Connected television in Spain has reached a point where nearly every internet user watches it, yet the advertising industry is still working out how to measure its impact reliably. IAB Spain this month published the fifth edition of its annual Connected TV study, revealing that 95% of Spanish internet users between 16 and 75 years old – approximately 34.3 million people – consume content through connected television. The study was presented on May 6, 2026, sponsored by Publiespaรฑa and prepared in collaboration with Elogia.
The headline penetration figure has now held at 95% for three consecutive years – 2024, 2025, and 2026 – a plateau that the study's authors interpret not as stagnation but as structural maturity. For context, Spain's total population between 16 and 75 stands at 37.6 million according to INE data, with internet users representing 96% of that figure, or 36.1 million people. Connected TV users – those who access audiovisual content through the internet on a Smart TV or any device connected to a television screen – account for 95% of that internet population. Nine out of ten Spanish internet users, in other words, are active CTV consumers.
Methodology and scope
The study draws on two parallel research streams conducted in March and April 2026. The consumer survey covered 1,000 respondents – men and women aged 16 to 75 who use the internet – using computer-assisted web interviewing via online panels. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.2 percentage points at 95.5% confidence with p=q=0.5. The professional survey captured 104 respondents from across the digital advertising industry: agencies, AdTech and MarTech companies, publishers, and advertisers. That sample carries a margin of error of plus or minus 9.8 percentage points at the same confidence level.
The definition of connected TV used in both questionnaires is precise: audiovisual content accessed via the internet…