TV & Video Ad Trends, Unified
How to prepare for an outcomes-led 2026.
In 2025, video advertising reached an inflection point. Viewers didn’t leave—they spread out. Streaming exclusives, live sports, FAST platforms, and walled gardens further turned TV into a fragmented video ecosystem, exposing the limits of ratings, averages, and siloed reporting.
As outcomes overtook ratings as the top media decision factor for buyers, advertisers and publishers shifted toward unified accountability. Linear continued to anchor reach, streaming solidified as a precision layer, and second-by-second ad measurement revealed where efficiency actually lived—and where waste hid behind averages.
Meanwhile, as media efficiency tightened, creative quality increasingly shaped outcomes. AI accelerated creative research and development, but marketers’ have an increasing appetite for systems grounded in large, proprietary ad performance datasets–not “best guesses” scraped from the internet.
This report captures these shifts and what they mean for video ad performance in 2026. It offers a data-backed view of how media and creative came together to drive outcomes in 2025—and what advertisers should take forward to improve campaign performance.
Report Highlights:
- Everyone chased laughs; few told stories: Narrative-driven ads fell to 3% in 2025, opening emotional white space as humor stayed at norm levels.
- Streaming’s share of impressions approached 20% by mid-year, increasing overlap and frequency pressure across plans.
- QSR campaigns drove 11.6 million incremental visits in Q1 (+20.4% lift) by prioritizing lift-driving dayparts over premium sports placements.
- And more.