Basics of Traditional TV Advertising: a Beginner Guide

Linear TV advertising has been a staple in the advertising industry for decades. It's a powerful way to reach a wide audience and build brand awareness. But for those new to the world of traditional TV advertising, it can be overwhelming to navigate the different options and strategies available. In this guide, we'll break down the basics of traditional TV advertising so you can create a campaign that reaches your target audience and achieves your business goals.

“TV advertising” can be a confusing term, particularly in the age of streaming TV. Generally, we refer to “linear TV advertising” as everything that would fall under “traditional TV advertising” (i.e., TV advertising that is aired according to a network schedule and not streamed via the internet to a TV). CTV (connected TV), on the other hand, refers to streaming TV (like Hulu, Disney+, or Netflix, for example.) to an internet-enabled TV (either directly connected or through an internet-enabled set-top box). OTT refers to television content that is streamed to any device – a connected TV, laptop, tablet, or mobile device.

In this article (and section), we will discuss the different types of traditional TV advertising (and how to create them). If you want to learn more about CTV advertising, do check out our Ultimate Guide to Connected TV Advertising.

Want to learn more about linear TV? Keep reading and find out more.

Understanding the different types of TV advertising

There are several different types of TV advertising, each with its own strengths and weaknesses. The most common types include:

National TV advertising

This type of advertising is broadcast to a national audience on networks and cable channels. It's typically more expensive than other types of TV advertising, but it allows you to reach a large audience quickly throughout the US. Generally, premium content and local buys in high-demand markets have higher cost per mille (CPMs) – and national TV has lower CPMs, but higher reach (and thus, higher total spend as well.)

Local TV advertising (Spot TV advertising)

This type of advertising is broadcast to a local audience on local affiliates of broadcast networks and cable channels. Though they may have higher CPMs, especially in the top metro areas, it's typically less expensive than national advertising because it reaches a smaller, geographically concentrated audience. However, even if an advertiser is not fully national but has a significant footprint throughout the US, national TV may be more economical than local.

Direct Response advertising

This type of advertising is broadcast during specific shows or time slots on networks and cable channels on a non-guaranteed basis. A network or its affiliate may choose to preempt them at will (usually when there’s a more attractive offer for a given spot.) It's typically less expensive than national or local advertising, but it allows you to pay for the spot only if the ad airs.

Types of TV advertising by medium

In terms of the mediums used in TV advertising, we differentiate based on how ads are delivered to viewers:

Linear TV advertising

Linear TV advertising is the traditional method of delivering TV ads. It involves showing them during a scheduled program on a set network or channel. This type of advertising includes both national and local TV ads.

Streaming TV advertising

Streaming TV advertising is a method of delivering TV ads. It involves showing them during a streaming program on platforms like Peacock, Disney+, or Roku. This type of advertising includes both national and geotargeted “local” TV ads.

Is TV advertising effective?

Many are tempted to believe TV advertising died an untimely death at the end of the 1990s when online banner ads made a splash on the marketing scene. However, TV advertising is still widely used and continues to be effective for many brands. In fact, according to Kantar, in 2021, 78% of people said they trusted TV ads. What might be even more shocking for TV ad naysayers is the consumers in the same survey put more trust in TV ads than influencer recommendations (71%), online ads (68%), and social media ads (64%.)

TV advertising is not a solution for everyone -- but neither are online banner ads, Google Ads, or any other form of marketing or advertising. In fact, most marketers benefit from leveraging multiple advertising channels – the important thing for them to keep in mind is that advertising channels should not be kept in siloes but should be part of an integrated marketing approach.

TV advertising is still very effective for most advertising use cases, including (but not limited to:)

• Creating brand awareness
• Reaching a mass audience quickly and easily
• Building trust with consumers
• Drive consideration and outcomes (such as visits to your site or even lower-funnel acquisition)

How to choose the right TV advertising channel

Once you've decided on the type of TV advertising you want to use, you'll need to choose the right channel to reach your target audience. The most popular channels include:

Broadcast Network

The original broadcast networks like ABC, NBC, and CBS and their subsequent followers have a wide audience and are great for reaching a broad demographic.

Cable

Cable channels like ESPN, HGTV, and TLC have a more specific audience and are great for reaching a niche demographic.

Streaming

Streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime Video have a growing audience and are great for reaching a younger demographic, cord-cutters and cord-nevers.

Creating a compelling TV ad

Advertising history is full of memorable TV moments. The Christmas Coca-Cola truck ad. The Old Spice “Man Your Man Could Smell Like.” The Budweiser frogs. They were all ads that transcended TV advertising and became cultural touchpoints. Creating a compelling TV ad is the key to standing out and making an impact on your audience.

While there may not be a universally valid recipe for creating compelling TV ads, there are some best practices you can use:

Keep it simple

People don't watch TV to be given an academic lecture on a product's features and benefits. TV ads are meant to be entertaining, so keep it simple and get your message across quickly.

Make an emotional connection

TV is a powerful medium for evoking emotions, and the best TV ads tap into this by creating an emotional connection with their audience. Whether through humor, nostalgia, or heartwarming moments, connecting emotionally with your audience can make your ad more memorable.

Use storytelling

Humans are very fond of storytelling. We like to put ourselves in the hero's shoes, and TV advertising has perfected this art. Use storytelling techniques to engage your audience and leave a lasting impression.

Use attractive visuals

Want to make sure your audience won't change the channel when your ad comes on? Use visually appealing shots and graphics to grab their attention and keep them engaged. The more memorable and eye-catching your ad is, the more likely it will stick with viewers.

Make it actionable

If your goal is to make your TV ad actionable, include a clear, easy-to-remember call to action (CTA) that directs viewers on what to do next, whether it's visiting a website, calling a phone number, or using a specific hashtag on social media. Ensure the CTA is prominently displayed and repeated if necessary to reinforce the action you want the audience to take.

A growing trend is to also use QR Codes which, ever since everyone in the US got used to them during the pandemic, has become ubiquitous. Some audiences have gotten used to seeing QR codes on TV ads and pulling out their phones to scan them. As an advertiser, you’ll want to ensure that QR codes are large enough to be seen and scanned and stay on the screen long enough for people to register, feel interested enough to scan, pull out their phone, and aim their camera at the TV screen.

Measuring the success of TV advertising campaigns

Once your TV advertising campaign is up and running, it's important to measure its success to see if it's achieving your business goals. There are several metrics you can use to measure the success of your campaign, including:

Reach

Ad reach refers to the number of unique viewers in your specific target audience who saw your ad at least once during your campaign. A high reach means your ad has been seen by a large amount of your target audience, which is beneficial for building brand awareness among your most promising prospects.

Frequency

Frequency is a metric defined by the number of times an individual has been exposed to your ad. It's essential to keep track of frequency to ensure you're not overexposing your audience, leading to ad fatigue and decreased effectiveness. We are big advocates of prioritizing reach over frequency because the most effective way to drive lift is seen when moving an audience’s frequency from 0 to 1.

Impressions

Your viewership is determined by the number of people who watched your ad. The impression metric is an essential metric for measuring the scale of your campaign, but one unit of impression may drive one unit of reach or one unit of frequency, so it’s important not to simply fixate on impressions.

Visits

You might not know for certain if someone visits your website as a direct result of your TV ad. However, you can measure spikes in visits to your website in a given time slot after airing your ad. It’s a type of measurement based on correlation, for sure – but a pretty solid one. If your ad airs at 9:05 pm and, for the following 30 minutes, your website gets a spike in traffic, the only logical conclusion is that your ad worked – and even more so if this happens regularly.

Sales

In traditional advertising, sales are measured by tracking the number of purchases made after an ad is aired. While this isn't as straightforward for TV advertising as it is for online ads where clicks can lead directly to a purchase, it's still important to track sales above an expected baseline and see if there has been a positive lift on your bottom line.

App Installs

Just like website visits, app installs are a correlation-based metric. For example, if your TV ad promotes a new app for your company (say, an app that helps you find coupons for beauty products) and app installs spike after airing the ad in a given time slot, it can be considered a measure of success.

Visits, Events, and Conversions on Site

In traditional advertising, you can measure site visits by assessing how many direct website hits you’ve had in a given time span after airing an ad. It is not a perfect measure, but it can still be a great starting point.

Similarly, you can measure site events and conversions and either deterministically attribute them (common in CTV) or predictively correlate them (common in linear TV) with the persuasiveness of your ads.

To strengthen the attribution on linear TV, you can always tie a lower-funnel event attribution to some attributed upper-funnel event. For example, you can probabilistically attribute an upper-funnel site visit that happens within 15 minutes of a linear ad airing, then have a 30-day attribution window for lower-funnel events and only attribute shopping cart purchases that happen from the same households that registered earlier to the upper-funnel attributed site visit event.

Strengths and weaknesses of traditional media

Traditional TV comes with a lot of pros and cons. As mentioned before, it might not be a good fit for everyone -- but if you're at least considering it, you should familiarize yourself with its strengths and weaknesses.

Strengths

• Mass reach: TV has the potential to reach a large audience rapidly, making it an excellent choice for brand awareness campaigns.
• High engagement: People tend to pay attention to TV ads more than other forms of advertising, as they are often well-produced with attractive visuals and storytelling techniques.
• The biggest screen in the house. Despite high smartphone usage, the TV remains the biggest machine story for pretty much everyone. It usually shows non-skippable video that occupies the full screen.
• Credibility: As a well-established medium, TV holds trust and credibility in the eyes of consumers.

Weaknesses

• High cost: TV advertising can be expensive, especially during prime time slots or on popular channels. However, keep in mind that this is not always true – in many situations, running TV ads can be just as cost-effective or even cheaper than many other digital channels, such as paid search or paid social, which have become extraordinarily competitive over the past few years.
• Limited targeting options: While some TV networks allow targeted advertising based on demographics, traditional TV advertising does not generally offer the same level of specificity as online advertising. However, Simulmedia enables you to overcome this challenge with very specific segment-based targeting so you can show your ads to the ideal audience.
• Delay in measuring success: Traditional media doesn't offer real-time metrics, making it difficult to track the immediate impact of ad campaigns. Nonetheless, with the advent of ACR technologies and automated report processing, measuring the impact of TV can be done much faster than the past

Strengths

Weaknesses

- Mass reach: TV reaches large audiences

- High cost: TV ads can be expensive (which is not always the case – TV ads can have competitive pricing too)

- High engagement: Viewers pay attention to ads on the TV, the biggest screen in the house

- Limited targeting options (which you can overcome by using a service like Simulmedia)

- Credibility: TV is trusted by consumers

- Difficulty in measuring success

How to buy traditional TV ads

If you decide to buy traditional TV ads, you need to know there are three main ways to do it:

Buying in the upfront market

The upfront market is where advertisers buy ad space for the upcoming TV season in advance. This method allows for securing top spots and often comes with discounted rates. Normally, you get access to this market by working with a media agency or partner that has already established reputable connections to the networks.

Buying in the scatter market

The scatter market is where advertisers buy ad space closer to the air date, allowing for more flexibility and potentially lower costs. To get ads in the scatter market, you can:

• Go through a media buying agency
• Work directly with the networks’ sales team (which also works for remnant ads)
• Empower your in-house team or agency with a platform (like Simulmedia, for example)

Buying remnant inventory

Remnant inventory is the leftover ad space networks that didn't sell in the upfront or scatter market. It's often available at discounted rates and can be a cost-effective option for smaller businesses. However, remnant inventory comes with less certainty about whether or not the ad will air since the network may pre-empt it depending on demand. Most often, remnant inventory is used by direct response campaigns (like teleshopping commercials, for example).

Can you optimize traditional media buys?

Traditional media is less flexible and less easy to optimize than online ads. For example, you can easily change keyword or demographic targeting on Google Ads or Facebook Ads. You can't do that as easily on TV, but that doesn't mean you can't optimize your traditional media buys.

Digital advertising allows you to optimize your ads on the go from different perspectives:

• Creatives
• Audience
• Placements
• Timing (Dayparts)

Optimizing across any of these is rather difficult in traditional media buying:

• It’s much more involved to optimize creatives on TV video ads (you’ll need to update the creative and deliver it to all the networks in your media plan)
• It’s very hard to change the audience (it could produce a different media plan if the new audience is very different)
• Knowing which ad placements to adjust can take time (because, often, receiving and processing the post-log reports can be delayed – sometimes, more than one month later)

Simulmedia helps you overcome some of these issues because we process placements faster. We’ve standardized and automated the ingestion of all our network partners’ post-logs, so customers who work with our platform can run monthly optimizations on ad placements.

Should you invest in traditional ads?

Linear TV ads have long been seen as a dying breed -- and that’s very far from the truth. Industry data shows traditional advertising's continued relevance (with ~50% of TV viewing time still occurring on linear and with a vast majority of ad-supported TV viewing time still on linear). Even today, it remains the most effective way to reach a broad audience quickly and spread brand awareness. In the US, households spend upwards of 4 hours every day watching TV (both linear and streaming.) What’s more, 73% of households watch both linear and CTV, and 16% watch just linear TV – showing there’s still a lot of room for linear TV in the daily lives of Americans.

Traditional ads are a way to differentiate in the market, build true brand affinity, create trust, and drive conversions when customers are ready. When everyone zigs towards social and banner ads, you can zag – and stand out from the crowd.