The new formats run alongside live game action, not during commercial breaks
TEMPE, Ariz., Aug. 11, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Genius Monkey today launched In-Play™ CTV, a live sports advertising product that places brand creative inside the streaming broadcast during game action, not during commercial breaks.
The six formats, including L-bar, picture-in-picture, and shoppable overlays, fire in real time off events in the game itself. A touchdown. A slam dunk. A penalty kick. Two households watching the same play can see different advertisers, with trigger, audience, format, and creative all selected in the moment.
The launch goes after a widening gap in live sports inventory. Streaming is expected to take 43% of US TV ad spending in 2026 but only about 18% of sports TV ad spending, according to eMarketer, even as sports ad spend grows 27% through 2030, roughly four times the rate of the broader converged TV market.
“Live sports is the audience every advertiser wants, and the industry has been monetizing it by interrupting it,” said Jeremy Hudgens, CEO of Genius Monkey. “Second screens come out the second the whistle blows. We put the brand where the fan is already looking.”
Some sports barely stop moving. Soccer, golf, and motorsports carry almost no natural commercial breaks, which leaves some of the most premium attention in streaming out of reach for break-based formats. Genius Monkey estimates In-Play™ CTV delivers 30% more impressions per event than break-based buying alone.
Advertisers don’t need a produced television commercial to participate. Genius Monkey’s creative studio builds all six In-Play™ formats from existing television, social, or display assets.
The conversion case is already on the books. In 2026, Genius Monkey analyzed a subset of their clients totaling 468 participating advertisers running on their platform and found that 38% of CTV-attributed conversions were hard conversions, completed leads and purchases, compared with 11.5% for display.
In-Play™ CTV is available now across major streaming networks, league-owned inventory, and regional sports networks. One insertion order, one flat CPM across all six formats. Full format specifications and coverage detail are at geniusmonkey.com.
About Genius Monkey
Genius Monkey is a full-service programmatic advertising and attribution company headquartered in Tempe, Arizona. Founded in 2009, the company helped coin the term “programmatic advertising,” combines multi-DSP media buying with Pixel Monkey, its proprietary full-funnel attribution system, and works without long-term contracts. Genius Monkey serves clients spanning nearly every industry — from healthcare and home services to retail, legal, automotive, CPG, enterprise and beyond. Learn more at geniusmonkey.com.
CONTACT: Media Contact: Travis Champ Genius Monkey [email protected] geniusmonkey.com
