TV’s Peanut Butter-and-Jelly-Sandwich Effect
There’s nothing particularly wrong with a peanut butter sandwich or a jelly sandwich, but it’s the combination that creates a greater intensity of deliciousness. It’s an apt metaphor for today’s best TV advertising strategy. Advertisers can buy just linear TV or just streaming TV, but it’s the mix of the two in the right proportions that achieve greater reach, according to Comcast/Effectv’s new TV Viewership Report.
After analyzing more than 35,000 TV advertising campaigns and the viewership numbers from more than 29 million households from the first half of 2022, the report’s conclusion is the sweet spot for TV advertisers is 70% linear TV and 30% streaming TV.
After crunching all the numbers, the strength of linear TV’s reach was still the overwhelming value proposition for advertisers. The research found almost three-quarters of the average of six hours and 17 minutes watching linear TV is during other dayparts than prime time and the average household is watching 27 different networks. This spread of viewing across dayparts and networks means many advertisers, especially local, smaller businesses, don’t have to buy prime-time exposure to benefit from TV’s reach.
The value of streaming TV is it reaches viewers who are cord-cutters or may only access linear TV networks for daily news, sports and weather. An important finding is spending more than 30% of TV ad dollars on streaming TV is counterproductive as the return on reach is much less than if those dollars were spent on linear TV’s reach.
The combination also helps to maximize the reach of diverse audiences.
Reaching Diverse Audiences with a Linear/Streaming TV Mix
| Audience | Linear TV Unique Reach | Streaming TV Unique Reach |
| Multicultural families | 76% | 55% |
| Young adults | 80% | 56% |
| Middle-class suburbs | 81% | 51% |
| Luxury vehicle buyers | 82% | 55% |
| Retirees | 84% | 50% |
Comcast/Effectv, October 2022
What the Comcast/Effectv’s Viewership Report reveals about the complementary value of linear TV and streaming TV complements is a powerful message to include in any pitch to advertising prospects.
