The last year was a transformative one for TV measurement. New currencies took center stage amid the push for better data accuracy with audiences continuing to migrate toward streaming.
TV’s massive reach – 8 trillion ad impressions were delivered in 2022 – puts measurement at the forefront of every shift within the industry. And despite a slight decline in impressions year-over-year (down 3.5%), national TV ad spend actually climbed an estimated 6.1% vs. 2021. The rise can be attributed to a greater premium being put on tentpole programming, especially as audiences become increasingly fractured. We dig into those trends and more in our new 2022 TV advertising report.
iSpot’s 2022 recap includes key insights from currency initiatives with TV Networks, findings from CTV verification studies and tallies from measuring every second of advertising on linear, time-shifted and VOD on TV. The following are some of the major takeaways from 2022:
Most Brands Are Underutilizing Streaming
The image above is a retail case study from early 2022 that utilizes streaming to both expand reach of ads and deliver more incremental viewers than the traditional linear/OTT mix does.
While many brands are just starting to buy streaming inventory, the benefits are already there for more enterprising advertisers. Last year, iSpot’s currency test-and-learn with NBCU revealed that brands should ideally dedicate 30-40% of TV ad impressions to CTV to maximize advertising reach, versus the current 9% average.
The study showed that mix led to greater reach than linear TV alone, reduced excess frequency on linear and helped generate more impactful campaigns for less money – a crucial consideration in 2023 as advertisers face potential budget constraints.
Decoupling Ads From Program Ratings
Given the amount of data available to networks and advertisers today, there should be minimal guesswork around TV ad inventory. Minute-by-minute audience transparency is not only good for advertisers, but it also allows networks to better justify pricing and point directly to results around ad exposures.
Included above is an analysis of the audience for a sport’s broadcast in early 2022, compared against reach achieved by ad pods in real time. The blue line shows minute-by-minute audience reach as a percentage within the program, and green bars are the ad pods.
Over the course of the entire event, average within-program reach was 74%, but the highlighted pods in the outlined boxes had a within-program reach of just ~60%. So did advertisers pay for the 74% within-program reach or the 60% reach of the ads? The answer could be the difference between making an expensive ad buy or not during a tentpole event.
Ad Strategies Differ Among TV’s Most-Seen Brands
While primetime is a focus area for many of TV’s top advertisers, it’s not the only place to buy impressions. As data from 2022 revealed, many brands can get ad campaigns in front of their target audiences for less during different dayparts and less-expensive programming options.
For instance, Domino’s was the most-seen brand of last year by a wide margin, but was No. 6 by estimated national TV ad spend because a significant portion of its placements appeared on cable and/or during less expensive dayparts. Other QSR and CPG advertisers like Sonic Drive-In,Downy, and Tide were even more obvious examples of brands opting for more ad exposures while spending less money than peers on the top advertisers list above.
The approach is now one to watch in 2023, as more brands are likely looking for the most efficient ways to get messaging to consumers as budgets tighten. That doesn’t mean a full pullback from (more expensive) tentpole programming. But could mean that industries that can afford to spend less without sacrificing TV ad impressions opt to do so.
Want to learn more about TV advertising in 2022? Download iSpot’s 2022 TV Advertising Year-in-Review report.