Unterföhring, April 21th 2026 – Azerion Austria and Goldvertise Media are continuing the study series for Austria and Germany. The results of the 9th edition show that CTV is being used increasingly individually, opening up significant potential for the advertising market. Conscious content selection is replacing passive consumption and has been proven to increase advertising effectiveness.

The transformation of the television market continues to progress steadily: internet TV is establishing itself alongside traditional reception methods, turning the TV set into an active, multimedia hub in the living room. This is confirmed by the results of the ninth Advanced TV Study by Azerion Austria and Goldvertise Media. For the current survey, 2,500 people aged between 16 and 69 in Austria and Germany were surveyed in January 2026. The analysis clearly shows that CTV has firmly arrived at the center of everyday digital media use.

In addition to established market parameters, this year’s survey also explores new key topics: the mobile use of Advanced TV offerings, second-screen behavior, and shared usage with children. Another focus lies on detailed advertising perception and its impact within CTV offerings. The current edition therefore provides a comprehensive data basis on access, awareness, usage, and advertising effectiveness in CTV, while showing how today’s usage behavior is shaped by targeted content selection and strong connectivity.

Results for Germany in Detail

A detailed look at the German data highlights the market dynamics: at 94%, almost all TV households own at least one internet-enabled TV device. The main access point remains the Smart TV at 68%, while mobile devices are also gaining importance, accounting for 24% of CTV usage. While awareness and usage of CTV offerings among respondents remain consistently high, usage duration continues to increase and is now on par with linear TV usage: at 2:32 hours versus 2:34 hours, users spend almost the same amount of time with linear TV and Connected TV.

Differences can be seen across age groups: while 16- to 49-year-olds already spend more time streaming, 50- to 69-year-olds continue to spend more time with linear TV.

Everyone Watches Differently: Target Group- and Household-Specific Usage Behavior

CTV usage is strongly dependent on target group and household structure. Households with children show the highest usage, while preferences also differ significantly by demographics and household type. Differences can be seen both in the number of apps used and in preferred content genres.

Due to the wide variety of apps and additional features, CTV usage is becoming more active, more conscious, and more strongly curated. The broad selection of content is the most important usage driver, with 85% agreement, followed by time independence at 83%.

CTV also clearly proves to be a shared medium. On average, 2.2 people sit in front of the screen together when using additional features. 90% of respondents use these additional features at least occasionally together with children under the age of 16.

At the same time, users’ willingness to pay has increased compared with the previous year. While more free apps were still being used in 2025, paid apps have now moved into the foreground, with an average of 2.9 apps. The main drivers here are 16- to 29-year-olds, larger households, both averaging 3.4 apps, and households with children, averaging 3.3 apps, who can choose from an even greater variety of content as a result of this development.

Advertising in CTV Is Becoming Increasingly Effective 

Perception, acceptance, and relevance of advertising in the CTV environment are increasing among consumers: two-thirds of respondents noticed advertising, almost half find advertising useful at 53% and helpful at 48%, and 41% of respondents remember the advertising they saw well. Among one-third of users, advertising in CTV even leads to a product purchase.

Overall, the results of the Advanced TV Study 2026 show that the increasing individualization of usage creates higher-quality advertising environments with greater attention and relevance. For advertisers, this means more precise target group targeting and measurably better impact.

The key results of the study can be downloaded here.

About the Study

Azerion Austria and Goldvertise Media are continuing the Advanced TV study series for Austria and Germany, originally launched by the Goldbach Group in 2017. This year, 2,500 people aged between 16 and 69 in Austria and Germany took part in the study, including 1,500 from Germany and 1,000 from Austria.

They were surveyed online on topics including “awareness, type, and usage of Connected TV,” “ownership of internet-enabled TV devices,” “app usage on internet-enabled TV devices,” and “perception and evaluation of advertising in the area of additional features on Connected TV.” The survey took place in January 2026.