Streaming TV (STV) has transformed content consumption. Viewers find it convenient and cost-effective and they enjoy the vast range of content to binge. As STV continues to grow exponentially, its full potential as an advertising channel hinges on building robust measurement capabilities.
STV bridges the gap between the targeted advertising of digital formats and the mass reach of linear TV.
STV accounted for over 40% of TV usage in June 2024, the highest share recorded by Nielsen. By early 2024, Forbes estimates 99% of US households will subscribe to at least one streaming service. And Amazon Ads’ meta analysis shows that two-thirds of viewers who watch Amazon STV campaigns don’t watch linear TV.
Despite this remarkable growth, STV still lags in ad spend share compared to its viewership.
Advertisers need to build scale in STV measurement beyond traditional reach metrics. By enabling unique reach tracking, engagement measurement and cross-channel conversion attribution in a privacy-compliant manner, they can transform STV from a brand-awareness tool into a comprehensive, full-funnel advertising channel.
Measuring reach and engagement
The first step to maximizing STV’s potential is to reach the right audience. Advertisers should seek STV supply partners who offer deduplicated reach across unique audiences at scale. That means using frequency controls to support budget efficiency.
With frequency controls in STV campaign management, advertisers reduce redundancy and oversaturation, and they can achieve the optimal ad frequency for all viewers. Although linear TV helps achieve broad mass reach, STV’s ability to reach precise audiences makes it more effective for advertisers to connect with desired audiences and reach cord-cutters and cord-nevers, a segment comprising 58.5% of US adults (eMarketer, 2023). Sixty-three percent of marketers agree STV allows more precise audience reach, and 51% say it improves ad relevance, according to Moreover, research from EDO Search Engagement on Google shows that there is a +18% incremental search rate from tailored vs. nontailored ads, demonstrating that the ability to tailor creatives for key audiences can improve full-funnel impact.
Reaching the right audiences demands deeper understanding across formats and placements. Instead of traditional linear TV reach and impression metrics, streaming TV offers the potential to measure true viewer engagement and attention. Attention metrics, such as viewability, dwell time and engagement rate, leverage compelling intent signals and technologies to measure intuitive actions and active engagement of brand awareness campaigns. STV has a +13% higher attention index than linear TV, according to research from TVision.
STV ad exposures can also be attributed with direct engagement actions taken by viewers, giving marketers powerful insights into how their video ads are driving tangible full-funnel outcomes. Most directly, this can mean scanning QR codes or engaging with interactive ads, but it also includes subsequent site visits, landing-page visits and conversions. These insights are simply not possible in linear TV environments where advertisers are unable to link ad exposures to audience groups and their resulting actions.
Evaluating performance and insights
The measurability of digital media means STV campaigns are rich with actionable insights. STV enables granular measurement of TV campaigns, from awareness to conversion, providing a clear view of how it fits into the overall customer journey. Clean room solutions like Amazon Marketing Cloud allow advertisers to understand the optimal combination and sequence of advertising touch points for desired customer outcomes. For example, Amazon Marketing Cloud Insights shows that customers exposed to specific STV ads may spend 1.4 times more than nonexposed customersThese types of insights are crucial for maximizing long-term marketing effectiveness.
With cross-channel visibility, brands can optimize spend, messaging and audience targeting, ensuring maximum return on investment and long-term marketing effectiveness. Marketing mix models offer a proven, privacy-compliant solution for a comprehensive, unified view of cross-media performance, unaffected by identity loss, which is crucial for optimizing multimedia investment strategies to maximize returns.
Building a privacy-first, future-ready ad tech stack
It’s never been more important to lean into the future. While the shifts toward consumer privacy and signal loss are ongoing, advertisers must resist taking shortcuts that violate consumer trust as these paths will become obsolete. Instead, brands need an ad tech stack and supply partnerships built for creating long-term value through future-proof, privacy-enhanced solutions.
Some of the biggest, most forward-thinking companies are actively investing in transparent ad tech anchored in machine learning, privacy-by-design practices and open industry standards. Programmatic methods like API integrations and clean room tech, such as Amazon Marketing Cloud, empower secure integration of first- and third-party data. This tech unifies a marketer’s understanding of relevant ad opportunities everywhere ads are served across the customer journey, which in turn enables better audience building, activation, and measurement – without relying on obsolete device identifiers. By prioritizing consumer privacy and adopting future-proof ad infrastructure, brands can build sustainable strategies that preserve consumer trust while driving reliable, long-lasting results.
STV is accelerating on the maturity curve
While STV has become ubiquitous in daily life, we’re still in the early stages of its growth as an advertising channel. Advertisers who consolidate their STV ad spend in places where they receive transparent, advanced measurement will see an advantage over their competition. Powered by this advanced measurement, brands who capitalize on STV’s unique ability to build awareness at scale will drive mid-funnel engagement and lower-funnel conversions – all from one powerful source of engaging, premium content.
