Navigating the Convergence of TV and Streaming TV

Staying ahead of trends among TV viewers has never been more important for marketers. As linear and streaming TV converge, and the number of ways to access content expands, advertisers need resources to track how viewers watch TV, the content they’re consuming, and the platforms they engage with most. With the right perspective and tools, savvy advertisers can execute end-to-end multiscreen media campaigns that achieve success in this evolving landscape.

The View from the Viewer:

The average American spends five hours a day tuning in across TVs, smartphones, laptops, and tablets.¹ Most of what Americans watch they view live, and streaming TV continues to grow rapidly, now accounting for 30 percent of total TV viewership.² Whether through cable, a streaming app, or internet connection, advertisers can reach practically all audiences on TV.

A 2022 study on “The State of Converged TV” from leading industry measurement company InnovidXP suggests that the most important multiscreen marketing elements advertisers face are; targeting, viewership, currency, and measurement.³ Let’s explore these topics more closely.

An advanced data-driven targeting approach should be considered “table stakes” as advertisers seek smarter strategies to find the right audiences. With access to best-in-class, first-party data (such as TV-viewing data) and multiple, robust third-party data sets (such as Experian data), the right partner can help businesses identify audiences with the highest propensity to act when exposed to a commercial message.

Spectrum Reach’s proprietary aggregated and de-identified first-party data layered with second and third-party aggregated data from leading industry cross-category partners, can deliver an advertiser’s target audience across all screens and platforms.

This data-informed approach can also boost campaign effectiveness and efficiency by identifying sometimes hard-to-find and underserved audiences that are valuable and ready to engage.

By harmonizing viewership and purchasing behaviors with geographic targeting, available inventory, and price, campaigns can be optimized. And once the audience that has the highest propensity to act has been identified, advertisers can begin to build out a multiscreen campaign that can deliver messages to targeted customers no matter what, where, or how they’re watching.

From linear TV to streaming TV, device-to-device, it is critical for advertisers to obtain an accurate and stable view of video viewing to precisely measure audiences in local TV markets. There are many options in the marketplace for partners, but for true, local measurement that can validate your investment, Comscore is the industry leader.

Their massive database of 40 million households provides continuous measurement from one-out-of-every-three US TV-viewing households. And Comscore’s reporting includes key audience information, including income, education, age, gender, and ethnicity, as well as home and auto ownership information.

A major outcome of the convergence of TV and streaming TV is the shift to impressions as a currency for buying TV. According to a 2022 study from TV Squared by Innovid on “The State of Converged TV”, 73 percent of marketers that were surveyed agreed that all forms of TV should be sold on impressions, the number of individual and household ad exposures.³

Historically, ad space has generally been sold based on media ratings, and panel-based results expressed as a percentage of populations. And while Marketers should make the most out of the multiple currencies that are available, it’s important to look for local TV advertising and advertising partners that offer the option to choose impressions as their currency (and partners which may work with audience measurement companies like ComScore).

In fact, Spectrum Reach and Comscore have revolutionized local TV campaign measurement with near-Census level reporting for impressions that combines viewing with consumer behavior attributes, and provides advertisers with a privacy-compliant, alternate audience currency. Businesses can buy and measure local multiscreen TV viewership with true accuracy, and a holistic view across multiscreen campaigns.

As television viewing continues to evolve, advertisers need transparent and consistent reporting to understand trends and ensure they are meeting their advertising goals. Spectrum Reach offers measurement solutions that provide marketers with best-in-class campaign reporting insights, allowing them to optimize future media plans.

Marketers need tools to reliably measure how many people saw their ad (reach), and how often they saw it (frequency). Spectrum Reach offers a unique and holistic reach and frequency solution, measuring the exposure across all live linear TV networks, streaming TV, and Video on Demand (VOD) platforms, in a privacy-compliant manner.

This solution complements Reach and Frequency by adding insights on website visits that were driven by your TV and streaming TV campaign. At its core, attribution looks to inform advertisers about those that were exposed to an ad and then took action.

1. Multiscreen Reach and Frequency: Marketers need tools to reliably measure how many people saw their ad (reach), and how often they saw it (frequency). Spectrum Reach offers a unique and holistic reach and frequency solution, measuring the exposure across all live linear TV networks, streaming TV, and Video on Demand (VOD) platforms, in a privacy-compliant manner.
2. Multiscreen Attribution: This solution complements Reach and Frequency by adding insights on website visits that were driven by your TV and streaming TV campaign. At its core, attribution looks to inform advertisers about those that were exposed to an ad and then took action.

Navigating the Complexity of a Multiscreen World

Spectrum Reach is helping advertisers maximize campaign performance, making each campaign better than the last. Our insights on targeting, viewership, currency, and advanced media and attribution measurement help advertisers find a path to greater campaign success.

Let Spectrum Reach help you find the right advertising strategy backed by the right data to ensure you reach the best audience for your business, across all screens, platforms, and devices.

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