Paramount+ opens programmatic access to live sports inventory

Paramount+ is aggressively advancing the frontier of programmatic live sports advertising on Connected TV (CTV) by expanding premium inventory access, integrating sophisticated AI-driven technologies, and pioneering privacy-first, multi-source attribution frameworks. These developments come amid an increasingly complex ecosystem shaped by evolving privacy mandates, supply-path transparency challenges, and rapid technological innovation. By combining expanded premium live sports inventory with cutting-edge programmatic workflows and robust measurement solutions, Paramount+ is redefining how advertisers engage passionate sports audiences in real time—across both video and audio platforms—while safeguarding brand safety and creative integrity.

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Expanded Programmatic Access to Premium Live Sports Inventory and Live Audio Streaming

Building on its earlier expansion, Paramount+ has notably broadened its programmatic offering to include a more diverse and prestigious array of professional leagues, collegiate athletics, and international competitions. This enhanced portfolio delivers advertisers unrivaled reach to highly engaged, contextually relevant sports audiences across multiple sports verticals, deepening engagement and precision targeting.

Simultaneously, Paramount+ has strategically extended its programmatic footprint into live sports audio streaming, a rapidly growing channel for fan engagement. Partnerships with leading audio platforms such as Cadent, DAX U.S., and collegiate sports audio leader Learfield have unlocked immersive programmatic audio inventory. Industry experts increasingly recognize live sports audio as evolving beyond a mere brand awareness tool into a fully integrated component of Martech stacks—leveraging customer data platforms (CDPs), programmatic buying, and omnichannel triggers to achieve measurable campaign outcomes.

Key Highlights:

• Access to marquee leagues and tournaments across pro, college, and international sports.
• Expanded audio inventory enables advertisers to reach fans during live broadcasts, pre- and post-game shows, and ancillary content.
• Audio programmatic integrates with video campaigns for synchronized, multi-format brand storytelling.

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Cutting-Edge Technology Stack Enables Real-Time, Emotionally Resonant Ad Experiences

At the heart of Paramount+’s programmatic live sports innovation is a sophisticated technology ecosystem designed to deliver dynamic, contextually precise ads that resonate emotionally with viewers in real time:

• Advanced Dynamic Ad Insertion (DAI): By ingesting real-time game data—such as scoring swings, momentum changes, and pivotal moments—Paramount+ dynamically tailors ad creatives mid-broadcast. This hyper-contextual ad delivery ensures messaging aligns tightly with the live sports narrative, boosting viewer engagement and brand recall.

• Near-Zero Latency Server-Guided Ad Insertion (SGAI): Paramount+’s refined SGAI infrastructure enables ultra-low latency ad delivery, preserving an uninterrupted, immersive viewing experience critical during high-stakes moments.

• AI-Driven Creative Automation: Tools like MNTN QuickFrame facilitate near real-time generation of dynamic video ads customized to live game events and evolving audience segments. Furthermore, the rebranded Matchpoint Creative Labs (formerly IndiCue), now under Cineverse, has enhanced AI-assisted creative workflows for live sports. Cineverse’s stock surge—from $7.50 to $11.00 per share—signals strong market confidence in AI-driven creative personalization as a competitive differentiator.

• Creative Optimization and Attribution: iSpot’s AI Agent provides granular, real-time insights into viewer engagement, brand recall, and conversions, enabling agile campaign refinement during broadcasts. Simultaneously, EDO’s Always-On Attribution Platform and conversational AI ChatEDO™ transform complex cross-platform data into near real-time actionable insights, empowering advertisers to dynamically optimize campaigns as live events unfold.

• Sales Lift and Retail Attribution: Collaborations with Becausal deliver continuous sales lift measurement, while integration with Infillion’s Catalina retail purchase data provides essential point-of-sale attribution—critical for CPG and retail advertisers aiming to quantify live sports advertising ROI.

• Enhanced Audience Analytics: Partnerships with Tubi/Nielsen and VideoAmp/TVision incorporate co-viewing and cross-device behavior data, refining targeting and campaign optimization strategies.

Together, these technologies enable advertisers to exploit the emotional intensity and spontaneity of live sports, delivering real-time, contextually aligned messaging that deeply resonates with sophisticated sports audiences.

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Streamlining Programmatic Workflows with Agentic AI and Interoperability Innovations

Recognizing the operational complexities inherent in live sports programmatic advertising, Paramount+ integrates agentic AI-driven interoperability solutions that reduce friction, accelerate bidding, and automate deal workflows:

• Prebid’s Agentic AI automates interoperability between demand- and supply-side platforms, optimizing real-time bidding (RTB) efficiency and minimizing latency.

• The Chalice AI and PubMatic Agentic Interoperability Initiative enhances seamless data exchange and workflow automation, optimizing inventory management and bid efficiency across platforms.

• The introduction of Smoot’s Sift platform adds a self-service deal automation layer, empowering advertisers and publishers to automate programmatic negotiations with minimal manual intervention.

• KNOREX’s Agentic AI-Ready Ads API extends automation to orchestrate cross-channel campaigns spanning programmatic, Meta, and Google Ads environments.

• Emerging ad-tech innovators like RAD Intel, with its newly launched RAD Amplify platform under a dedicated holding company, enrich the AI-powered programmatic ecosystem, indirectly bolstering Paramount+’s programmatic environment.

This layered agentic AI infrastructure streamlines campaign execution, enabling advertisers to capitalize on premium live sports inventory with greater speed, precision, and operational scale.

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Privacy-First, Multi-Source Measurement Framework Addresses Identity Fragmentation

In an era marked by declining third-party identifiers and heightened privacy regulations, Paramount+ has architected a robust, multi-layered attribution framework emphasizing transparency, accuracy, and compliance:

• A pioneering joint initiative between Index Exchange and Gracenote enables show-level proof-of-purchase verification, directly linking CTV impressions to retail sales. This innovation significantly bolsters advertiser confidence by providing transparent, verifiable ROI metrics.

• Integration of Catalina retail purchase data via Infillion adds a critical point-of-sale attribution dimension, allowing advertisers to measure the true consumer impact of live sports advertising.

• Becausal’s Always-On Sales Lift Measurement continuously delivers incremental sales insights, enabling mid-game campaign adjustments.

• Partnerships with Tubi/Nielsen and VideoAmp/TVision enhance audience analytics by incorporating co-viewing and cross-device signals, improving targeting precision and campaign efficacy.

• Advanced AI-powered tools such as iSpot SAGE Automated TV Ad Analysis and Domo’s Marketing Mix Modeling (MMM) provide frameworks for dynamic media planning and creative optimization.

• Paramount+ champions contextual targeting by syncing ads dynamically with live game narratives and viewer signals—a privacy-conscious strategy endorsed by industry leaders like Magnite’s Ryan Kenney.

• The platform’s reliance on first-party data methodologies, inspired by DISH Media’s direct customer signals, reduces dependence on third-party cookies or IP targeting, enhancing audience fidelity and attribution accuracy.

• To better address diverse audiences, Paramount+ has expanded multicultural programmatic addressability through partnerships like Canela Media’s collaboration with LiveRamp, leveraging cross-platform customer matching to boost campaign effectiveness.

• The recent integration of IRIS.TV’s contextual targeting technology further strengthens Paramount+’s privacy-first, non-identifier-based CTV performance. Field Garthwaite of IRIS.TV emphasizes this approach as essential for maintaining targeting precision while respecting privacy in the evolving CTV landscape.

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Navigating Supply-Path Transparency Amid Industry Realignments

The programmatic advertising supply chain continues to face scrutiny over transparency and fee structures:

• Major holding companies such as Dentsu and WPP have notably withdrawn from The Trade Desk’s OpenPath program, citing opaque fee models and insufficient supply-path visibility. This underscores a broader industry demand for trust and transparency in programmatic buying.

• In response, The Trade Desk launched the Ventura Ecosystem, a streaming platform designed to foster a more transparent, equitable advertising environment.

• Paramount+’s comprehensive approach—featuring transparent show-level attribution, multi-source measurement, and interoperable workflows—positions it as a trusted partner for advertisers seeking clarity, reliability, and accountability in live sports CTV programmatic.

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Enhancing Persona-Based CTV Targeting with Ogury and Maintaining Human Oversight

Paramount+ has further enhanced its targeting arsenal by integrating persona-based CTV advertising capabilities through collaboration with Ogury. Ogury’s expansion into CTV enables advertisers to leverage rich persona data for precise audience segmentation beyond traditional demographics, facilitating hyper-targeted, privacy-conscious campaigns that authentically resonate with viewers.

Despite extensive AI automation and agentic workflows, Paramount+ maintains a human-in-the-loop operational model to:

• Navigate platform and device fragmentation, ensuring cohesive campaign execution across a fragmented ecosystem.

• Standardize measurement and transparency across multiple supply- and demand-side technologies.

• Safeguard brand safety, storytelling nuance, and strategic judgment amid fast-evolving automated workflows.

This balanced approach preserves creative quality and advertiser trust—both critical for success in the dynamic live sports programmatic environment.

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Ecosystem Momentum and Market Confidence Reinforce Paramount+’s Leadership

Paramount+ both benefits from and actively contributes to a vibrant ecosystem of AI-driven programmatic innovation:

• The launch of RAD Amplify by RAD Intel’s holding company exemplifies growing momentum in AI-powered ad tech solutions that enhance programmatic capabilities.

• Advances in KNOREX’s Ads API and Samsung Ads’ ad formats and demand generation enrich the technical infrastructure supporting premium live sports programmatic advertising.

• The addition of Smoot’s Sift platform introduces a novel agentic infrastructure layer for deal automation, streamlining workflows and boosting operational efficiency.

• Cineverse’s valuation growth following the IndiCue acquisition underscores AI-powered creative workflows as a formidable market differentiator, bolstering confidence across the broader programmatic sports advertising ecosystem.

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Conclusion: Defining the Future of Scalable, Transparent Programmatic Live Sports Advertising

Paramount+’s evolving programmatic ecosystem represents a multi-dimensional, AI-augmented framework that sets new standards for live sports advertising by:

• Delivering real-time, mid-broadcast dynamic ad insertion tightly synchronized with live sports narratives to maximize emotional and contextual relevance.

• Accelerating AI-driven creative automation through partnerships with MNTN QuickFrame, Matchpoint Creative Labs, and iSpot.

• Providing continuous conversational attribution and measurement via EDO’s ChatEDO™, enabling near real-time campaign transparency and optimization.

• Unlocking exclusive premium live sports CTV and audio inventory, broadening monetization channels and audience engagement opportunities.

• Streamlining campaign delivery with agentic AI integrations including Prebid, Chalice AI, KNOREX, Smoot, and RAD Intel.

• Enhancing attribution accuracy through privacy-compliant, multi-source measurement incorporating retail sales data, co-viewing analytics, persona-based targeting, contextual signals, and first-party data methodologies.

• Maintaining a balanced human-AI operational approach that protects brand safety and creative nuance without sacrificing scale.

• Demonstrating robust market confidence and ecosystem innovation, reinforcing AI-powered creative workflows and programmatic orchestration as key competitive advantages.

As live sports continue to dominate CTV viewership, Paramount+ is decisively reshaping programmatic sports advertising—empowering advertisers to connect authentically with passionate fan bases while delivering superior outcomes in an increasingly complex, privacy-conscious, and technologically sophisticated industry landscape.