The FreeWheel Council for Premium Video was established to bring together industry leaders in order to address the biggest challenges and opportunities across premium video and figure out how to solve them.
In the past few years, the council has explored key emerging trends to help unlock guidance for advertisers and publishers to drive the premium ecosystem forward. Fueled by research, FreeWheel, in partnership with the FreeWheel Council for Premium Video, developed Buying Premium Video: A Definitive Checklist to help guide buyers and sellers transacting on premium video in order to maximize success. Additionally, to help advance the adoption and advise advertisers and programmers how they should approach live event advertising on streaming, FreeWheel released It’s Only Live Once: How TV Advertisers Can Capture Audiences in the Moment.
The aim of these pieces is to advocate for the value of premium and to serve the collective interests of all of those involved in the premium video industry so that everyone can tap into its benefits. While premium video and live will remain important themes throughout 2025, another key topic that is resonating across the industry is: Multiscreen TV as a performance driver. As part of the work of the FreeWheel Council, we pulled together insights and real-life ad campaigns to explore TV’s evolution and how with great data we can now measure and prove multiscreen TV’s efficacy at driving performance for marketers, at every stage of the funnel.
TV’s Evolution Throughout the Marketing Funnel
Marketers have long relied on traditional TV advertising to reach mass audiences and drive awareness for their brand. Due to its reach within premium programming, it’s always been seen as the optimal channel for national brands to connect with viewers. But with the explosion of digital and social advertising, many marketers began leaning into these tactics to drive lower-funnel goals and obtain proof of performance, which they believed traditional TV couldn’t offer.
With the evolution of streaming, and TV moving across screens and platforms, marketers reengaged TV to drive their advertising goals throughout the funnel, no longer only looking to it for awareness. As the data available to marketers to build these campaigns became more robust and reliable, it has allowed advertisers to better understand audience behavior and develop more targeted campaigns that behave more like digital and social.
Today, multiscreen TV is driving outcomes throughout all parts of the marketing funnel from awareness to consideration to action, which it always has done, but now with the availability of great data, we have the ability to prove it. In fact, multiscreen TV leverages high-quality data throughout the marketing funnel, making it as measurable and accountable as last-click attribution sources.
How Multiscreen TV Can Be Harnessed at Each Stage of the Marketing Funnel
TV has always excelled at reaching audiences and driving awareness, but as it extends across screens and platforms, it’s finally getting recognition as the full-funnel performance driver it has always been. It should no longer be considered as just a vehicle for brand awareness. With the advances in technology and data, it can be used more tactfully at every stage of the funnel.
Awareness
Before someone can consider a brand, they first must know it exists. Multiscreen TV has always been able to drive awareness through mass reach. What has changed is the ability to deterministically measure the impact. One financial institution was able to leverage multiscreen TV advertising to drive brand awareness, resulting in +73% higher ad memorability and +73% higher likelihood of recommending the brand after seeing its TV ads.
Consideration
After a consumer becomes aware of a brand, they may take the next step to find out more information. This is especially important because people generally only consider a few brands before purchasing. Multiscreen TV’s premium video paired with engaging storytelling helps drive higher ad liking. In fact, one brand turned to multiscreen TV to drive audiences through to the consideration phase, resulting in a significant lift in site traffic and conversions, as well as increased engagement and sustained attention with a 58% view-through rate.
Action
The goal of advertising is to motivate a consumer to take an action, such as making a purchase. Much of the work for driving sales is accomplished earlier in the funnel, but TV also plays a vital role by keeping a brand top of mind when a customer is ready to buy. One brand found actionable results with their use of multiscreen TV, seeing 15X higher return on ad spend (ROAS) and a 2.8X higher conversion rate.
Advertisers Should Embrace Multiscreen TV as a Full-Funnel Performance Engine
As social media’s reliability can raise concerns around brand safety and suitability, advertisers have even more reason to lean into the power of multiscreen TV to tactfully drive results throughout every phase in the marketing funnel – including the lower funnel to drive conversion and sales – with precision and efficiency. As these capabilities have become more measurable, so has the possibility to obtain reliable measurement and attribution, with transparent proof of performance, leading advertisers to fully embrace the power of multiscreen TV.
To discover how multiscreen TV drives performance throughout the marketing funnel, download our latest report, Beyond Branding: Why Multiscreen TV Is a Full-Funnel Performance Engine and Why Great Data Is the Key to Meaningful Results.
The FreeWheel Council for Premium Video is an industry collective from leading content providers and programmers, including A&E, Dish, NBCU, Paramount, Warner Bros. Discovery and aims to educate and advocate for premium video in order to benefit all stakeholders: advertisers, publishers, and consumers.
