The Future of CTV Retargeting: Trends Shaping the Landscape in 2025
Published: July 2025 | Last Updated: July 2025
Why CTV Retargeting Is the Hottest Performance Channel in 2025
Connected TV (CTV) retargeting is rapidly redefining the future of e-commerce marketing. In 2025, US CTV ad spend is projected to hit $33.48 billion, up 16.8% year-over-year (eMarketer via MarketingDive). Nearly every top brand—and a growing wave of DTC and Shopify merchants—are betting big on CTV’s ability to drive measurable sales, boost video completion rates to 90–95%, and deliver 28–36% conversion lift through sophisticated retargeting (PebblePost case study).
But here’s the catch: Most industry coverage still fixates on platform features, big-brand programmatic tactics, and surface-level analytics. For e-commerce marketers, what’s sorely missing is an actionable playbook to turn these massive trends into bottom-line growth—especially for Shopify and mid-market brands hungry for ROI.
CTV Retargeting’s Evolution: Data, Trends, and Current Gaps
- CTV outpaces linear TV: Linear TV growth is flat, but CTV sees explosive investment. 68% of the top 100 US brands accelerated TV ad spending in H1 2025 (Samba TV).
- Cross-channel measurement becomes mainstream: New standards, device graphs, and AI analytics mean multi-touch attribution and privacy-safe segmentation are now core requirements for performance-driven campaigns (AI Digital).
- E-commerce brands struggle for clarity: Self-service platforms (JamLoop, Shopify CTV integrations) report surging adoption, yet few guides explain how to link true incremental conversions to actual ad exposure using real data.
- **Case studies validate impact: ** Retailers using holdout tests and device graph tech saw up to 23x ROAS and 36% conversion lift (PebblePost), but workflow blueprints for SMBs remain rare.
Key Weakness: Most competitor content never explains how attribution platforms, especially modern e-commerce-centric solutions, actually connect the dots for mid-sized brands.
Actionable Blueprint: How E-Commerce Brands Win with Advanced CTV Retargeting
Step 1: Move Beyond Surface Analytics – Demand Multi-Touch Attribution
CTV retargeting succeeds when marketers can trace every touchpoint of a customer journey—not just last-touch metrics. Multi-touch attribution platforms prove real incrementality: viewers exposed to CTV ads convert 33–45% higher than standard retargeted audiences (JamLoop), destroying the myth of vanity metrics. Shopify/DTC marketers need this granularity to optimize spend, prove ROAS, and scale efficiently.
Step 2: Unify Cross-Channel Journeys with Attribuly + CTV
This is where Attribuly stands out. Purpose-built for e-commerce marketers, Attribuly delivers:
- Real-time, multi-touch attribution across CTV and all ad channels (Google, Meta, TikTok, Shopify, Bing) — all unified in one dashboard
- Deterministic identity resolution: Connects known and unknown buyers for segmented, privacy-first retargeting
- Automated workflows and segmentation: Trigger personalized campaigns the moment a customer interacts with a CTV ad or another marketing channel
- Server-side tracking: Ensures Shopify brands meet evolving privacy standards, reliably tying CTV exposure to real purchase events
- Branded link builder and AI analytics assistant: Drill into incremental lift, compare models, and find the best performing audiences without extra code or data wrangling
Workflow Example:
- Activate a CTV retargeting campaign: Use Attribuly’s Shopify integration to auto-generate segmented audiences based on site interactions and ad exposures
- Deploy cross-channel follow-up: Attribute conversions from CTV to follow-up ads, email, and social natively, using Attribuly’s automated campaign triggers
- Optimize on real outcomes: Monitor conversion rates in Attribuly dashboards; tests show 28–36% higher conversion in campaigns using multi-channel, multi-touch setup (Criteo GM, Joseph Meehan)
- Iterate rapidly: Harness Attribuly’s AI analytics assistant to adjust bidding, audience mixtures, and creative for true performance improvement
Authority Insights & Benchmarks: Validation from Practitioners
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Expert Commentary:
- Joseph Meehan (Criteo): “AI-powered CTV solutions unify audience data for privacy-safe, performance-driven retargeting; brands gain digital-grade precision and measurability in TV.” (MarketingDive)
- PebblePost Analytics: “CTV incrementality must be measured with deterministic identity; 23x ROAS and 36% lift are achievable for retail brands using privacy-safe workflows.” (PebblePost)
- AI Digital Research Team: “AI-driven contextual targeting and measurement doubles campaign ROAS within months, tracking every outcome back to real e-commerce revenue.” (AI Digital)
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Proven Results:
- Red Bell bakery: 28% sales lift via device-targeted, cross-platform CTV retargeting (Xapads case study).
- PebblePost: Privacy-safe CTV performance product, 36% conversion lift, 23x iROAS (PebblePost launch).
- JamLoop: Direct ROI dashboards for self-service, DTC e-commerce campaigns (JamLoop blog).
Ready for the Future: Top CTV Retargeting Strategies for 2025
Immediate Action Steps for E-commerce Brands:
- Integrate CTV campaigns with a multi-touch attribution platform (Attribuly): Link every ad, channel, and conversion for clear incremental results.
- Automate audience segmentation: Trigger retargeting based on CTV exposure and on-site behavior—no manual data wrangling needed.
- Leverage server-side and privacy-first tracking: Stay ahead of regulatory changes and maximize addressability in CTV.
- Benchmark, optimize, and iterate: Use Attribuly’s AI analytics to find the highest lift opportunities, and deploy workflows that react in real-time.
Future Outlook:
- CTV ad spend will surpass $40B globally by 2027 (eMarketer), with retail/e-commerce leading in innovation
- AI and device graph retargeting will become standard practice
- Privacy-first, server-side measurement and deterministic ID will dominate attribution
- Cross-platform automation and actionable dashboards—not vanity metrics—will define winning campaigns
Bottom Line: Seize the CTV Retargeting Opportunity—Before It Plateaus
CTV retargeting is officially a must-win channel for e-commerce and Shopify brands in 2025. The combination of real-time analytics, multi-touch attribution, automated segmentation, and privacy-safe measurement—powered by platforms like Attribuly—is the proven formula to turn ad dollars into measurable, scalable growth.
Ready to unlock true ROI from your CTV campaigns? Get started with Attribuly for Shopify and e-commerce analytics here.
- Trend Keywords (2025): CTV retargeting, attribution analytics, Shopify CTV integration, e-commerce video ads, multi-touch measurement, incremental lift, server-side tracking, DTC marketing ROI
- Publish date: July 2025. For ongoing updates, bookmark this article and follow Attribuly’s blog.
