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Linear TV advertising — also known as traditional or broadcast TV advertising — refers to scheduled ad programming broadcasted over traditional channels. While it doesn’t dominate the spotlight as it used to, it’s still a significant force in advertising today because of its vast potential to reach broad audiences and create memorable moments through high-profile events. Broadcast and cable TV, both forms of linear TV, still account for around 24% and 26% of U.S. TV viewership, respectively.
As marketers look for ways to combine traditional and digital strategies, knowing how linear TV still fits into the mix can create value for brands and provide new opportunities for broader reach and engagement. This article explores the relevance and benefits of linear TV and how traditional broadcast television can complement digital platforms alongside changing viewing preferences.
Linear TV vs. digital channels
Even though linear TV has maintained impressive viewership, it’s impossible to ignore the growing influence of advanced TV platforms like OTT (over-the-top) streaming services and connected TV (CTV). These digital channels have changed how audiences consume content, complemented traditional linear TV, and created new marketing opportunities.
Each offers unique advertising value, and knowing how linear and certain forms of advanced TV stack up can help advertisers make informed choices about where to focus their efforts.
Linear TV
Linear TV is regularly scheduled programming on networks like ABC or NBC. The name refers to its linear delivery of content on a set schedule, with all viewers tuning in at the same time. It’s great for reaching large audiences during live events or prime-time shows but lacks the precise targeting options available on digital platforms.
- Targeting: Advertisers can only target broad demographics (age, gender, location) but not specific interests or behaviors.
- Ad format: Ad formats typically take the form of non-interactive ads, usually 15-, 30-, or 60-second spots shown during commercial breaks.
- Viewer engagement: Viewing is passive, as ads are shown at fixed times and cannot be skipped.
OTT
OTT refers to streaming services that bypass traditional cable or satellite to deliver content through the internet on platforms like Netflix, Hulu, and Peacock. Content is available on-demand and accessible on devices like laptops, tablets, smart TVs, and smartphones. OTT is flexible, so viewers can watch what they want when they want.
- Targeting: OTT offers precise targeting using interest, viewing behavior, and location data to personalize ads.
- Ad formats: Formats can include pre-roll, mid-roll, sponsored content, and sometimes interactive ads to drive engagement.
- Viewer engagement: Viewers can control their experience with the ability to pause, skip, or replay content depending on the platform’s features.
CTV
CTV refers specifically to televisions connected to the internet through built-in smart features or external devices like Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, or Roku. CTV is a delivery mechanism for streaming OTT content to the TV screen, making it like an intersection between traditional TV and digital streaming.
- Targeting: Similar to OTT, CTV allows precise targeting based on viewer data such as preferences, behaviors, and geographic location.
- Ad formats: Includes pre-roll, mid-roll, post-roll, and, in some cases, interactive ad features like clickable banners or in-ad actions.
- Viewer engagement: Engagement levels are higher than linear TV, as viewers are often more active participants who can pause or interact with ads.
A brief comparison: Linear TV, OTT, and CTV
The main differences between OTT and CTV are in their delivery and access. OTT refers to the streaming services providing content, regardless of the device, while CTV refers to the internet-enabled TV screens through which OTT content is consumed. They’re complementary, with OTT defining the content and CTV shaping the viewing experience on the largest screen in the house.
Each TV platform has its own strengths. Linear TV is great for reaching a broad audience with memorable ads, while OTT and CTV offer more precise targeting and greater viewer engagement. Advertisers should consider using a mix of these platforms, taking advantage of each one’s benefits to create a well-rounded advertising strategy.
Benefits of linear TV in the modern advertising landscape
While consumer behavior has shifted toward digital content consumption, the sheer scale and influence of pre-scheduled, real-time broadcast TV advertising makes it a powerful tool for brand advertising within a broad media strategy. When integrated with digital strategies, linear TV can widen your reach, foster brand safety, and boost viewer engagement, to name a few benefits.
Mass reach and brand visibility
Broadcast TV advertising has a massive reach, especially during live events and news broadcasts. It delivers content to large, diverse audiences at once — something digital platforms, with often fragmented and niche targeting, cannot achieve on the same scale. To put things in perspective, there are nearly as many linear TV viewers today (228 million) as social media users (236 million), according to eMarketer. This helps marketers earn brand visibility and recognition across broad demographics and make an impact on their target audience.
Advertisers can also use linear TV to reach multiple individuals in a single household, making it an efficient way to run household-focused marketing campaigns. Linear TV advertising increases the likelihood that a diverse audience residing in one household will see your content.
Brand safety and controlled environment
One of linear TV’s most important advantages is its controlled, brand-safe environment. Unlike digital platforms, where ads can appear alongside user-generated content or in unpredictable and sometimes risky settings, linear TV offers a more curated environment. Advertisers can be confident their message will be delivered in a professionally regulated context so viewers develop a positive, reliable brand association.
Diversify your marketing mix
Some demographics are underserved by digital channels and are more likely to see ads on linear TV than on an internet-connected device. Top U.S. advertisers obtain more impressions among adults over 55 using linear TV ads, with Baby Boomers spending an average of 5 hours and 46 minutes daily on linear TV. This highlights why it’s so critical to diversify your marketing mix with various channels that help you tap into audiences your competitors may not be.
Preferred hosting for major events
Digital platforms are hosting more live events every year, but linear TV is still the most successful and reliable medium for major events like elections, breaking news, award shows, primetime TV, and the Super Bowl. In fact, linear TV dominated the 2024 U.S. Presidential election, with major networks achieving off-the-chart ratings and more than 42 million cable viewers nationwide.
Guaranteed ad exposure
While many digital platforms allow viewers to skip ads, linear TV ads have stayed unskippable and ensured viewers receive full exposure to marketing content. With traditional TV ads reaching as long as 60 seconds, this guaranteed viewership is a chance you can’t miss to capture your audience’s attention.
Viewer engagement and ad recall
Paired with CTV, linear TV is exceptionally good at engaging viewers and facilitating strong recall with high-quality content. A recent study by Brightline found that, even in 2024, linear TV maintains the highest ad attention with an attention rate of 54.5%, surpassed only by premium CTV with a 56.1% attention rate. When viewers are highly engaged with TV programming, they’re also more likely to remember the aired ads, which boosts ad effectiveness and sales potential.
According to a Comcast Advertising study, long-form TV and streaming ads are also twice as memorable as short-form mobile digital ads. This study revealed that TV ads garnered more visual attention than digital mobile ads, as participants watched 71% of the TV ads compared to the 30% they watched on mobile. Ads viewed in the TV environment even resulted in 2.2x higher unaided recall and 1.3x greater purchase intent than mobile digital ads.
Traditional TV advertising, combined with digital, creates a full-screen, lean-back viewing experience that makes lasting impressions and elevates consumer memory.
Current trends in TV advertising
While it’s true that linear TV is facing a viewership decline as audiences shift to digital platforms, it’s not disappearing entirely. Advertisers are finding new ways to innovate within the confines of linear TV and using advancements in targeting, content delivery, and OTT platform integrations.
Free ad-supported television services (FAST)
For one, linear TV is finding a new lease on life through FAST services; FAST channels bridge the gap between traditional linear TV and contemporary streaming preferences to reshape how audiences engage with ad-supported content. The main appeal of FAST is its ability to deliver curated, genre-specific programming combined with on-demand options. Roughly 70% of streaming users know about FAST and have used it within the last three months.
Unlike traditional video-on-demand (VOD) platforms focused on high-profile originals and on-demand access, FAST channels bring back the structured, live grid format that mimics classic TV viewing experiences. Services like Pluto TV, Tubi, and the Roku Channel have captured significant audience share by blending nostalgia with modern accessibility. These agile, scalable platforms help media companies quickly launch new channels, as they did with NBCUniversal’s recent addition of 48 channels on Freevee and Xumo Play.
High-impact events
Certain genres, like live sports and award shows, continue to dominate on linear TV, including:
- The Super Bowl
- Other major NFL games
- The NBA Finals
- The Olympics
- The Oscars
- The Grammy Awards
- The Emmy Awards
These events attract massive audiences and are a prime spot for advertisers. However, even live sports are transitioning to OTT platforms like Netflix, Amazon, and Peacock.
Platforms like Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, and ESPN+ are starting to secure exclusive streaming rights for major sports events and changing viewership patterns, which creates fiercer competition for linear TV. On the flip side, marketers have new opportunities in OTT environments to enjoy the reach of traditional TV advertising with more precise targeting.
Linear programmatic TV
While linear TV faces growing competition from digital channels, it’s adapting to meet marketers’ needs through innovations like linear programmatic TV. This approach automates the buying and placement of ads on traditional TV so advertisers can apply data-driven insights for more precise targeting.
Unlike traditional linear ad buys, which rely on fixed schedules and broad audience demographics, programmatic technology allows for greater efficiency, flexibility, and strategic alignment. Recent forecasts show linear programmatic TV growing steadily throughout 2025 and being a valuable transitional tool that combines linear TV’s reach with digital platforms’ personalization and measurability.
Cloud TV
Cloud TV modernizes the traditional TV advertising experience by combining its established infrastructure with the best features of digital streaming and OTT. Companies like Vodafone and Viacom18 are transforming linear TV into a more flexible and scalable cloud-based service that delivers linear content alongside streaming options. Users can now conveniently access live TV and on-demand content from one interface.
Currently, platforms like YouTube TV and Hulu + Live TV blend linear broadcasts with OTT streaming in the cloud so that viewers can watch traditional TV channels and access on-demand shows all in one place. This means advertisers can deliver targeted, personalized messages to the right audiences without losing the large-scale reach of linear TV and engage people across live TV and digital content.
Addressable TV and advanced targeting
Linear TV has always been limited by broad targeting, showing the same ad to everyone, no matter who’s watching. Addressable TV changes the game, letting advertisers deliver different ads to specific households during the same program so brands can reach the right people with messages that matter to them.
The key to making this work is authenticated audiences. These are viewers who log in to platforms with verified information, giving advertisers better insights into their interests, behaviors, and demographics. This level of audience data allows for smarter audience segmentation and more effective ads based on interests, demographics, and behaviors.
With Experian’s addressable TV audiences and strategic partnerships, you can execute highly targeted and measurable TV campaigns. Using reliable first-party data and universal identifiers (like Unified I.D. 2.0), which link consumer profiles across devices and channels, we help brands reach the right viewers on traditional TV and CTV platforms and ensure the right person sees the right ad at the best time without overexposure.
How to integrate linear TV with digital marketing strategies
Integrating linear TV with digital marketing strategies starts with aligning campaigns with audience behaviors and preferences. Using data-driven insights, brands can ensure their TV efforts complement digital channels to create a unified, impactful experience.
Experian simplifies this process with advanced identity resolution and audience insights. Our identity graph and syndicated audiences can help your brand:
- Link TV ad exposures to online engagement and create a seamless experience across platforms.
- Measure cross-channel performance and understand how linear TV contributes to digital outcomes.
- Use enriched audience data to tailor ads that resonate for relevance and consistency across TV and digital.
We’re ready to help you maximize the effectiveness of your TV advertising campaigns.
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In our Ask the Expert series, we interview leaders from our partner organizations who are helping lead their brands to new heights in AdTech. Today’s interview is with Samantha Zhang, Senior Data Scientist, and Jim Meyer, General Manager of the DASH TV Universe Study at the Advertising Research Foundation (ARF). DASH is an annual tracking study conducted by the ARF to define and better understand TV audience behavior and household dynamics. What does DASH measure, and how does it help the industry understand TV consumption today? By capturing hundreds of individual- and household-level data points from each respondent in a rigorous and nationally projectable sample, DASH creates a comprehensive picture of U.S. consumer TV “infrastructure” – how America watches. Core elements in DASHElements that create context in DASHTV setsLocation | brand | smartness | service modes | sources DemographicsConnected devices Game consoles |video players | streaming devicesYesterday viewing Daypart | TV/device genre | Out-of-home viewingMobile devicesOwners | sharing usersShoppingOnline and in-store | Exposure to major RMNsInternet serviceModes | ISPs | connectivity by device Streaming audio Streaming TVSVOD/AVOD tiers and sharing | FAST Email accounts and apps Live TV Modes of access | including casting from devices Social media For example, DASH gathers: Data on every TV set, including brand, room location, age, “smartness,” and connection devices and modes Household connectivity and video service data, even in homes with no TV set Internet Service Providers (ISP) and TV service usage, including Multichannel Video Programming Distributors (MVPDs), virtual vMVPDs, streamers (ad-supported and premium), and Free Ad-Supported Television (FAST) channels Person-level ownership and usage of video-capable mobile devices, including smartphones, tablets, and laptops Measures of viewing and co-viewing across dayparts, devices, and services Additional modules covering shopping and retail media networks, streaming audio, social media, email, and apps Broad coverage and granularity make DASH a uniquely robust source of truth for practitioners across the industry, including measurement experts and ad programming strategists. DASH also reports regularly (and publicly) on key industry dynamics. DASH identified a growing segment of device-only viewers – now nearly 9 million households that watch TV, but do not own a TV set – and highlighted the implications of that trend for traditional ratings systems based only on households with TV sets. Households (HHs – million)2025 HHs (M) U.S. penetrationChange vs. 2024 (M)Total US134.8100%+2.7Connected TV (CTV)114.685%+2.1TV (Set)124.292.2%+1.1Device-only8.86.6%+1.6TV-Accessible133.198.7%+2.7 DASH called out the rise in app-based pay TV and proposed a new connection framework that better represents the modern TV world, in which linear and streaming overlap. DASH also defines the universes of households reachable with advertising. This graphic, for example, shows how all ad-supported linear and streaming properties in aggregate define the true scale of TV advertising. While 35 million households (and growing) are reachable only with streaming ads and 13 million (and falling) only with linear ads, most households are reachable with both, underscoring the importance of understanding the “overlap.” Who uses DASH data, and what decisions does it help inform? There are three primary users of DASH, each with its own use cases: Measurement providers, including Nielsen, use DASH to calibrate viewership data, turn household data into persons data (and vice versa) and estimate potential reached audiences–what the providers call media-related universe estimate (MRUEs)–for the calculation of ratings. Not surprisingly, measurement companies were the first to see the value that an independent TV universe study could provide. Media companies, including major broadcasters and streamers, use DASH to add context and color to their ad sales presentations – and to track the measurement providers, whose ratings play a major role in valuing ad inventory. AdTech companies, including Experian, use DASH to create high-value audience segments for activation. The recent accreditation of DASH by the Media Rating Council (MRC) and adoption by Nielsen as an input to its TV ratings have generated interest from a broad range of companies. We are actively pursuing new licensees and partners to make DASH more useful within, and even outside, the TV ecosystem. What does MRC accreditation signify, and why is it meaningful for DASH? MRC accreditation means DASH passed a rigorous audit conducted by Ernst & Young over many months, which validated our methodology, controls, and data quality. MRC accreditation establishes that DASH is an industry-standard dataset. While the service provider normally announces its own accreditation, the MRC took the unusual step of issuing its own release on DASH, announcing the accreditation of DASH for TV universe estimation and endorsing the study for broader, cross-media use. How does Experian use DASH data to build audiences? The segments combine specific TV usage habits and behaviors from DASH with Experian data on demographics, spending, and other contextual inputs to create a fuller view of consumer viewing behavior. They are designed to be valuable to advertisers in many categories and planning contexts – and to be customizable to fit advertisers’ media targets. The segments can be used to: Apply or suppress audiences to improve target coverage across a campaign Better align media and creative Reach elusive but high-value viewers, such as Ad Avoiders Drive valuable consumer behavior Achieve specific advertising objectives What are some practical use cases for DASH-based audiences? Here are some practical use cases for four different kinds of DASH segments in five different advertiser categories. Travel Co-WatchersA couples-only resort uses TV Co-Watching Households without Children to strengthen target reach and ad memory recallA big theme park destination uses TV Co-Watching Households with Children to reach families in moments of togetherness Home Entertainment TV Owners and Brand LoyalistsA premium TV manufacturer uses the overlap of Multi Brand TV Owners and Single Brand TV Loyalist Households to market its newest TV model to its most loyal consumers. Fast Food Screen Size ViewersA fast food chain with a high-impact new brand campaign uses Large Screen TV Viewers to better align the media and creativeThat same fast food chain uses Small-Screen TV Viewers to drive store traffic by increasing exposure of its retail campaign among on-the-go viewers Financial Services Cord Cutters A personal cost management app and a cash-back credit card target Streaming-First Cord Cutter Households to reach young, tech-savvy, cost-conscious consumers Thanks for the interview. Where can readers learn more about DASH? We started work on DASH seven years ago, and it’s been fun to watch it “grow up.” Our partnership with Experian is a big step toward putting DASH to work for advertisers and agencies. To learn more, visit our site at https://theARF.org/DASH or contact us at DASH@theARF.org. Contact us About our experts Samantha Zhang, Senior Data Scientist at ARF Samantha Zhang is a Senior Data Scientist at the Advertising Research Foundation working on the DASH TV Universe Study, with additional research spanning areas including attention measurement, digital privacy, and artificial intelligence. Jim Meyer, General Manager, DASH, at ARF Jim Meyer is general manager and co-founder of the ARF DASH TV Universe Study and managing partner of Golden Square, LLC, which advises media and research technology companies on growth strategy and development. Latest posts
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