This newsletter comes from the hosts of The Marketing Architects, a research-first show answering your biggest marketing questions. Find us on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts!
TV measurement isn't broken. This week, we're breaking down how to capture both immediate response and long-term brand impact with Our Chief Analytics Officer, Matt Hultgren.
—Elena
63% of marketers doubt their ability to measure TV advertising accurately.
TV generates the largest sales impact of any video channel. Yet most marketers admit measuring it is tough. The problem isn't with TV itself. The problem is using measurement models built to track digital clicks to evaluate a channel that builds brands and drives sales.
Stop breaking TV measurement before you start.
Most TV attribution failures happen before the campaign airs. Here's how to plan for measurability from day one:
- Choose your North Star metric. Pick one primary KPI everyone agrees on before launch. This could be ROAS, new customer acquisition, or market share growth. Make it crystal clear.
- Break down silos. TV touches everything. Bring media, brand, digital, analytics, and leadership to the table early. Align on goals and make sure each team knows their role.
- Spend enough to see the signal. Underspending is one of the most common reasons campaigns return inconclusive results. Budget for measurable change or concentrate spend in shorter timeframes or high-index markets.
- Use multiple models. Combine short-term tools like spike analysis and QR tracking with long-term methods like MMM and incrementality testing. Triangulate the truth. All models are wrong, but some are useful.
- Think about the short and long. TV drives immediate response and builds lasting brand equity. Track web traffic spikes and brand lift. Measure now and measure later.
"Measuring the Long & the Short: A Guide to TV Attribution"
Our latest report reveals why most TV campaigns fail before they even air. It walks through how to design campaigns that are measurable from the start, track what matters in real time, and prove long-term brand impact. Growth isn't just about quick wins or slow burns. It's both.
Test, don't guess.
"Almost any question can be answered cheaply, quickly and finally, by a test campaign. And that's the way to answer them—not by arguments around a table."
— Claude Hopkins, advertising pioneer and author of “Scientific Advertising”
