Television is a long-standing medium for brands looking for extensive reach across their audiences. It is a key tactic for building awareness and increasing share of voice. Today, it continues to be very powerful with over 245M TV viewers in the U.S. who watch live or recorded video on a set. However, the TV landscape is shifting. Consumers are sharing their time between linear and CTV services, in addition to other forms of digital video.
Today, there are over 223M connected TV viewers in the U.S., and it’s poised to continuously grow to over 235M ahead of 2025. As a result, marketers need to be planning their television buys with a holistic approach, understanding that the only way to have comprehensive audience reach is to tap into both linear and connected television channels and using a measurement partner to understand impact and incrementality.
According to The Trade Desk’s “Future of TV” report, 47% of U.S. TV viewers are already cordless. Another 42% plan to “cut the cord” or minimize traditional television spend within the year. However, the achievable scale on linear definitely makes it still a key channel. There are always going to be some consumers who exclusively view on linear, as well as consumers who exclusively stream. This means both channels must be incorporated into media plans to reach your target audience in a non-skippable environment where your brand message is showcased.
Another major reason brands who have traditionally used linear are now looking more heavily into CTV is incrementality. In fact, according to eMarketer this is the second most common reason for using CTV apart from targeting capabilities. This approach has worked well for many brands, including Hershey who saw the consumer trends and understood the need to act. This extends beyond Amazon to other OTT/CTV like Hulu, Roku, Tubi, Discovery+, and more.
There are measurement partners who go beyond impressions or gross ratings points to understand how TV ads impact bottom line. This is achievable through tools such as lift studies. These studies interpret lift in overall brand awareness and lift in conversions, whether that is site visitation or actual purchases. In the world of the pending deprecation of third-party cookies and iOS 15, attributing business results to media channels is going to become more challenging. Fortunately, television does not depend on cookies and will become an even more valuable channel.
Related Thoughts
In tandem with the upcoming deprecation of the third-party cookie, there is a substantial opportunity for marketers to better reach consumers through this premium medium. However, it is critical to approach connected TV strategically, to connect with your broader business goals in order to achieve the best return on your investment.
As we begin to explore the world of cookieless digital advertising, marketers will likely be focusing much of their attention on walled gardens that have robust amounts of users and, therefore, valuable first-party data.
Short-form videos are what consumers want to watch – whether on TikTok, Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, or Snapchat Spotlight.
