Organized by Smadex alongside ChinaJoy 2026, CTV Live! Shanghai brought together app marketers, game publishers, measurement specialists, agencies, and media platforms to discuss how CTV is becoming a measurable performance channel.

The event marked the first CTV Live! edition in Asia, but the focus was firmly on practical industry insights and what advertisers need to make CTV work.

App marketers, game publishers, measurement specialists, agencies, and media platforms came together to address one practical question:

How can advertisers turn the biggest screen in the home into measurable installs, paying users, retention, and ROAS?

The sessions moved beyond the case for CTV and focused on execution: how to measure its real contribution, how to connect big-screen exposure with mobile outcomes, how to optimize media and creative, and how to scale campaigns with confidence.

Performance marketers are used to immediate mobile feedback loops: a user clicks an ad, installs an app, and the MMP attributes the conversion. CTV creates a different journey. Someone may watch an ad on television, search for the product later, see a mobile ad, and install the app hours afterward.

A last-click model may credit the final mobile interaction while missing the CTV exposure that created the initial interest.

Modern CTV measurement can connect these touchpoints through:

• Household IP, device signals, and timestamp matching;
• QR codes that link TV exposure to an app store visit and install;
• Multi-touch analysis that recognizes CTV’s assist role;
• Unified reporting across installs, revenue, in-app events, retention, and LTV;
• Incrementality tests that identify conversions created by CTV.

CTV should not be judged only by click-based mobile acquisition standards. View-through attribution, cross-device measurement, and incrementality provide a more complete view of its contribution.

The big screen creates impact, but impact alone does not guarantee results. Performance depends on what happens before, during, and after each impression.

At Smadex, we treat CTV as a performance channel, not simply another source of video inventory.

Our technology evaluates approximately nine million advertising opportunities every second. It processes household, contextual, attribution, and campaign signals to predict conversion probability and potential user value. Deep neural network models then help optimize bids toward CPI, CPA, and ROAS goals.

The Smadex Performance CTV engine brings together several capabilities:

• Household and cross-device intelligence: CTV is viewed on a shared household screen, while conversion usually happens on a personal mobile device. Household IP and cross-device signals help connect these environments and identify audiences with a higher likelihood of taking action.

• Predictive value modeling: Not every impression or install has the same value. Smadex models evaluate signals linked to installation, monetization, retention, and LTV before a bid is placed.

• Dynamic bidding: Bids are adjusted according to the predicted value of each opportunity and the advertiser’s performance goals, rather than optimized for exposure alone.

• Inventory and creative optimization: Performance varies across publishers, placements, audiences, times, and creative concepts. Smadex continuously analyzes these differences and shifts investment toward stronger combinations.

• Outcome-based learning: Installs, registrations, purchases, retention, and revenue feed back into the optimization process, allowing campaigns to improve over time. The objective is simple: do not just buy impressions – make every impression work toward a measurable result.

CTV should not operate separately from mobile user acquisition.

Research shared at the event indicated that 88% of users use their phones while watching television. This creates a natural division of roles:

• The big screen builds attention, memory, and trust.
• The small screen captures search, installs, registrations, and purchases.

CTV can influence results beyond directly attributed installs. A television ad may prompt a later brand search, improve conversion from a social impression, or make a retargeting message feel more familiar.

Search captures intent

A strong CTV ad can create demand that later appears through brand search, app store search, or organic discovery. Growth teams should monitor these signals when a CTV campaign launches.

Social converts primed audiences

A user who first sees a product on CTV may be more likely to convert after seeing it again on social media. The television exposure has already explained the value proposition and reduced friction.

Mobile DSPs close the loop

Mobile advertising remains effective at driving immediate action. CTV complements it by reaching audiences outside the traditional mobile acquisition loop and creating additional signals for optimization.

The two screens do not compete. When managed together, they form one growth system.

CTV supply is distributed across OEM home screens, premium streaming platforms, FAST services, live content, and in-stream video. Advertisers must also manage different creative formats, buying routes, measurement capabilities, privacy requirements, and inventory quality standards.

A practical starting framework is:

One market x one primary KPI x two placement types x three creative concepts

Before launch, advertisers should align on:

• The target market and audience;
• Whether the objective is acquisition or retargeting;
• The primary KPI;
• MMP access and post-install events;
• Two complementary placement types;
• At least three creative concepts;
• Inventory quality and fraud controls;
• Clear scaling thresholds, such as iCPI, iCPA, D7 ROAS, or incremental lift.

Start with a focused test, build a reliable learning loop, and scale when the data supports it.

The closing panel showed that there is no universal CTV playbook. Each category must define the role of the big screen according to its product, audience, and monetization model.

Gaming: turn product moments into events

For games, CTV is well-suited to launches, major updates, seasonal content, and new characters. A 15- or 30-second creative can introduce the world, gameplay, and rewards, while mobile ads, search, and retargeting capture the resulting demand.

Relevant metrics include installs, returning users, progression events, payer rate, and D7 or D30 ROAS.

Short-form drama: use the screen where content belongs

CTV is a natural environment for entertainment. Short-form drama advertisers can use trailers, emotional tension, and cliffhangers to attract attention, then direct viewers to the app through QR codes, search, or mobile advertising.

Measurement should extend to content consumption, subscriptions, and paid episode conversion.

Subscription and utility apps: explain value before asking for action

For utility and subscription apps, the big screen provides space to show how the product works. Success should be evaluated across the full journey:

Install -> Trial -> Subscription -> Renewal -> LTV

CTV often influences users earlier in the journey. Its impact may appear in stronger brand search, better mobile conversion rates, higher payer rates, improved retention, or increased LTV.

The right framework depends on the category:

• Games: payer rate, progression events, retention, and D7 or D30 ROAS;
• Short-form drama: activation, content engagement, subscriptions, and paid episode conversion;
• Local services: registration, first order, and repeat purchase;
• Subscription apps: trial, cost per subscriber, renewal, and D30 LTV;
• Cross-channel impact: brand search, organic installs, mobile CPA, and incremental lift.

The key question is not only how many users installed after seeing an ad. It is whether CTV helped acquire more valuable users and created growth that would not otherwise have happened.

CTV creative is not a mobile video enlarged for television. The screen is bigger, the viewing distance is longer, sound matters more, and users often cannot click directly.

Key creative principles include:

• Show the product or central hook within the first three to five seconds;
• Use high-resolution 16:9 assets;
• Keep text large, short, and easy to read;
• Keep the brand or app name visible;
• Use sound to support the story and call to action;
• End with clear instructions, app store badges, or a persistent QR code;
• Prepare 6-, 15-, and 30-second versions;
• Adapt language, pacing, humor, and visuals for each market.

CTV production no longer requires traditional television budgets or timelines. Existing high-quality assets can often be repurposed, while AI-assisted tools can speed up editing, resizing, localization, and testing.

CTV Live! Shanghai showed how the industry is moving from broad interest in CTV to practical questions about measurement, optimization, creative, and scale.

As the organizer, Smadex created the event to move the industry conversation forward. The goal was not simply to promote CTV, but to bring together the perspectives needed to make it work: measurement, media quality, creative, cross-screen strategy, and business outcomes.

Smadex supports this growth through:

• Premium global CTV inventory;
• Direct and transparent supply relationships;
• Household IP and cross-device intelligence;
• Large-scale data processing;
• DNN models trained for CTV performance;
• Predictive bidding based on conversion probability and user value;
• Continuous optimization across audiences, inventory, and creative;
• Measurement across installs, revenue, retention, LTV, and ROAS;
• A unified approach to CTV and mobile user acquisition.

The big screen builds attention, explains value, and creates intent. The small screen captures action. Smadex connects both within one performance growth loop.

The first Asian edition of CTV Live! was an important milestone, but the more important story is how quickly Performance CTV is maturing. Smadex will continue bringing the industry together and turning shared insights into repeatable growth strategies.

CTV Live! Shanghai was only the start of a wider conversation. Smadex will continue moving forward with Performance CTV as a measurable, scalable, and always-on channel for global app growth.