CTV Sports Audience Playbook: How to Get Your Brand Into the Game

Sports has always been one of the most powerful environments for advertising.

Big audiences. High attention. Real-time engagement.

What’s changed is who can actually access it.

For years, sports TV advertising was limited to brands with massive budgets and agency buying power. If you weren’t spending big, you weren’t in the game.

Now, self-serve CTV advertising platforms like Paramount Ads Manager are leveling the playing field making it easy for businesses of any size to buy TV ads online, show up alongside popular sports programming, reach engaged fans, and measure real results, all without the traditional barriers of connected TV advertising.

This is your playbook for how to do it.

Why sports audiences matter more than ever

If you’re looking at streaming TV ads trends, one thing is clear: sports is still consistently delivering attention (and driving action) at scale.

• Nearly 50% of the U.S. population are live sports viewers
• Digital live sports audiences are projected to reach 121.1 million viewers this year (+5.8% YoY)
• 83% of sports fans say TV ads influence their purchase decisions when searching online.

At the same time, behavior is shifting. Fans aren’t just watching live games on cable. They’re streaming highlights, replays, and live events across devices. Which means streaming sports advertising and OTT advertising more broadly is becoming a bigger part of how brands reach these audiences.

Take March Madness this year:

• The 2026 NCAA Men’s Tournament averaged 10.3M viewers (+9% YoY), the most-watched tournament since 1993
• The Sweet 16 averaged 11.5M viewers (+18% YoY)
• The Duke vs. UConn game reached 13.4M average viewers, peaking at 18.9M

Source: Nielsen Big Data+Panel, Live+SD

And those views were tied directly to performance:

• Ads during March Madness delivered an attention index of 119, meaning they performed 19% better than the TV industry average
• The first weekend alone generated 14.5 billion impressions across 7,326 airings

For advertisers, this is what makes CTV sports advertising so valuable. You’re not just buying impressions. You’re buying attention at a CPM for streaming ads that’s competitive with premium linear TV

And Paramount is at the center of it. Paramount+ was the leader in sports programming in Q1, now accounting for 30% of all games, events, and sports show episodes across major SVOD platforms.

When to activate: key sports moments to plan around

One of the biggest advantages of CTV is timing. Our 2026 CTV Guide planning calendar can help you align your campaigns around major sports moments that will be streaming across CBS Sports and Paramount+ like:

• Global soccer games: Coming soon: 5/30 UEFA Champions League Final
• UFC fight nights: Paramount+ will be streaming 350+ hours of live UFC content per year!
• Golf majors and seasonal tournaments: Like the upcoming PGA Championship on 5/11
• NFL games and recaps: CBS Sports HQ drives 10M+ average monthly unique viewers during NFL season (Source: Nielsen Big Data + Panel, Live + SD, 9/4/25 - 1/4/26) and CBS Sports HQ drives 10M+ average monthly unique viewers during NFL season (Source: Paramount O&O Data from Adobe Analytics + Partner Data: Sept 2024-Jan 2025)

These aren’t just spikes in viewership. They’re moments when audiences are most engaged. Planning around them helps you get more value from your CTV advertising spend.

How to reach sports audiences with CTV

If you’re thinking about advertising in sports, the goal isn’t just to show up during a game. It’s to show up around the full viewing experience.

1. Go beyond the game itself

When a major sports event is on air, sports audiences are streaming:

• Pre-game and post-game content
• Highlights and recaps
• Sports talk shows and interviews

That creates more entry points for sports TV advertising and for streaming ads for small business without competing for the most expensive slots.

2. Start broad, then refine

One of the biggest advantages of CTV ad networks for sports audience targeting is flexibility. Instead of over-targeting upfront:

• Start with broader sports audiences
• Use performance data to refine down to hyperlocal streaming ads with zip code targeting across all 210 US DMAs and 42,000 zip codes
• Double down on high-performing segments

This helps you maximize reach while still improving efficiency over time the kind of precision that makes CTV a true alternative to legacy local TV advertising.

3. Use premium environments to your advantage

Context matters. Running ads alongside live sports, sports talk, or related programming naturally aligns your brand with high engagement, shared viewing moments, and trusted content environments the kind of addressable TV advertising context that older OTT advertising platforms can’t always deliver.

That alignment is a big part of why advertising in sports continues to outperform

So, make sure to follow these best practices when running your ads during major sports moments:

• Get to the point quickly. Sports viewers don’t want a slow build.
• Keep messaging simple and bold so it lands mid-game or mid-conversation
• Use confident, energetic pacing that matches the intensity of the game.
• Run short, punchy brand or offer-focused spots that feel like a “timeout moment.

4. Measure what actually matters

Modern CTV tools for measuring sports campaign performance like Paramount Ads Manager make CTV attribution simple connecting exposure to outcomes in real time through the Ads Manager Pixel.

In real time, you can measure your ads’ direct impact on:

• Website visits
• Purchases
• Cost per visit
• And more

Get off the bench & into the game

Sports advertising and TV advertising for small business in general isn’t just for big brands anymore.

With Paramount Ads Manager, the self-serve CTV platform built for US small businesses and agencies, you can:

• Access premium sports and entertainment inventory across Paramount+, Pluto TV, CBS, CBS Sports and more
• Launch campaigns quickly through our self-serve advertising platform live in 24 hours from $500
• Target the right audiences in the right place across 210 DMAs and 42,000 zip codes on Paramount premium streaming networks
• Measure campaign performance in real time with full CTV attribution

In short: Paramount is where sports audiences go to watch their favorite players. And Paramount Ads Manager is where you go to win them over even if it’s your first time TV advertising.

Get your brand in front of sports fans >