Rakuten TV has announced the consolidation of its B2B division under the unified Rakuten TV Enterprise brand, representing the next phase of the company’s growth in its services for advertisers, agencies, publishers, TV operators, and telcos.
As one of Europe’s most experienced CTV and streaming experts, Rakuten TV created Rakuten TV Enterprise with the mission to simplify CTV and streaming while building a more open, trustworthy and thriving ecosystem for partners. The division brings together all of the company’s business-facing capabilities – including advertising – under one integrated brand.
At the core of the Enterprise offer is CTVision+, a premium publisher collection that consolidates high-quality CTV inventory across Europe. CTVision+ delivers pan-European scale with local relevance by combining brand-safe environments, advanced audience targeting, transparent buying paths, and independent verification. It is designed to meet the needs of agencies and brands seeking simplicity in a fragmented ecosystem, enabling effective and scalable CTV campaigns with confidence.
New Digital Age spoke to Chris Edwards, Senior Director of Media (UK) at Rakuten TV Enterprise to find out more…
Tell me about your role.
I’ve been with Rakuten TV for nearly six years. I came on board to launch the commercial side of our streaming service back in 2019, and since then I’ve seen the streaming space evolve dramatically. Today I lead the UK division, running sales and support teams that monetise our platform. We work primarily with media agencies, and that means wearing many hats, talking to AV teams, digital teams, and social teams. For many advertisers, CTV is still an anomaly. It sits in both digital and AV, so our job is to simplify the space and help agencies navigate it.
Rakuten TV has launched Rakuten TV Enterprise – what is it and who is it for?
Rakuten TV Enterprise is about consolidating our business units and expanding beyond video advertising. We can now offer advertisers and agencies solutions that span display, custom formats, and UI integrations, as well as video. We also support publishers, telcos and ad operators, helping them build FAST channels and launch apps. In short, it’s a one-stop shop that brings together everything from premium advertising inventory to publisher technology.
How does it build on what Rakuten offered before? What new opportunities does it create?
Last year we launched CTVision+ to give advertisers a simplified view of the CTV space. We don’t just monetise our own platform, we work with publisher partners, incorporate their inventory, and bring it all together in a single, brand-safe, premium environment. Agencies can access scale through one deal ID, rather than stitching together a dozen fragmented buys. Add to that our local expertise in every major European market, and it means we can deliver multi-market campaigns with both scale and local nuance.
What sort of support are brands/agencies asking for in relation to leveraging CTV?
Most of the budgets going into CTV are coming out of digital, but with the big-screen experience, AV teams are naturally involved too. Some agencies have adapted quickly by merging AV and digital, or building curated marketplaces to make buying simpler. Others are still catching up. As a publisher, we can cut through that complexity. The marketplace is incredibly fragmented, with new players arriving all the time. Simplifying that journey for agencies is absolutely critical.
Despite the steady growth of CTV revenues, the bulk of TV ad spend is still going to linear channels – what factors are holding back CTV growth?
Standardisation and measurement are still the big hurdles. Ideally, TV would just be measured as TV, not linear, CTV, AVOD, or FAST, but total TV. Until we get there, fragmentation makes it harder for agencies. At Rakuten, transparency is key. We offer a fully transparent stack and work to optimise supply so buyers know exactly what they’re getting. We’re not here to replace linear; it’s still the core of most media plans. What we provide is the incremental reach, the audiences that have moved away from live TV and prefer to consume on demand.
What does success look like for Rakuten TV Enterprise over the next 2 or 3 years?
With Enterprise, the sky really is the limit. We’re constantly evolving, whether that’s developing new FAST channels, creating custom formats that can be bought programmatically, or building deeper partnerships with telcos and OEMs to bring Rakuten TV content to every screen. Our growth strategy is about making our branded content accessible across platforms, and building solutions that serve advertisers, publishers, and tech partners alike.
We’re a B2B-driven business now, and our role is to hold brands’ hands as they explore this space. Whether it’s building their own channel, running contextual campaigns, or creating bespoke activations, we can go far beyond the old scattergun approach. We can work with brands to align with their KPIs and challenges, and deliver something granular and precise on the big screen. That’s where the opportunity lies, and there’s so much more to explore.
