What CTV Attribution Is
CTV attribution measures what connected TV ads do for an app. Connected TV covers ads on smart TVs, streaming devices and TV apps, the large screen in the living room. They reach a lot of people, but no one taps a TV ad, and the app gets installed on a different device entirely: the phone in the viewer's hand.
So CTV attribution has to solve a cross-device problem without a click. It does that by connecting the TV impression and the phone install through something they share, usually the household network.
How It Works
- The ad runs on a TV. A CTV ad partner serves the ad on a streaming app or smart TV in a household.
- The impression is reported. The partner sends the impression server-to-server to the attribution platform, with details such as the household IP address and the time.
- A phone installs the app. Someone in the household installs the app on a phone connected to the same home network.
- The platform matches. If the install's IP matches a recent TV impression inside the view-through window, the install is credited to the CTV campaign as a view-through conversion.
Because there is no click, this is a form of view-through attribution, and because it links two devices, it is also a kind of cross-device attribution.
Strengths and Limits
Strengths. CTV attribution puts TV in the same reporting as other channels. Teams can compare TV-driven installs, their retention and revenue, with paid social and search, instead of judging TV on reach alone.
Limits. Household IP matching is an estimate, not a deterministic link.
- Many devices share one IP: everyone at home, and sometimes many homes on carrier networks.
- Phones move between home Wi-Fi and mobile data, so some installs happen off the household network.
- Longer windows catch more coincidental installs.
That makes CTV numbers directional. They show where TV is likely working, not exactly how many installs it caused.
Reading CTV Results
- Use short windows. Hours, not days, keep coincidental matches down.
- Check the baseline. Compare installs from households that saw the ad with your normal install rate from similar households.
- Look at total lift. TV also raises brand search, store visits and organic installs that never match an impression. Compare total installs in regions where TV ran with regions where it did not.
- Prove it with a holdout. A geo holdout group or incrementality test is the best way to know what TV adds.
CTV Attribution in Linkrunner
Linkrunner's CTV attribution covers connected-TV ad impressions sent server-to-server by partners, matched to app installs through household IP view-through, with impressions shown in reporting. TV-driven installs sit alongside every other channel, with the same cohorts, retention and revenue views. See mobile attribution for how CTV fits with click-based matching, which always takes priority over impressions.
Privacy Considerations
IP addresses are personal data under laws such as the GDPR and India's DPDPA. CTV measurement should run under a clear legal basis, keep IP data only as long as matching needs it, and avoid using household matches to build profiles of individuals. Ask each CTV partner how they collect consent on the TV side and what they send with each impression.