TV advertising has traditionally been about brand awareness, with success measured in reach. As TV has transformed into a digital asset, it’s become easier for marketers to measure short-term impacts like sales and sign-ups.
However, when marketers get too fixated on measuring short-term performance, they miss opportunities to capitalize on TV’s strength as a brand-building channel.
Balancing short-term and long-term strategies was the topic of “The Sell-Side Measurement Reality Check,” a discussion at Convergent TV World 2026 moderated by Doug Ray, founder of Ray Media Advisory.
The panel for this session included Armen Adjemian, CEO and co-founder of measurement platform DISQO; Carmela Fournier, VP of data and measurement strategy at Comcast Advertising; and Ioanna Protogiannis, senior director of measurement at LG Ads Solutions.
Don’t lose sight of the future
Campaign success ultimately boils down to whether the client is looking to drive awareness or performance, Protogiannis said. Once clients are clear about their campaign goals, she added, the next challenge is educating them on the different media types and guiding them along the customer journey.
But the rise of logged-in streaming audiences has given advertisers and TV platforms a whole new attribution data pool to manage. This glut of data has flipped the TV measurement challenge on its head, DISQO’s Adjemian said.
“Historically, the challenges have been either the lack of data available, type, identity, [or] beneficial attribution,” he said. But the challenge on the horizon will be cutting through all the noise to identify opportunities to create more value.
Regarding missed opportunities, Ray asked whether marketers can focus too much on short-term success rather than taking the time to build their brand. He noted such shortsightedness becomes more common following periods of economic uncertainty, such as the pandemic, that necessitate quick pivots.
The numbers seem to bear that argument out. According to DISQO, only about 10% of marketers are consistently measuring brand impact over time.
But pulling back on brand-building can significantly reduce growth over time, said Comcast’s Fournier. “Our advice to our clients is to continue to advertise in television, because the brand-building effect will … drive the results that you’re looking for.”
Adjemian said that some marketers have de-emphasized brand awareness because it’s gotten easier to measure short-term impact. But he agreed that neglecting to measure the performance of the entire funnel isn’t a sound strategy. And he described how DISQO is working with clients to balance that measurement challenge amid a surge of new data insights.
“We’re living in an intelligence era and thinking about how to make measurement outputs really flexible,” he said. Today, he added, it is crucial to marry first-party and third-party data and to simplify and automate workflows as much as possible based on client needs.
Barriers to full-funnel success
However, with such rapid changes in TV marketing, advertisers will inevitably run into some challenges measuring both long- and short-term impacts. Ray asked the panelists what barrier to success they would most like to remove.
Fournier emphasized the need for ongoing campaign optimization that accounts for the entire customer journey.
“Get full-funnel measurements [on an] always-on basis to create that feedback loop,” she said. That way, you continually have a signal that informs your TV strategy.
Protogiannis advised advertisers not to complicate their campaign outcomes and to remember that everyone is a potential customer at the end of the day. For that reason, they shouldn’t prioritize driving short-term results if it risks hurting their brand in the long run.
“There are reasons you shop on certain platforms [and] there are reasons you convert,” she said. “Don’t lose sight of that.”
