The Hidden Growth Channel That's Been Right Under Your Nose

Hey everyone, welcome back for another bite to chew on.

DTC operators are sleeping on one of the biggest growth channels sitting right in front of them: TV.

The reality is that TV advertising has evolved far beyond the "spray and pray" brand campaigns of the past, but Nielsen's 2025 research shows only 32% of marketers measure TV and digital holistically—meaning most are still missing the full picture of TV's impact.

That assumption is costing them scale.

The biggest brands are already there. Fabletics improved their Facebook efficiency through TV's halo effect. Vuori turned a $150,000 pilot into a core growth lever. Tecovas proved TV's cross-channel impact when their finance team became advocates for increasing TV budgets.

These brands treat TV exactly like a performance channel, using platforms like Tatari that provide the same attribution and optimization rigor they apply to digital advertising

🍽️ On the Menu:

If you're not doing TV, you're probably still buying into one of these myths. Let's break them down:

The Reality: TV drives real performance. You can track purchases, installs, and site traffic back to the dollar—just like you do with Facebook or Google Ads.

Proof: Aroma360 used Tatari to turn TV into a performance channel, driving 17K site visits and cutting CPA by 80% – far beyond just brand awareness.

The Reality: You don't need to start with a national linear campaign. You can launch small campaigns or even just retarget your site visitors on CTV, then scale what works.

Proof: Fabletics proved this approach works—they started small with a mix of 30-second and 15-second spots, using the 30s to establish messaging, then scaling cost-effective 15s once performance was validated. 

The result was measurable conversions and 20% improved efficiency across their entire marketing mix.

The Reality: Log-level data. Incrementality tests. Closed-loop attribution. If your TV campaign isn't tied to business outcomes, you're working with the wrong partner.

Proof: “With Tatari, we were able to confidently enter TV knowing we could measure everything from acquisition cost to creative fatigue. It became just another lever in our performance toolkit—only bigger.” — Spencer Toomey, Growth Manager, BYLT Basics

The Reality: While most platforms focus solely on programmatic CTV, Tatari enables true convergent TV—seamless buying and measurement across both linear and streaming as one integrated strategy, not separate campaigns. 

Proof: Vuori leveraged this convergent approach with a $150,000 pilot campaign across both linear and streaming platforms. 

They tested 5-6 creatives over four weeks, including a standout 15-second "Rolling Stones" spot that drove notable performance. The result was immediate and measurable impact, giving them confidence to scale TV into a foundational performance channel.

The Reality: Anyone can sell you CTV impressions. Smart brands are buying direct—avoiding fraud, cutting middlemen, negotiating better pricing, and controlling their placements.

Proof: “Our favorite feature in the Tatari platform is the reporting and the ability to see performance at the network and even the show level, something that our executive team loves to see, and then it helps us optimize towards performance outcomes.” - Luke Heston, Head of User Acquisition, Tickpick

Before we continue, here’s an event you don’t want to miss…

DTC brands are still stuck bidding against each other for the same eyeballs on Instagram. Meanwhile, the operators who've figured out TV are scaling channels their competitors don't even know exist.

Forward 2025 is where those operators will spill their secrets.

On September 4th at The Glasshouse in NYC, you'll get tactical playbooks from experts with killer Hudson River views as a bonus.

Steve Huffman (Reddit CEO) will break down how Reddit's engaged communities work differently than traditional social, while Adam Foroughi (AppLovin CEO) reveals where performance advertising is actually headed (spoiler: it's not just more Meta campaigns). Plus hear a special keynote from Poppi’s co-founder and chief brand officer, Allison Ellsworth.

Marketing leaders from BYLT Basics, TickPick, Gusto, Saatva, Dave, and Coterie will share how they're scaling TV profitably across three panels:

🎯 Winning with Convergent TV - How linear and streaming work better together

🎯 Brand Halo Meets Performance Metrics - TV's measurable impact across every channel

🎯 Scale Success - Super Bowl, sports, and cultural moments at scale

These are the frameworks you can implement Monday morning, straight from the operators who built them.

👉 RSVP for Forward 2025

Ready to explore TV as your next performance channel? Schedule a demo to see how Tatari helps brands measure TV with the same precision as Facebook campaigns.

The streaming wars created a bifurcated TV landscape, but smart operators aren't picking sides.

Linear TV still commands significant viewership—reaching 90% of US adults monthly according to Nielsen and New York Interconnect 2025 data. 

Over 50% of US households still watch traditional linear TV daily, particularly during live events and premium content. The inventory often costs less than brands expect, especially in non-primetime dayparts.

Connected TV offers the targeting precision that digital marketers expect. You can layer on first-party data, adjust campaigns in real-time, and measure view-through conversions.

TV ad completion rates consistently hover around 90%—much higher than skippable formats on YouTube or social. That's largely because viewers can't skip ads, but also because TV is a lean-back environment where attention tends to be more passive but steady.

But here's where it gets interesting: TV advertising creates a full-funnel impact across your entire marketing mix. When people see your brand on TV, they're more likely to search for you on Google. They're more likely to engage with your social content. They're more likely to convert when they see your retargeting ads.

This cross-channel lift effect means TV campaigns often improve the performance of your entire marketing mix, making the true ROI higher than what you'll see in any single attribution model.

The key insight is treating TV like any other performance channel. Start small, measure everything, scale what works.

Getting Started

You can start advertising on linear and streaming TV for $10K–$25K monthly, or you can start by just retargeting your site visitors on CTV—the cheapest and lowest entry way to advertise on TV. CPMs on linear are often much cheaper than streaming, so many brands actually start there to get the most efficiency.

The Measurement Approach

Your approach should mirror your other performance channels:

Scaling Strategy

Once you prove TV can drive profitable customer acquisition, you can scale.

This typically means working with TV buying platforms that can navigate both the streaming and linear buying process while maintaining performance marketing principles.

The brands that scale TV successfully treat it as part of an integrated media mix rather than a standalone brand exercise. They're looking at:

Tecovas demonstrated this cross-channel impact when they completely paused their TV campaigns to prove value to leadership. 

Website visits dropped over 20%, direct engagement plummeted, and even Google Shopping saw decreased efficiency. When TV resumed, immediate traffic resurgence proved TV's impact across their entire marketing mix.

The goal is building TV into your marketing mix as a scalable, profitable growth channel, not as a one-off brand experiment.