Outcomes Become TV Buyers’ Top Priority — and Biggest Measurement Challenge

TV and streaming advertisers are increasingly focused on proving business impact, but many still struggle to measure it effectively.

New survey findings from iSpot show that 45.5% of marketers now consider business outcomes the single most important factor when buying and negotiating media, ahead of verified ad delivery (28.5%) and efficiency (14.5%).

The shift underscores how TV is evolving into a more performance-driven channel, especially as marketers face mounting pressure to justify ad spend. But while outcomes are becoming the industry’s top priority, they’re also its biggest headache. 

• Nearly half of respondents (46.5%) identified outcomes measurement as their most significant challenge across linear and streaming campaigns this year, while another 26.5% ranked it second.
• Marketers cited a range of frustrations, from connecting media exposure to final attribution and store visits, to managing cross-channel measurement and proving ROI against other media investments.
• At the same time, advertisers appear increasingly comfortable with creative testing and optimization. In the survey, 48% of marketers ranked creative measurement as the least challenging aspect of campaign evaluation.

The findings highlight a growing divide in modern TV advertising: marketers are getting better at measuring what people saw, but still wrestling with proving what those impressions actually drove.

For more insights, download iSpot’s 2026 TV and Video Ad Strategy Report here.