In 2025, it’s easy to think of online advertising as the only form of advertising still relevant, and to question whether TV advertising still works.

In truth, though, traditional advertising has never gone away and indeed we’re noticing an uptick in brands now looking to TV advertising once more, to reach audiences who are fed up with programmatic advertising chasing them around the internet.

The short answer to the question ‘does TV advertising still work?” is ‘yes’. But we would say that, wouldn’t we? So, let’s look at some of the reasons why TV remains an effective advertising channel, even in the digital era.

Trust in TV as an advertising medium

Statista conducts research into audience trust in different advertising media. According to a 2023 study, trust in TV advertising tops the chart at 40%. However, trust in influencer advertising and social media ads, by contrast, sit at the bottom of the table on just 22% and 23% respectively.

If you want to build confidence in your brand, drive sales of high value items or advertise a professional service (where trust is key), it still seems to us that “as seen on TV” remains king.

TV audiences’ frame of mind

Your audience’s frame of mind makes a difference to how well they’ll absorb your advertising messages and respond to CTAs. Someone scrolling through a feed or searching on Google is in a different frame of mind to someone relaxing in front of their TV.

This isn’t as simple as TV = Good, Online = Bad. If your CTA is simply ‘Click This Interesting Article’ and someone is scrolling Facebook looking for interesting articles to click, that could be the right pairing of advertising media and message.

But if your messaging is something like “here are the five benefits of using our service” and your CTA is “visit our website to book a free consultation” then TV advertising could outperform other media. TV audiences are in the right frame of mind to pay attention for longer, and TV is a multimedia experience that lends itself to more complex messaging than a promoted post can convey.

TV advertising’s cost vs its return

There’s no getting around the fact that TV advertising requires a sizable upfront investment - even if the run-on costs to extend a campaign are more economical. Other forms of advertising with low entry costs can look appealing by comparison.

However, the question marketers have to ask themselves with every advertising channel is “What are we getting back?”

In other words, the trick is to think not just in terms of gross spend on each advertising channel, but in terms of net return on investment. When you factor this in, many advertisers still find that TV advertising outperforms.

Smart attribution models are a valuable tool here, enabling you to attribute ROI accurately to multiple advertising channels, rather than simply the last advert interacted with.

Customer research can also yield unexpected insights into the value of TV advertising. Clients are often surprised to learn that customers who they thought came from online actually first discovered their brand through a TV advert.

Want to know more?

We produce feature film-quality TV commercials for brands that want to drive response and stand out in their market. If that’s you and you’d like a no-pressure chat about working together on a TV advert, you can get in touch via our contact form or email us on info@hhour.co.uk.