Once upon a time, television was a single, shared campfire. Families tuned into the same shows, advertisers bought mass reach, and measurement was straightforward.
But by 2025, that fire has splintered into hundreds of glowing screens, formats, and definitions.
WARC’s Global Ad Trends 2025 tells a clear story:
1) Between 2014 and 2024, linear TV ad spend fell by 27.5%, and by over 50% if adjusted for inflation. Yet, paradoxically, linear still commands over three-quarters of all TV investment
2) In the US, hashtag#CTV now accounts for nearly half of viewing, with platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video turning ad-supported tiers into billion-dollar revenue streams.
3) Alphabet stokes the fire with its bold claim: “YouTube is the new TV.” But industry standards still count it separately, under online video, not television.
So what’s really happening?
- Definitional battles. Is YouTube on your smart TV “TV”? Are free ad-supported streaming TV channels (FAST) part of the same buy? Advertisers are forced to choose definitions, and those choices shape their media strategies.
- Fragmentation risk. For marketers, the Holy Grail is frequency management across platforms. Yet today, you can control exposures within a broadcaster or streamer, but not across them. Consumers don’t care; they toggle seamlessly. But brands must navigate silos built by the industry itself.
The retail-media convergence. Amazon, Walmart, and even Boots are weaving retail data directly into CTV. This blurs the line between branding and performance. TV, once a top-of-funnel medium, is being pulled into accountability for outcomes, not just reach
The strategic implication?
Linear TV no longer defines television. Data, devices, and definitions do. Brands must balance the broad storytelling power of linear with the precision of CTV. Those who crack hybrid models — upfronts for live events, programmatic for everything else — will own the next decade of video advertising.
Takeaway for leaders: Don’t think of TV as a format. Think of it as a portfolio of screens. The winners will be those who can plan across silos, prove outcomes, and use retail + streaming data as a growth lever.
Vishal Khanna
Managing Director, Media Pro Research Technologies Pvt Ltd
vishal@mediaproresearch.com
+91 9867300480
