How Streaming Viewers Broke the Old Rules of TV Measurement

Connected TV (CTV) no longer needs an introduction. With more than 70% of U.S. households now owning at least one connected device, the shift from linear to streaming has transformed how audiences consume content and how advertisers connect with them.

CTV has quickly become the viewer’s favorite. On-demand access, flexibility, and a vast library of content have made it the natural replacement for traditional television. By 2024, viewership was already set to surpass 55 million in the U.S., with strong growth projected into 2025. This growth is not just about scale, it is also about transformation. Unlike linear TV, where advertising was based on broad demographic assumptions and limited measurement, CTV opens the door to personalized, trackable, and outcome-driven campaigns.

This evolution presents advertisers with unprecedented opportunities:

• Personalization: Ads tailored to viewing habits, interests, and purchase behavior.
• Measurement: KPIs such as reach, impressions, completion rates, CPCV, conversions, and incrementality deliver clarity on performance.
• Accountability: Unlike linear TV, CTV allows near real-time optimizations and outcome tracking.
  
  

But with opportunity comes complexity. The audience is fragmented across smart TVs, gaming consoles, set-top boxes, and streaming apps. Advertisers must learn to navigate this new ecosystem, master new tools, and rethink benchmarks to know whether their campaigns are truly working.

Against this backdrop, Episode 44 of AdTech Heroes welcomes Andy Beames, VP of Enterprise Partnerships at Samba TV, who breaks down how changing behaviors, IP-delivered data, and omnichannel extensions are rewriting the rules of TV measurement.

Below, we highlight the most critical takeaways from the conversation, enriched with insights on KPIs and contextual strategies that every advertiser should have in their playbook.

What we cover

1. TV Measurement at a Crossroads.
2. From IP Delivered Viewing to IP Delivered Data.
3. When TV Drives Outcomes.
4. Linear’s Incremental Reach Problem.
5. Where Ad Tiers Fit Today.
6. The CTV KPI Toolkit.
7. Omnichannel Reach Extension with Context.
8. Looking Ahead.
   
   

Key Highlights: Winning Audiences in the New Era of TV Measurement

• The shift from linear to CTV has redefined advertising — bringing personalization, measurable outcomes, and real-time optimization.
• IP-delivered data enables unified, privacy-safe measurement across platforms, turning fragmentation into actionable insight.
• CTV now drives both awareness and performance, allowing advertisers to measure outcomes like visits, downloads, and conversions.
• Complementing linear with CTV and digital video unlocks incremental reach and cost efficiency across audiences.
• Contextual TV and omnichannel data help advertisers connect meaningfully with underexposed households, ensuring campaigns are relevant, transparent, and outcome-driven.

TV Measurement at a Crossroads

Generational shifts are reshaping viewing. For younger audiences, Netflix and YouTube dominate the TV landscape. For viewers over 35, broadcasters still lead. This divergence means advertisers can no longer assume that a TV buy will reach a balanced spread of households.

Andy Beames points to recent BARB and Evan Shapiro data that highlight this split. Among 16–34s, the top three channels are Netflix, YouTube, and BBC, with no commercial broadcasters in the top tier. Among 35+, the top four remain broadcasters and pay TV. In other words, the value of broadcast airtime for younger audiences is rapidly diminishing, while for older demographics it still holds.

Measurement is not a call to action for the future, it is already evolving. Agencies and publishers are experimenting with new methodologies, incorporating clean rooms, and testing independent adtech tools to capture performance more holistically.

From IP Delivered Viewing to IP Delivered Data

IP delivery fractured attention, but also created the data to solve the problem. With Automatic Content Recognition (ACR) and other IP-based technologies, planners can:

• Connect broadcast, AVOD, SVOD, and social exposure at the household level.
• Use clean rooms to match datasets securely and respect privacy.
• Build unified measurement frameworks across devices and platforms.
  
  

As Andy explains, IP delivered content is both the problem and the solution. It has splintered viewing into multiple services, but it also generates the granular data advertisers need to stitch audiences back together.

When TV Drives Outcomes

Traditionally, TV was the channel for fame and reach. It built awareness at scale, but direct response and outcome metrics were limited. Today, CTV supports outcomes more typical of digital:

• Website visits and conversions
• App downloads and installs
• Store visits and purchases
  
  

This shift expands the role of TV. Advertisers no longer choose between brand or performance. They can measure both. Direct response advertisers who once relied exclusively on social platforms are now testing TV with DR-style KPIs, and brand advertisers are layering outcomes onto their traditional metrics.

The result is a richer, more flexible planning process where TV can play at every stage of the funnel.

Learn More

• Closing the CTV Measurement Gap: Data Quality & Performance Talks
• A “Break” Down of Ad Breaks: Understanding CTV Ad Pods
• What is FAST TV & Why Marketers Are Tuning In to CTV Opportunities
• Why the oRTB Content Object is Key for Programmatic TV

Linear’s Incremental Reach Problem

One of the most striking insights from Samba’s State of Viewership report is that 92% of linear impressions in the UK reach only half of households.

The implication is clear: heavy TV viewers absorb the vast majority of impressions, creating high frequency but limited incremental reach. For advertisers, the cost of finding new or light viewers through linear alone becomes prohibitively expensive.

The solution is to complement linear with CTV, YouTube, and the open web. These environments allow brands to reach audiences who are underexposed or absent from traditional TV, often at a lower incremental cost.

Where Ad Tiers Fit Today

Premium streamers like Netflix and Disney Plus have launched ad tiers, signaling a new frontier for advertisers. However, inventory is still limited and CPMs are high. Andy notes that these tiers are best positioned for brand budgets, offering reach to audiences that are otherwise unreachable through broadcast.

For performance-driven campaigns, broader CTV supply and open web video remain essential. They provide the scale, price flexibility, and targeting precision needed to balance cost efficiency with measurable outcomes.

The CTV KPI Toolkit

To evaluate campaigns effectively, advertisers must combine traditional TV metrics with digital-style KPIs:

• Reach and Impressions: Who saw the ad, and how often
• Viewability and Completion Rate: Were ads actually watched
• CPCV and Conversions: What was the cost per complete view, and did it drive actions
• Incrementality: What additional value did CTV bring compared with other channels
  
  

Beyond campaign KPIs, advertisers should also track consequential effects like website traffic, share of voice, time on site, leads, and brand lift. This broader perspective helps prove not only whether ads ran but whether they made an impact on business outcomes.

The real advantage of CTV is the ability to tie exposure to both attention metrics and conversion metrics, delivering a more comprehensive view of ROI.

Omnichannel Reach Extension with Context

Advertisers increasingly ask how to find the households that linear misses.

This is where Contextual TV plays a key role:

• Targeting beyond genres: Align ads to the themes, topics, and emotions of the content viewers are watching, not just broad categories.
• Comprehensive reporting: Blend classic CTV KPIs with incrementality and attention metrics.
• Objective led creative: Formats designed to capture attention and drive specific outcomes.
  
  

By combining contextual intelligence with omnichannel data, advertisers can close the linear gap, connect with viewers in relevant moments, and deliver campaigns that are both efficient and meaningful.

Looking Ahead: TV measurement

Three shifts will define it's next phase :

1. Greater transparency of metadata so advertisers can verify placement, brand safety, and outcomes.
2. Cleaner and interoperable datasets that respect privacy while enabling cross-screen planning.
3. Outcome-aware benchmarks that treat TV as a multi-role channel, balancing reach, attention, and concrete business impact.
   
   

The cultural shift also matters. Andy emphasizes the importance of flexibility and empathy not only in hybrid work but also in how teams collaborate across TV, digital, and analytics. Measurement is technical, but the strategies that succeed are built on collaboration and shared understanding.

Tune In to the Full Episode

For a deeper dive into data quality, reach extension, and outcome-based TV, listen to AdTech Heroes Episode 44: “The New Rules of TV Measurement” with Andy Beames (Samba TV).

Want to become an expert in all things CTV? Explore Contextual TV and register for Seedtag Academy to learn how to measure success, target beyond genres, and design creatives built for attention.