As buyers look to capitalize on changing viewing habits, they’re shifting more and more from traditional linear advertising to advanced TV strategies, including addressable TV. Let’s break down the differences between addressable TV and linear and how they impact your advertising campaigns.
How Are Addressable TV and Linear Different?
The main difference between addressable TV advertising and traditional linear TV advertising is that addressable TV enables precise targeting on linear broadcast as well as on other TV delivery mechanisms such as CTV, while traditional linear TV advertising is best for generating broad brand awareness among wider TV audiences.
To illustrate the difference, let’s say a financial services company decided to advertise on a primetime NBC show. With traditional linear advertising, everyone watching the program would see the same ad. But with addressable TV advertising, the financial services company could serve an ad for first-time credit card users to Gen Z viewers while serving a promotion for a retirement offering to baby boomer viewers.
Is the Industry Making a Shift to Addressable TV?
While traditional linear advertising continues to be a mainstay, buyers are shifting more and more to addressable TV because of its precision and cost-efficient path to maximizing advertising performance. For example, addressable spending on linear alone grew from just over $2 billion in 2020 to more than $4 billion in 2023. Meanwhile, overall linear TV ad spend, while still a huge market at about $60 billion, is declining as viewers switch to digital options.
What Are the Benefits of Addressable?
- Precise targeting: Using a wide array of demographic and viewing data, addressable TV enables buyers to serve ads customized to specific audience segments.
- Efficient ad spend: By enabling buyers to focus accurately on specific high-value segments, addressable TV minimizes ad waste and increases return on investment.
- Granular attribution and measurement: Most addressable TV advertising platforms allow buyers to keep a close eye on ad performance and viewer engagement, enabling real-time data-driven decision-making and campaign optimization.
- Cross-platform capabilities: Buyers can easily integrate addressable TV advertising into their digital campaigns.
Is Addressable the Right Fit for My Campaign?
Addressable TV is a powerful tactic both standalone and as a complement to linear TV buys by allowing you to run more targeted campaigns when appropriate.
For example, a CPG advertiser may have some products that are a fit for virtually every household, whereas others skew toward certain demographics. The brand might wish to buy traditional linear for the broad-appeal product while opting for addressable for the more niche campaign.
Reach out to FreeWheel today to learn more about how addressable TV can drive results for your advertising campaigns.
