Your apparel company just launched its first TV campaign, and new customers driven by TV surge. That’s to be expected. TV’s a powerful response channel. But something far less expected also happens. Paid search campaigns grow more effective. Social media engagement rises. Even in-store visits increase.
This is a real scenario that plays out time and again for TV advertisers. And it's thanks to a phenomenon known as the halo effect.
Even as consumers spread their attention across countless platforms and devices, TV remains a resilient powerhouse for driving both brand and sales results. But its impact extends beyond capturing viewers during commercial breaks. It also boosts the effectiveness of your other marketing efforts.
TV and digital advertising are a perfect match.
The halo effect occurs any time that one marketing channel positively influences the performance of any other, but the mutually beneficial relationship between TV and digital is especially strong. Combining TV's broad reach and emotional storytelling with digital's advanced targeting creates a powerful marketing duo that leads to improved:
Performance. TV advertising boosts the effectiveness of digital channels, improving generic search performance by 8%, online video by 20%, and paid social by 31% according to WARC.
Brand Recall. Research from Effectv found that when consumers see both a TV commercial and a digital ad for the same brand, brand recall more than doubles compared to seeing digital ads alone.
Purchase Intent. Adding TV to a digital campaign can boost purchase intent by 15%.
Digital Ad Perception. Digital ads are viewed as less intrusive when a TV ad was seen first, leading to a 12% lift in brand attitude.
TV improves performance across your marketing mix.
Of course, digital isn’t the only type of marketing to benefit from the addition of TV to your marketing mix. Traditional channels also experience a performance boost.
Out of Home. Billboards, transit ads, and other out-of-home advertising gains relevance and recall when viewers are also exposed to TV commercials, leading to a 22% increase in campaign effectiveness.
Radio. Campaigns that include both TV and radio advertising see a 31% boost in effectiveness.
Print. Print media, including newspapers and magazines, benefit from a 31% increase in effectiveness when paired with TV.
Cinema. TV’s influence on cinema advertising is particularly striking, with a 54% increase in performance.
Direct Mail. Direct mail campaigns see a 20% improvement in performance when supported by TV advertising since TV’s impact on brand recognition and trust can make offers more compelling when they arrive in consumers’ mailboxes.
Marketing Architects clients have experienced the positive relationship between TV and other channels in their marketing mix firsthand. An education provider saw affiliate marketing and paid search improve. An insurance provider felt the impact on direct mail campaigns. And an online retailer saw website and app sessions rise, along with improvements in both paid and branded search. One financial services company discovered TV increased leads from other channels up to 12%. Accounting for these additional TV-driven leads, their campaign achieved a 400% ROI.
There’s something special about TV.
TV isn’t the only channel with a halo effect. But it does have an outsized impact when paired with almost every other marketing channel. And the most missed potential when it’s not included. According to Kantar and ThinkTV, removing TV from a multi-channel campaign could reduce its impact by a whopping 39%. Based on Kantar’s analysis, the top five channel combinations for the greatest top-of-funnel results are:
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TV and out-of-home
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TV and video
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TV and social
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TV and display
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Social and video
You may’ve noticed TV figures in dramatically. Plus, the top three combinations including TV deliver 67% more change to awareness levels than the top three combinations without. Top-performing bottom-of-funnel combinations also lean toward TV.
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TV and social
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Video and out-of-home
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TV and video
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Social and video
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TV and display
How to measure TV's impact beyond direct response.
Clearly, TV's influence extends far beyond immediate response to your commercial. To fully understand the channel’s impact, marketers need to evolve their measurement strategies to account for TV’s micro, macro and business effects. Start by considering:
Cross-channel attribution. Plan to track how TV exposure influences engagement and performance across other platforms. Intentionally including this piece in your measurement plan will help make sure you don’t miss TV’s impact on other channels.
Incrementality testing. Isolate TV’s unique contribution to overall marketing performance by setting baselines for typical performance across your marketing mix before launching TV and comparing to performance after your campaign is live.
Try a local heavy-up test. If you’re already advertising on TV or looking to prove its impact on a small scale before going all-in, a local heavy-up test using test and control markets can provide one of the clearest looks at the channel’s role.
Embracing attribution strategies like these lets brands unlock new insights into TV’s value. This helps justify investment in TV advertising and informs smarter, more integrated marketing strategies.
As the media landscape continues to change, understanding TV’s halo effect will be crucial for making informed decisions about your marketing. It’s time to recognize TV for what it truly is—a powerful catalyst that can elevate your entire marketing mix.
Learn more about evaluating TV’s full impact.
Access our measurement report here to ensure you're capturing all of TV's contributions to your marketing performance.
