Plexus Media CEO Jason Sukraj explains why the medium could reshape how gambling brands approach television.
For years, television advertising has been treated as a pure brand channel in gambling marketing strategies. But as media consumption shifts and operators demand more measurable returns on marketing spend, that perception is beginning to change.
Connected TV (CTV) – the delivery of television content via streaming platforms on internet-connected devices – is increasingly being viewed as a channel that combines the reach of traditional TV with the accountability of digital advertising.
According to Plexus Media CEO Jason Sukraj, the shift represents more than just a technological upgrade. It could fundamentally change how gambling operators approach television as a marketing tool.
“Gambling brands tend to behave like performance marketers,” Jason explains. “They scrutinise acquisition cost and lifetime value very closely.”
Historically, television delivered reach and credibility, but it lacked the feedback loop operators wanted. “Linear TV has always been about reach and brand credibility. What it didn’t offer was clear visibility into who you actually acquired and what those users did afterwards.”
At the other end of the spectrum sits the affiliate and digital ecosystem, where attribution is clearer but often overly reliant on last-click logic. “That makes those channels very good at capturing demand, but not necessarily at creating it.”
Connected TV, Jason argues, sits between those two worlds.
“The reach gap between linear and streaming isn’t what it was ten years ago. And smart TVs look a lot more like mobile devices than traditional broadcast. That opens the door to making television far more actionable and measurable.”
Targeted Television
The evolution of gambling advertising on traditional television illustrates why this shift matters. When regulated sports betting expanded across the United States, operators often relied on large-scale TV campaigns to establish brand awareness.
“Many brands effectively flooded linear TV,” Jason recalls. “You’d often see a single ‘grand’ ad running across a network for weeks.”
The approach worked for some large operators but came with limitations. “Linear TV can be expensive – not just the media buy, but the creative and operational costs as well. That’s not an approach every brand can sustain.”
CTV introduces greater flexibility. Instead of relying on one broad message, operators can tailor creative and targeting in ways that were previously impossible with broadcast television.
“In most industries, personalisation is core to how you market. The same principle should apply here.”
Without those capabilities, traditional TV campaigns can end up targeting users who have already been acquired. “You’re often serving the same message to people who are already customers.”
Over time, Jason expects operators to move away from focusing solely on early-funnel metrics such as registrations or first-time deposits. “The industry will increasingly focus on the lifetime value of the users it generates.”
Fragmentation
Despite its potential, scaling CTV presents challenges. One of the most common misconceptions, he suggests, is that price always correlates with quality.
“There’s this assumption that expensive inventory automatically means higher quality, and cheap inventory means the opposite. That’s not always true.”
Definitions can also vary across the industry. Some marketers classify video viewed on mobile devices through streaming apps as CTV.
“For us, CTV means lean-back viewing on the biggest screen in the household,” Jason explains. “That’s the core television experience.”
Another issue is fragmentation within the CTV supply chain. Advertisers can buy inventory through individual device ecosystems such as Roku or smart TV operating systems, but that only provides access to inventory within that specific environment.
Alternatively, brands can use broader programmatic buying through demand-side platforms (DSPs). However, this introduces additional layers in the supply chain.
“You add hops: publisher to SSP to DSP to advertiser,” Jason says. “Every hop takes a margin, and the more hops you add the more signals you lose.”
That loss of transparency can make optimisation more difficult.
“A more direct supply path improves efficiency and gives you better insights into things like environment, channel and creative performance. If you optimise CTV purely on last-click attribution, you’re comparing apples to oranges.”
Rethinking Premium
One area where the industry continues to debate definitions is the concept of premium inventory. “Premium means different things to different people,” Jason says.
For Plexus, the baseline definition is simple. “It has to be on the big screen.” Other marketers associate premium inventory with specific content environments, particularly live sports.
But performance outcomes should ultimately determine value. “A user who sees an ad in a high-status environment and doesn’t convert isn’t more valuable than someone reached elsewhere who does convert.”
CTV also allows campaigns to be optimised far more quickly than traditional television.
“With linear TV, you run a campaign, evaluate it afterwards, and then apply those learnings later,” Jason explains. “CTV enables a more responsive approach where you can make adjustments much faster.”
Changing Attribution Models
Measurement remains one of the most important – and misunderstood – elements of CTV advertising. While connected television provides impression-level data, the way many operators evaluate performance still reflects digital channels rather than television.
“Many measurement stacks prioritise last-click attribution with short lookback windows, often around 24 hours,” Jason says. “But TV advertising typically influences behaviour indirectly. People don’t click on a TV ad. They see it, then later search for the brand or visit the site directly.”
Evaluating CTV using the same attribution framework as paid search or affiliates risks undervaluing its impact. “If you optimise CTV purely on last-click attribution, you’re comparing apples to oranges.”
Instead, marketers should adopt longer attribution windows that better reflect how television influences user behaviour. Jason compares the future of media buying to how sportsbook trading teams operate.
“Traders don’t set odds and leave them static. As new information comes in, they adjust.”
Historically, television campaigns have worked differently, with media plans set in advance and reviewed only after campaigns conclude. As CTV generates more data signals, media buying should evolve to resemble a trading environment.
“You ingest signals continuously, learn what’s working, and adjust targeting, creative and supply decisions in near real time.”
The Creative Advantage
While data and optimisation are important, creative strategy remains a critical factor.
“Creative matters,” Jason emphasises. Performance-focused brands should prioritise variation rather than relying on a single brand-driven narrative. “We’ve seen meaningful performance gains simply by rotating creative every 10 to 12 days.”
As new formats and categories emerge such as prediction markets creative opportunities could expand further. “Prediction markets are essentially a gauge of public sentiment,” he adds. “That data can become part of the story you tell.”
CTV allows those narratives to be tailored for different audiences and moments in ways traditional television could not. Ultimately, the channel’s strength lies in combining the scale of television with the responsiveness of digital marketing.
“The combination of faster creative iteration, better optimisation and longer attribution horizons is what turns CTV into a true performance channel,” Jason surmises. “And that’s what makes it fundamentally different from both linear TV and traditional last-click digital advertising.”
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Plexus Media CEO Jason Sukraj explains why the medium could reshape how gambling brands approach television. For years, television advertising has been treated as a pure brand channel in gambling marketing strategies. But as media consumption shifts and operators demand more measurable returns on marketing spend, that perception is beginning to change. Connected TV (CTV)…
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