From Prime Time to All the Time: The Future of TV Advertising

Every few months, the same headlines pop up: “TV is dead.” “Streaming killed television.” But then you walk into a living room, and there it is — a screen glowing in the corner, anchoring the space. TV isn’t gone; it’s just shapeshifting. And if you pay attention, you’ll see it’s becoming more relevant, not less. 

Hybrid Viewing Is Just How We Watch Now 

People don’t think in terms of “TV versus streaming” — they just watch. A Netflix binge on a Tuesday night, a Ramadan drama with family, or live news over breakfast. All of it is TV, just delivered differently. The lines between linear and digital are blurry because audiences made them blurry. 

For advertisers, that’s actually a blessing. It means a single story can stretch across platforms — quick, snackable teasers on digital, big emotional punches on the big screen. You don’t pick one anymore; you weave them together. 

Streaming didn’t kill TV — it made it omnipresent. 

CTV: The Screen That Grew Up 

The real shift is Connected TV (CTV). This wasn’t some boardroom decision; it was consumers dragging TV into the future. People kept the big screen at the heart of their homes, even while scrolling TikTok or gaming. 

Now the numbers are hard to ignore: 85% of U.S. households have a CTV device, and globally, Smart TVs will pass 1.1 billion homes by 2026. Advertisers are already moving money — CTV ad spend is projected to hit nearly $48 billion in 2025, up from $36 billion in 2023. 

And here’s why: CTV combines what made TV powerful in the first place — scale and cultural weight — with what digital promised — targeting, data, and measurability. It’s the sweet spot. 

CTV isn’t the “future of advertising.” It’s happening right now. 

ROI Still Matters 

Let’s be clear: TV isn’t just about nostalgia, it still works. Nielsen shows traditional TV drives 60% higher brand recall than digital-only campaigns. Add CTV on top, and suddenly you’re not just building awareness, you’re proving incremental reach, tracking exposure, even driving conversions. 

In markets like MENA, TV still takes 40%+ of media budgets because it builds trust and cultural credibility. But agencies are quickly layering CTV to capture precision and younger eyeballs. Smart brands aren’t abandoning TV; they’re diversifying it. 

TV still builds brands. CTV just gives the receipts. 

Why People Still Choose TV 

Here’s what gets overlooked: nobody is forced to watch TV anymore — they choose it. Families gather for live sports, finales, or Ramadan dramas. Other times, the TV hums in the background while someone doom-scrolls TikTok. Both roles matter. 

Culturally, TV still delivers what social can’t: collective experiences. The Super Bowl. The World Cup. The show everyone at work is talking about. Those are the moments that give advertisers cultural prestige and staying power. 

The Friction Points 

Of course, this evolution isn’t smooth. Audiences are fragmented, making measurement messy. Subscription fatigue is real. Ad-free tiers are growing. And younger viewers? Half the time they’re only half-watching, with their attention split across multiple screens. 

That’s the real challenge: not just reaching people, but holding them. The best campaigns now treat second-screening as part of the strategy instead of fighting against it. 

The challenge isn’t reach anymore — it’s attention. 

Innovation Keeps Pushing 

Television has reinvented itself for a century. It’s not stopping. What’s next?

• AI-driven personalisation, tailoring what you see in real time.
• Second-screen tie-ins, where a TV ad sparks an interactive moment on your phone.
• Immersive formats, merging TV with AR or VR so campaigns feel like experiences.
  

The tech will keep shifting, but the through-line is the same: TV adapts because culture demands it. 

The Bottom Line 

So, no, TV isn’t dead. It’s leveling up — into a multi-platform, data-rich, culture-shaping channel that feels more alive than ever. The real question isn’t if it will survive. It’s whether advertisers are bold enough to stop treating it like a relic and start using it as the most adaptable screen of the future.