What You Need To Know To Successfully Execute Comprehensive TV Ad Campaigns
The TV advertising ecosystem is more complicated today than ever before.
It’s not just about linear TV versus connected TV (CTV) anymore — the world has moved beyond that. With major shifts like linear TV viewership continuing to decline and different services bundling together, it’s become increasingly harder to confidently choose where and how to best spend your TV advertising dollars.
The good news? We’ve got your back. In this guide, we’ll walk you through the current TV advertising landscape, the key players involved and some practical tips and considerations for developing your TV advertising strategy so you can have the knowledge you need to be successful.
Table of Contents
- What Is Convergent TV Advertising and Why Is It Important?
- The Key Players in the Convergent TV Advertising Ecosystem
- Recent TV Stats and Trends
- How To Create a Successful Convergent TV Advertising Strategy
- Convergent TV Glossary
- Buy Convergent TV Advertising With Confidence
What Is Convergent TV Advertising and Why Is It Important?
Convergent TV — also known as “converged TV” — combines any kind of linear TV and advanced TV. When we refer to advanced TV, we mean any TV content outside of linear TV models. Advanced TV usually includes CTV, over-the-top (OTT) streaming, TV Everywhere, video on-demand (VOD), subscription video on-demand (SVOD), ad-based video on-demand (AVOD) and free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST).
Convergent TV advertising is when you advertise to consumers on any of these TV types.
Just a few years ago, marketers focused on advanced TV and its capabilities. That worked then, but things aren’t as simple anymore. Today’s viewers watch TV in many different formats — sometimes all at once. Even as streaming continues taking precedence, linear retains its importance with live sports and tentpole events like the Olympics. We now need to shift our focus to be more holistic, to something that encompasses both linear and advanced TV advertising — hence, convergent TV.
Since TV has become more complex, you need to adjust your TV advertising strategy. Continuing to work in silos keeps you from fully reaching your consumers where they are and duplicates reach and frequency — that is, where you could be overserving your audiences with an ad, which could potentially diminish their brand perspective.
Instead, factor in the types of TV your target audience(s) may be watching and the devices they’ll be using and consider using multiple TV advertising types in your ad campaigns.
The Key Players in the Convergent TV Advertising Ecosystem
Here’s a snapshot of the current TV landscape:
Feel like your brain is about to explode yet? You’re not alone. As you can see in the graphic above, the TV world has grown increasingly more and more fragmented.
Linear and advanced TV have blurred together, with traditional linear broadcasting companies like NBCUniversal owning subscription-based OTT services such as Peacock.
So, of all of the different players involved in TV, who are the ones to pay attention to? Andrea Kwiatek, director of strategic partnerships at Goodway, recommends you specifically keep your eye on these service types when developing your TV advertising strategy.
Bundled Services
As more and more players have entered the market, consumers now face many choices when deciding what to watch. The problem is that there may be too many choices. According to a 2023 Nielsen study, 20% of viewers — 1 in 5 — stop streaming altogether in one session due to content choice fatigue. TV is also expensive, with the average U.S. household spending $732 per year on four streaming services.
To combat this fatigue and amplify their business models, some of the industry’s heavy hitters have joined forces. Some recent examples are the Max, Hulu and Disney+ bundle available via Warner Bros. Discovery and Disney and the StreamSaver bundle from Comcast that includes Peacock, Netflix and Apple TV+. “This trend is expected to continue — and some might say we are going back to a ‘cable-like’ experience,” Andrea said.
The Reduction of Walled Gardens in CTV
Until recently, you could only buy Netflix inventory through Xandr and Roku inventory through OneView. This year, however, the walled gardens of CTV have crumbled. More ad-supported inventory is readily available to buyers.
Now, you can buy Netflix inventory through Netflix itself, especially if you’re transacting programmatically. It was announced in May that Netflix inventory will be available in the following demand-side platforms (DSPs): Google Display & Video 360 (DV360), The Trade Desk and Magnite. When it comes to Roku, its first-party data can now be leveraged through all the major DSPs like Yahoo DSP, The Trade Desk and DV360, among others.
TV Trends To Watch Out For
Linear TV’s Decline Continues
Source: GWI
Cord-cutting has steadily increased since COVID, with older generations (Gen X and baby boomers) opting for subscription-based models like their Gen Z and millennial counterparts.
According to Samba TV’s H2 2023 State of Viewership Report, linear reach was down and flat in H2 2023 compared to H1 2023 (as well as down 4% compared to H2 2022) — a change from the previous three years, when linear reach would traditionally spike during the second half of the year.
Per this report, the number of OTT hours viewed in Q4 2023 increased by 18% compared to Q3 2022. The average time spent per day increased from 1:34 in 2021 to 2:11 in 2023. Linear hours viewed decreased in Q3 and Q4 2023 and have decreased overall from an average time spent per day of 3:16 in 2021 to an average time spent per day of 2:40 in 2023.
Samba TV’s H1 2024 State of Viewership Report had similar findings. OTT consumption hit a record high in H1 (a 40% increase since 2023), while linear dropped 1% YoY — the lowest levels since before the pandemic. Linear’s average daily reach declined by 2%.
CTV Viewership and Ad Spend Continue To Increase
CTV viewership will continue its upward ascension over the next two years. According to EMARKETER, CTV users are predicted to increase by 1.8% in 2025 (238 million) and by 1.6% in 2026 (241.9 million). Since 2022, CTV viewership has only grown.
CTV ad spending is continuing to increase as well. In 2025, it’s predicted to increase by 13.3% to $32.57 billion, and in 2026, we can anticipate a 12.1% increase to $36.53 billion.
EMARKETER also predicted that CTV will account for all ad spend growth in the converged TV market after 2024.
FAST Is Cementing Its Popularity in Streaming
Samba TV’s H2 2023 report reveals that FAST services saw an increase in viewership from 2022 to 2023. 33% of U.S. streamers reportedly are FAST subscribers. EMARKETER estimates that almost 1/3 of the U.S. population (11.5 million people) will use a FAST service once per month in 2024. Moreover, 32% of viewers reported they’re watching less SVOD and 23% of are watching less linear TV because of FAST in the Samba TV report.
The most popular FAST services are Roku, Tubi and Pluto. EMARKETER reported that FAST ad revenues will reach an estimated $18 billion in 2028.
Subscription Cycling Remains a Problem
Of the 100M U.S. households that watched OTT content during H2 2023 per Samba TV, 46% of watched two or fewer services during the same time.
Plus, over 50% of Gen Z, millennial, Gen X and baby boomer viewers reported their plans to subscription cycle within the next six months. This reflects a Forbes survey of 1,000 Americans, which reported that 45% have canceled a streaming subscription within the past year because they were too expensive.
Bundling, however, will prevent churn. Samba’s H1 2024 report showed that there’s a 2 – 6-point difference in the churn rate between bundled SVODs (Apple One and the Disney Bundle) versus standalone SVODs (Apple TV+, Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+).
The Ways To Access Inventory May Shift
Historically, there have been three paths to purchase CTV inventory: via device/operating systems (Roku, Amazon, Samsung, etc.), via programmatic platforms (The Trade Desk, Microsoft, FreeWheel, etc.), and via streaming services content publishers (Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, etc.).
But it’s possible buyers may skip DSPs in favor of direct connections through publishers like Innovid’s Harmony, Tatari or TV Scientific. However, it’s also likely that DSPs will still offer other brands and agencies advantages to purchasing inventory.
Popular TV Ads Will Have Five Critical Themes
EDO analyzed the most effective ads across industries in H1 2024 and noted the five key themes that drove the most consumer engagement with the ads:
- Vibrant, eye-catching color palette.
- Humorous content aimed at eliciting strong laughter.
- Soundtrack featuring a range of musical genres and artists.
- Cameo appearances by notable public figures.
- Incorporation of current social themes and cultural moments.
How To Create a Successful Convergent TV Advertising Strategy: A 7-Step Framework
So, given TV advertising’s convoluted state and the fact you’ll most likely want to use more than one TV advertising type (on top of the other kinds of ads you may be running), how can you effectively develop and execute a convergent TV advertising strategy?
We talked with Andrea as well as some of Goodway’s CTV and ad campaign experts including Retail Investment Lead Laura Taylor and Senior Trading Consultant Sarah Howcroft to best provide you with a framework you can use when creating your strategy. Here’s what they had to say.
1. Always Start With Your Audience
Focus on your target audience first because TV advertising is so complex, and the way audiences watch TV is complex. Each generation consumes video differently, using multiple channels and device types. You may even discover variations by location.
Only once you fully understand who they are, what they care about and how and when they consume media — as well as future trends — can you begin conceptualizing your strategy.
So, how do you get the data you need, whether demographics, psychographics, audience behaviors or media consumption habits? Start with your own first-party data. Use your customer relationship management (CRM) to uncover who your tried-and-true current audience is. Who is already purchasing your product or service? What information can you glean about people you’re already seeing success with?
Then, use solutions like Goodway’s Passport One™, which you can use to understand your consumer attributes, purchasing power and media consumption habits; enrich your data segments; and learn the best way to reach your audience. Passport One™ also allows you to build a high-value audience if you do not collect your brand’s or client’s first-party data. In addition, you can lean into content owners’ data — e.g., Comcast, Roku and Disney.
For CTV-related data specifically, Laura advised: “Go where your audience is overindexing and utilize one of the many insights analytics tools that are available to see what they are watching. With Samsung’s DSP, for instance, you can upload your audience, and it will tell you where your audience is overindexing on.”
Once you have this data and analyze it, layer in consumer research from platforms like GWI and IBISWorld, create buyer personas and eventually build dynamic audiences.
2. Choose Where TV Advertising Aligns in Your Customer Journey
Next, develop a customer journey for your target market from awareness to conversion. Identify the role media plays in the buying process and which media types lead to ideal, specific actions.
Convergent TV advertising can be viewed as part of a full-funnel strategy unless it’s part of a purely awareness-driven, top-of-funnel campaign, so identify where it would fit in with the overall customer journey.
Also, look at whether convergent TV advertising works best when paired with other ad types. CTV is a great option for this in particular. “If you’re advertising on CTV, you can complement your buys with other formats, thus reaching your audience throughout the customer journey, driving more conversions and sales,” Sarah said.
Finally, consider what your audience is doing when they’re watching content. According to Samba TV, three in four adults look at a mobile device while watching TV, and eight in 10 of those U.S. adults look at a mobile device more than half the time while watching TV. In addition, one in three U.S. adults shop online while streaming TV. Find ways to maximize your company’s impact across two screens.
3. Identify the Business Objectives (Outcomes) and KPIs for Your Campaign
Next, focus on measurement. What outcomes are you trying to achieve? Which KPIs do you need for your campaign, and what funnel stage are you using TV advertising for?
For example, for advanced TV, you may want to choose one of these KPIs:
- Awareness KPIs: Frequency overlap and incremental reach reporting.
- Consideration KPIs: Brand lift and inferred brand intent.
- Purchase KPIs: Online and offline actions, conversion lift, sales lift, and first-to-market retail measurement.
When choosing your ideal business outcomes and KPIs, keep in mind what you can track per the TV strategy type you use. See what data is available and if you have the data attribution tools you need to truly track a consumer throughout the entire customer journey.
Since not all of the signals are fully available for advanced TV, you may need access to three measurement methodologies to fully track outcomes: media mix modeling (MMM), incrementality testing and an attribution solution.
4. Choose Your Media Channels and Allocate Your Budget
Once you’ve identified your target audience, how they engage with TV, what key metrics you want to achieve and how and when your audience will interact with ads throughout the buying process, select the different media channels and advertising types you’d like to pursue with your strategy.
Use your budget to inform this. Then, allocate it as needed by your audiences and the different types of ads you’ll use and the frequency of these ads.
5. Select TV Platforms and Publishers To Help You Achieve Your KPIs
Now, you need to tie it all together by determining how you will activate your convergent TV buy.
Here are some tips to follow during this process.
Get in Touch With Publishers First
Work with publishers to identify the preferred way to access their inventory that benefits you (and if you’re an agency, your clients).
“Working with publishers directly gives you access to knowledge about the various content types where your ads can be placed — not to mention unique opportunities for sponsorships, product placement, home screen placements, shopping ads, etc.,” Andrea said. “If you don’t have a way to get in touch with a publisher directly, Goodway can help — we can leverage our direct relationships with the top publishers, content owners and various buying platforms to achieve this.”
Meet With DSPs and Publishers To Gather Critical Information
Use these meetings to better understand any best practices the DSPs and publishers have and any key partnerships they have in place. Also, inquire about DSPs and publishers’ buying capabilities, features and benefits. “Determine their advantages and their limitations,” Laura said. “What’s offered by a certain platform you can’t get elsewhere?”
But you don’t have to do this alone. “Leaning on an agency like Goodway ensures you are activating with experts who map out best practices and standards for quality media activation,” Andrea explained. “We will know the best way to place a buy whether programmatic or direct.”
Be Mindful of Transparency Issues
CTV and other forms of advanced TV are known for transparency problems; that’s where positive relationships and partners can prove beneficial.
“If you work directly with a publisher, you can curate the inventory for accurate audience reach. Knowing ahead of time what inventory you’re buying means the publisher can help you optimize to goals,” Andrea explained. “You don’t want to utilize the open exchange for CTV — you’ll run the risk of buying fraudulent inventory, or content you don’t wish to be aligned to.”
The issue with transparency in CTV is the reporting — that is, knowing what content your ad placement ran on. A lot of the premium broadcast publishers still have carriage agreements, which prevent the ability to share show-level content through the bidstream for reporting. However, by working directly with publishers, often you can receive a report from them post-campaign versus accessing it directly in a DSP.
“Also, if you curate the inventory you want to run on — let’s say by genre or category with a publisher — then you’ll have a better idea of what content your ads were placed in,” Andrea said. “Another option Goodway has been testing is buying through an ad server, which provides us with more transparency, scale and efficiencies instead of just using a DSP.”
Ask Each Platform How They Classify Premium Content
With the lack of transparency and measurement in the convergent TV advertising space, many platforms are taking it upon themselves to classify what is “premium,” so ask them directly to define this so you know if their definition of “premium content” aligns with yours.
Planning on completely outsourcing your paid advertising to a marketing agency? While you may not meet with DSPs and publishers yourself, it’s helpful to do your own research about different DSPs and publishers so you can identify if the agencies you’re evaluating have the relationships you need to best place your ads and meet your business objectives. Plus, consider looking for DSP- and inventory-agnostic media partners (like Goodway) so you have more available options and unbiased ad placement approaches.
6. Start Large, Then Go Small
Apply the most crucial targeting criteria to start. The broader you go with your targeting, the more reach you will have — and most of the times, save some costs along the way.
By doing so, you can spend less and learn more at first, then spend more when you’ve isolated and narrowed down your audience to the people who are actually converting. You’ll also ensure you’re spreading out your marketing dollars evenly and aren’t wasting money by overserving ads to consumers.
7. Test, Test and Test Some More
As with any marketing campaign, don’t just set it and forget it. Constantly test different methods, audiences, avenues and ad options with your TV advertising campaign. See if you can increase conversions or if you need to adjust your strategy based on the KPIs you may or may not meet. This will help you achieve the most success in your campaigns.
Convergent TV Glossary
Advanced TV
This is the umbrella term that refers to several forms of streaming TV content, including connected TV, TV everywhere, video on demand (VOD) and programmatic TV. It’s the IAB’s catchall term for all forms of TV not watched through a broadcast, cable or satellite connection on a television.
AVOD
Ad-based videos on-demand are subscription-based streaming services that deliver shows and movies for a fee and include ads.
CTV
Connected TV refers to the devices used to watch OTT services – i.e., smart TVs, game consoles and streaming devices like the Amazon Fire TV Stick.
FAST
A free ad-supported streaming TV business model delivers linear channels supported by advertisements via free apps.
Programmatic TV
This is when you buy linear TV ads programmatically and serve them during live programming. With the largest scale, programmatic TV is perfect for brand awareness campaigns seeking national exposure. (Programmatic TV is also referred to as addressable linear if addressable targeting is layered onto the ad.)
SVOD
Subscription video on-demand is a streaming service business model that charges a subscription to consumers so they can access content on demand.
TV Everywhere
TV Everywhere is a type of business model where viewers watch a streaming app like Hulu or Netflix on their smartphones or tablets.
VOD
Video on demand is a TV service model where consumers watch shows that previously aired on a satellite or cable provider’s app.
Buy Convergent TV Advertising With Confidence
With this knowledge and these steps under your belt, you’re well on your way to successfully executing your convergent TV advertising campaigns this year.
Looking for a partner to help power your convergent TV strategy? We can help. Contact us today to learn how our team can bring your TV advertising to another level.
Michelle Philippon is a content marketing manager at Goodway Group. A creative and results-driven marketer with a record for producing captivating content, Michelle loves working with Goodway’s internal subject matter experts (SMEs) to provide useful insights to help marketers power their marketing campaigns to achieve meaningful outcomes. Michelle has over 10 years of experience writing for both business and consumer audiences. She lives in Cleveland, Ohio, where she enjoys reading, hiking through Cleveland’s many metroparks, making jewelry from sea glass and drinking way too much coffee.