Adoption of addressable TV advertising continues to follow an upward trajectory, with 53% of advertisers now considering the targeting method a must-buy, according to findings from industry organization Go Addressable and Advertiser Perceptions.
As its name might imply, Go Addressable has some skin in the game as a non-profit trade group that’s backed by advertising units of major linear pay TV providers and network owners (including AMC Networks, Comcast Advertising, DirecTV Advertising, Dish Media, Altice USA’s Optimum Media, Paramount, and Charter’s Spectrum Reach) and dedicated to advancing the growth of addressable TV. Roughly a year ago it made the move to become incorporated as an official industry trade organization at the same time Paramount joined ranks as its first programmer member.
Addressable TV is defined as the ability to serve targeted ads to specific households or users based on deterministic identifiers. It’s a method that’s meant to enable brands to define and serve ads to desired audiences across TV, CTV and set-top boxes. According to Go Addressable, those targeted households can be matched to first-, second- or third-party data sets or modeled by behavioral, demographic and geographic factors from datasets.
The group started tracking metrics and sentiments around addressable TV advertising in 2021 and as the latest research shows, more advertisers are getting on board. Per the report, of those who haven’t used addressable TV before, 64% said they plan to start in 2025 – a 35% bump from those that planned to in 2022. A whopping 95% of advertisers are at least considering addressable TV – but what’s more, of those, more than half (53%) consider it a “must-buy.” That compares to 33% reporting the same sentiment a year ago, and to three years ago when most considered addressable TV an “add-on.”
The industry trade group attributed increased adoption to satisfaction, with 85% of advertisers saying their satisfied with the method’s current state. Although already a high percentage, the sentiment remained flat compared to 2023 and reflects a four-point jump from the percentage that reported satisfaction with addressable TV advertising in 2022. And while one-third of respondents reported the current state of addressable TV as the same, 60% believe it’s improved and 51% of agencies and marketers cited improvement in the simplicity of buying addressable. Still, many want more knowledge – particularly around how to plan, buy and measure, with 58% stating they’d like more education on the medium.
As for why advertisers are turning to addressable TV, the top four strategies cited include: optimizing reach and frequency; complementing traditional linear TV buys; to reach an audience with specific messaging or creatives; and to integrate first- and third-party data to reach the right audiences.
Addressable TV advertising primarily pertains to linear TV and is seeing more adoption against the backdrop of a fragmented viewing and advertising TV landscape that has consumers shifting among traditional and streaming environments. Streaming continues to gain favor among consumers and major SVODs have brought new inventory into the fold as they introduced plans with ads and work to build up ad-supported subscriber bases, but Go Addressable pointed to the recent analysis of The Score Report from Comscore by Evan Shapiro that found MVPDs and virtual MVPDs (the latter like YouTube TV, Hulu + Live TV, Fubo and others) accounted for roughly half of the total ad-supported viewing time in June, while leading streamers combined made up less than 10%. Meaning despite a continued shift to streaming, linear pay TV (including internet-delivered vMVPDs) still represents a big chunk of where TV ads are viewed and where advertisers want to target effectively.
Go Addressable touts addressable TV as one way to tackle fragmentation through its ability to offer unduplicated reach that the industry body suggests is superior to premium ad-supported SVODs. Citing data from Comscore, the report said MVPD and vMVPD members of Go Addressable “see virtually no duplication across 51M households. By comparison, any two services from the premium ad-supported streamers have lower reach than the Go Addressable footprint.”
The Upfronts also served as an example of addressable TV seeing an upward trend. Per the report, 63% of those surveyed said the medium played a role in 2024 Upfront negotiations, reflecting a 34% increase from 2023. And 82% categorized it as playing an important or extremely important role in negotiations.
“In today’s fragmented TV landscape, it’s more challenging than ever for advertisers to efficiently and confidently reach intended audiences,” said Tim Myers, executive director for Go Addressable, in a statement. “Addressable TV that is powered by deterministic data is a powerful tool that not only makes media buying more effective and brand-safe for advertisers but ensures an optimal experience for viewers in terms of frequency and relevancy of the ads they receive. As the industry continues to invest in this powerful medium, Go Addressable is committed to making addressable advertising more precise and easier to execute.”
The research was released Wednesday, coinciding with Go Addressable’s fourth annual summit in New York, focused on the future of addressable as converged TV.