For decades, television advertisers have faced a trade-off:
- Traditional linear TV: Delivers broad reach, utilizing the power of sight, sound, and motion on the big screen to capture more focused attention and foster immersive brand-building. However, it lacks the precise targeting modern marketers crave.
- Digital and addressable channels: Offer highly precise targeting and robust measurement capabilities but struggle to replicate linear TV’s unique combination of visual impact and viewer engagement on the big screen.
Connected TV (CTV) bridges this gap by preserving television’s immersive, large-screen experience—where audiences are more attentive to the content—while offering the precise targeting capabilities long associated with digital and addressable channels.
Yet, as the industry evolves, there’s a growing realization that lower-funnel performance marketing—which emphasizes quick wins from in-market shoppers—doesn’t fully support long-term brand growth. Leading brands have increasingly noted that relying solely on performance tactics can limit sustained demand and brand equity.
Within CTV lies a powerful subset: Free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST). As consumers gravitate toward free streaming options, FAST has emerged as a key focal point for reaching immediate and future buyers. In this article, we’ll explore why focusing only on in-market shoppers risks missing the larger pool of “future-ready buyers” and how FAST platforms enable brands to engage them effectively.
The challenge: Over-fixation on “in-market” shoppers
One common marketing hurdle is “lower-funnel myopia”—focusing almost exclusively on in-market shoppers who are ready to buy immediately. While this can yield quick wins, it also means brands miss opportunities to improve in three critical areas:
- Competition and costs: By chasing the same immediate buyers, brands drive up media costs, especially as programmatic ad spending continues to climb each year.
- Missing out on future buyers: Most consumers aren’t looking to buy right now. In fact, only 5% of potential consumers are active ‘in-market,’ meaning the other 95% represent future-ready buyers open to purchasing soon. Over-focusing on in-market audiences overlooks people who could be primed to purchase soon.
- Inefficient spend on “sure bets”: Over-targeting likely buyers inflates costs for conversions you’d capture naturally. Shifting budget toward brand priming boosts incremental ROI.
Expanding the funnel isn’t just smart – it’s necessary
While many advertisers have prioritized short-term conversions, the data shows a growing imbalance—and a potential risk to long-term brand health. According to The CMO Survey (eMarketer, Nov 2024), CMOs allocated nearly 69% of their 2024 budgets to short-term brand performance, leaving just 31% for long-term brand building. If you’re only engaging consumers when they’re already in-market, you’re effectively joining the race at the final lap—and often paying a premium to do so.
So where does that leave the vast majority who aren’t buying right now? That’s where future-ready buyers come in.
The solution: “future-ready buyers”
So, how can you broaden your reach without resorting to a “spray-and-pray” strategy? Enter category future-ready buyers—consumers who aren’t actively shopping right now but remain open to your product category. They’re not firmly opposed or “locked out” of it. For example, existing electric vehicle (EV) owners may not be in-market this very moment, but they could be ready to purchase another EV when their lease ends or a new model debuts, making them ideal future-ready buyers.
Why they matter:
- Cultivate future demand. Engage buyers early to stay top-of-mind when they’re ready.
- Build a sustainable brand pipeline. Develop ongoing interest instead of repeatedly chasing immediate leads.
- Expand your reach. Broaden targeting beyond active shoppers for long-term growth.
Use marketing data to avoid overspending on future buyers
Identifying future-ready buyers is powerful—but how do you avoid wasting spend on unlikely buyers? Marketing data helps refine your targeting with real consumer insights, maximizing ROI and campaign efficiency.
- Precisely define your segments: Use lifestyle, demographic, and psychographic data to target consumers who are open to your product, avoiding wasted impressions on uninterested audiences.
- Prioritize privacy and compliance: Choose partners who prioritize data security and adhere to regulations, ensuring your campaigns stay both trustworthy and effective.
FAST: The strategic channel for reaching future ready buyers
FAST services, like Samsung TV Plus, have evolved into a crucial medium for advertisers eager to strike a balance between scale and precision.
Here’s why:
- Engaged audience: Viewers access free, premium content in exchange for ads, making them receptive and attentive.
- Advanced targeting: FAST offers precise segmentation beyond traditional TV, helping you reach Samsung consumers both in-market and future buyers effectively on the biggest screen in the household.
- Positive viewer experience: Free content creates a relaxed viewing environment, increasing ad attention and recall.
Samsung TV Plus and Experian Marketing Services: Scale meets precision
Samsung TV Plus offers expansive reach and contextual targeting aligned to viewer interests. Experian Marketing Services complements this by identifying consumers most likely to buy, leveraging demographic, lifestyle, and intent data—helping you effectively engage future-ready buyers.
Putting it into practice: A use case
Scenario
An electric vehicle (EV) brand, EVolution Auto, wants to reach eco-conscious consumers who aren’t shopping for a car right now but might consider one soon. They also want to track how ads influence brand consideration and sales over time.
Approach
- Identify future-ready segments
Using Experian data, EVolution Auto focuses on “eco-conscious drivers”—people interested in sustainability who are likely to be open to an EV in the near future. - Activate on Samsung TV Plus
The brand places targeted ads on channels with environmental or tech content. With millions of monthly users and a relaxed viewing experience, EVolution Auto’s spots get more visibility, boosting ad recall.
Outcome
By pairing Samsung TV Plus’s broad reach with Experian’s precise audience data, EVolution Auto achieves measurable lifts in brand consideration, website traffic, and dealership visits—effectively priming future EV buyers and driving long-term sales momentum.
Building a future-proof strategy
Exclusively targeting in-market consumers can limit your brand’s long-term potential. By focusing on those not currently shopping—but still open to your category—you widen your future buyer pool and keep your brand top of mind. FAST services like Samsung TV Plus, paired with Experian’s marketing data, offer a powerful way to balance scale with precision–delivering strong engagement today while priming your brand for long-term growth. By shifting your focus toward tomorrow’s buyers today, your brand doesn’t just stay relevant—it sets the stage for sustained market leadership and growth.
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It is time for us to polish off our crystal ball and give our predictions straight from consumers’ fingertips for the hot products of the 2012 holiday season. Gadgets will reign across many ages Tablets including LeapPads, Tabeos, iPads, Kindles and others will continue to be a popular gift this year, with more choices than ever. On the list of top product-related search terms driving traffic to the Retail 500 category of sites, Kindle Fire HD and Windows 8 top the list as new products. Additionally, Meep!, a child friendly tablet appeared in the top fifteen. Accessories for both phones and tablets will also be popular, especially as the variety grows for iPhone 5 and iPad Mini. A reoccurring favorite gift for the holidays is UGGs which shows a decrease year over year. However, another brand with a similar product is Bearpaw, which is in the top ten searches and has seen big growth year over year.Source: Experian Hitwise Dolls, video games and Furbys, oh my! To identify the popular toys for gifts this year, we researched product-related search terms driving traffic to ToysRUs.com compared to last year’s holiday season. We uncovered trends in the doll category, Doc McStuffins as number one on the list, along with the classic Barbie, which saw a growth in searches year over year. The Furby is making a strong comeback at the number two spot with a reboot and new features. Another trend here is tablets, from branded searches like LeapPad and Kurio there is also the generic term ‘tablets for kids’. In the video game category, the new Wii U that is debuting just in time for Black Friday and should be a big gift this year, along with searches for PS3 games and the Nintendo 3ds xl are all in the top 20 searches.Source: Experian Hitwise Keywords of the consumer to identify demand Beyond product names, it is important to understand the actual way people search, using key phrases and questions. Last year, for example, there was a lot of activity around ‘in-stock’ products, such as the LeapPad explorer, which was hugely popular and quickly sold out in many stores. Retailers and marketers should monitor this throughout the season and make sure to optimize for in stock if there is a popular product that they have available.Source: Experian Hitwise Consumers also focus on what is the ‘best’ – so we see search activity around ‘best place to buy’, particularly around electronics. Questions such as ‘where to buy a’ specific product are also common, such as ‘where to buy a kindle’. These phrases offer opportunities to boost search campaigns by considering how consumers phrase their questions to ensure to capture these searches.Source: Experian Hitwise Quick tip: In the retail category there will tend to be a lot of retail branded store terms but to keep up with holiday search behavior and help make analysis quick, create portfolios of branded terms to easily exclude those from a certain category. When you strip out all the variations of that term you are able to gain insight into product searches that are most popular to a certain site or category. For more insight on the hot product trends for this year from our Hitwise trend-spotters, watch our webcast. Contact us today
My Experian Marketing Services’ colleagues and resident data experts Bill Tancer and Marcus Tewskbury answered the above question for marketers during our recent 2012 Holiday Planning Webinar. The webinar recapped key 2011 holiday marketing results, plus featured trends, benchmarks and recommendations for a successful and profitable 2012 holiday shopping season. Here are a few cool facts: For the first time, last year’s Cyber Monday beat Thanksgiving Day as the busiest online shopping day of the year Facebook and Pinterest were the top traffic sources to the Experian Marketing Services Retail 500 Pinterest visitors most often went to etsy.com and amazon.com from the pinterest.com site Dynamic content in emails can drive up to a 70% lift in open rates Tying web, email and in-store promotions together enhances the shopping experience and improves sales The bottom line is that marketers need to understand where there customers are, when they are there, and what they are doing. Armed with that knowledge, you can deliver personalized and targeted holiday messages that are sure to make this shopping season merry and bright (and profitable!). View the webinar to learn more. Contact us today
The NCAA basketball tournament tipped off this week much to the delight of fans across the United States. Supporters who have truly caught March Madness often follow more than one game at a time, especially during the first week of the tournament play. Thanks to simulcast streaming of games online and via mobile apps, die-hards are better equipped to keep track of multiple games at once. Those who stream games online live in every corner of the country, but some locales are more likely to log on for their March Madness fix than others. According to Experian Simmons, you are most likely to be streaming the game online if you live in one of these markets: Contact us today