. It's the proof behind every first-party data claim Nexstar makes, and it's a genuine differentiator that competitors cannot replicate.
What Is IQx?
Nexstar's Audience Intelligence and Data PlatformIQx is Nexstar's proprietary audience data and intelligence platform. It aggregates first-party behavioral data from Nexstar's owned-and-operated TV stations, digital properties, and streaming content across 200+ markets, then makes that data actionable for advertisers through audience segmentation, targeting, and campaign measurement. In plain terms: IQx is what turns 100 million households worth of viewership behavior into precise, targetable audience segments that actually reflect how real people consume media in real local markets.
First-Party Audience Segments
Built From Real ViewershipIQx builds audience segments from actual viewership and engagement data across Nexstar's O&O properties. Not modeled from census data. Not licensed from a third-party broker. Real people, real behavior, real local market signals. These segments cover key advertiser categories: auto intenders, legal service seekers, healthcare decision-makers, home services, financial services, and more.
Local Market Precision
DMA-Level IntelligenceIQx operates at the DMA level. That means audience segments are built from local market behavior, not national averages pushed down to a market. A Chicago auto intender segment in IQx reflects what auto-in-market looks like in Chicago specifically, based on what Chicago viewers are actually watching and engaging with on Nexstar's Chicago properties.
Cross-Platform Activation
Linear + CTV + Digital + Platform XIQx audience segments are not siloed to one channel. They power targeting across Nexstar's linear TV, CTV, digital display, and Platform X programmatic extension. The same audience intelligence that informs a local news spot buy also drives the CTV pre-roll, the digital retargeting, and the Platform X extension buy. That is unified audience strategy, not channel-by-channel guesswork.
Campaign Measurement and Attribution
Outcomes, Not Just ImpressionsIQx closes the loop on campaign performance by connecting ad exposure to downstream behavior. For local advertisers, that means tying CTV and digital delivery back to website visits, store visits, call volume, and conversion actions. This is the reporting layer that moves the conversation from CPM and impressions to actual business outcomes, which is where advertiser retention is won or lost.
Disney's data is Disney's. Spectrum's data is tied to cable subscriber records. A programmatic DSP uses licensed third-party data that every other buyer on the platform also has access to. IQx is built from 200+ owned local stations in 212 markets. That geographic depth and local behavioral specificity is not something you can buy, license, or build quickly. It took decades of local broadcasting to create the audience relationships that feed IQx.
Third-party cookies are effectively gone for practical targeting purposes. The entire industry is scrambling to find reliable first-party data alternatives. Nexstar already has one. IQx is not a workaround or a transition strategy. It is a mature, operating first-party data infrastructure that advertisers can activate right now. That is a significant advantage in a market where most publishers are still figuring out their post-cookie story.
"IQx is how we know who we're actually reaching. It's not a segment we licensed from a data broker. It's built from real viewership across 200+ stations in your market and everywhere else you need to be. That's the difference between targeting that is statistically probable and targeting that is based on what your audience is actually doing."
Every competitor below represents a real budget conversation AEs are in right now. Here is how to position Nexstar against each one, and why the combination of our inventory, IQx, and Amazon DSP partnership changes the outcome equation entirely.
Nexstar
America's Largest Local Broadcaster
Disney / ABC / Hulu
Entertainment-First Network Play
Spectrum / Charter
Cable/MVPD Distribution Play
Amazon DSP / Freevee
Partner + Competitor Context
We sell Amazon DSP. When a client is running Amazon independently, the conversation is not "us vs. them." It's "imagine what Amazon performs like when IQx is the data layer feeding it."
YouTube / Google
Self-Serve Video Giant
Effectv / Comcast
MVPD Addressable TV Play
Premion / Tegna
Local Broadcaster CTV Competitor
Self-Serve DSPs
The Trade Desk, Simpli.fi, StackAdapt
Sophisticated local agencies and in-house teams are going direct to DSPs and cutting out media partners entirely. This is a real and growing threat, especially Simpli.fi which is purpose-built for local programmatic.
Disney gets you entertainment audiences. Spectrum gets you cable households. Nexstar gets you the communities your brand actually operates in, with local trust, national scale, and first-party data from real viewers across 200+ markets. These are not competing strategies. But if you have to choose where to start, start where your audience already has a relationship with the media they consume.
The CPM conversation is not about being cheaper. It's about reframing what the client is actually buying.
The CPM Objection Response Framework
"If your competitor is running cheap CTV on open exchange inventory and you're running on Nexstar's owned and operated stations, you're not competing on the same field. You're reaching the same DMA, but in a completely different quality environment. That difference shows up in recall, trust, and conversion."