Q4 2025 numbers: where the demand actually lived

Q4 2025 was our first full quarter of production traffic. We promised ourselves we would publish numbers, both the flattering ones and the ones we'd rather not. Here are the patterns from October through December, and what they are telling us about 2026.

Above expectations: ambient and edutainment

Sleep and ambient FAST channels paid better than we modeled. Average eCPM net to publisher was $14.60 across this category. We had expected $7 to $10. Three reasons we figured out after the fact:

• Sessions were long. Average viewer session in this category exceeded 90 minutes. That is six to eight ad slots per session, and the slots performed well.
• Brand safety scores on this category were near-perfect. Advertisers paid premium for it without much friction.
• Supply was thin. There were not many high-quality ambient channels operating, so demand stacked.

Niche kids edutainment came in at $19.20 net. Slightly above our model. Premium category, low supply, high attention. We expect this to compress as more channels enter the niche, but not by much.

Below expectations: news and politics

News and politics-adjacent inventory came in at $4.80 net. We had budgeted $8 to $12. The gap was almost entirely brand safety. Our top advertisers had pre-existing exclusions on most political-adjacent content, including a lot of inventory that our publishers thought of as news rather than politics.

Publishers in this category were not happy with us. The feedback was fair. We did not represent how aggressive the brand-safety blockers would be at the higher end of the demand stack. We are working on more granular contextual classification so that real news inventory does not get caught up in political-adjacent filters. This is a 2026 priority.

The thing that surprised us: Spanish-language CTV

Hispanic-targeted DSPs paid 1.4x premium for impressions on Spanish-language inventory throughout the quarter. The DSPs had budget. The supply was thin. We had two publishers with meaningful Spanish-locale inventory, and they ran 80% sold-through rates by mid-November.

This is the most underserved high-value supply gap we surfaced last quarter. We are actively recruiting Spanish-language and bilingual publishers in Q1 2026. If you operate a CTV or FAST channel with meaningful Spanish-language audience, we would like to talk.

The boring success: gaming compilations

Kid-safe Minecraft, Roblox, and Fortnite compilation channels were our most consistent performers. Average session: 38 minutes. Average ads served per session: 9.2. Repeat visits: high. eCPM: respectable. Margin: steady.

There is nothing flashy about these channels. They show kids gameplay clips that kids enjoy watching. The ads serve. The viewers come back. A few of the publishers in this niche are quietly our best contribution-margin contributors.

Three things we are taking into 2026

• Spanish-language supply is the highest-leverage gap to close. We are weighting recruitment heavily this quarter.
• Ambient and wellness inventory keeps being undervalued in industry conversation. We are leaning into it.
• Brand-safety classification needs to get more granular before we can do justice to news publishers. Building.

Full data, broken out by category, is available in the transparency report. If you want a deeper cut for a specific category, ask us.