Independent demand-side platform Viant Technology reported record second-quarter 2026 results on August 10: revenue of $104.3 million, up 34% year over year, with contribution ex-TAC up 24% and adjusted EBITDA up 26%. The standout line was CTV, where advertiser spend rose nearly 50% year over year and now accounts for more than half of all spend transacted on the platform. Viant also disclosed it began testing TVision’s pre-bid attention intelligence directly inside its platform, giving advertisers what the company calls first-of-its-kind verified attention metrics for CTV targeting and measurement.
This matters because it is independent, third-party confirmation that CTV ad dollars are not consolidating exclusively inside the walled gardens. “Viant delivered record second-quarter results, exceeding the high end of our guidance range,” said co-founder and CEO Tim Vanderhook, who said the company is entering an accelerated growth phase. CFO Larry Madden noted that “revenue increased 34%, exceeding the high-point of our guidance, while Contribution ex-TAC increased 24%.” Direct Access, Viant’s model for transacting CTV inventory without traditional supply-chain intermediaries, now covers more than 80% of the platform’s CTV spend, up from roughly half just one quarter earlier.
The original insight: that jump in Direct Access share, doubling in a single quarter, is a bigger signal than the headline revenue growth. It means advertisers buying through Viant are increasingly routing CTV budget in a way that cuts out a layer of the supply chain entirely, not just picking an independent DSP over a walled garden. Combined with pre-bid attention data from TVision, Viant is positioning its pitch to advertisers as fewer intermediaries plus better verified targeting, a combination that directly challenges the assumption that CTV measurement quality is something only the platforms themselves can offer.
Related: CTV Ad Dollars Keep Routing Through Outside DSPs and Ad Decisioning Is Migrating to the Supply Side.
