TV can be a performance multiplier when planned, measured and created the right way. In this CommerceNext webinar, a panel of leaders from Cuyana, ThirdLove, U Beauty and Marketing Architects unpacked how TV (linear + streaming) can build brand while driving measurable sales, when to add it to your mix and how to prove its impact across DTC and marketplaces.
What We Covered:
- Uniting Brand and Performance with a Balanced Media Mix
- Planning Across Linear + CTV for Efficient, Full-Funnel Impact
- Reaching Beyond the “Bull’s-Eye” Audience
- Designing Creative That Builds Equity and Converts
- Measurement That Proves Incrementality
- Holiday Outlook: Sentiment, Promos, Mobile and Answer Engine Optimization (AEO)
Speakers:
- Max Lishansky, CMO, Cuyana
- Amy Carr, CDMO, ThirdLove
- AJ Patel, SVP Global Growth, U Beauty
- Devan Futterer, VP Client Growth, Marketing Architects
- Sucharita Kodali, VP and Principal Analyst, Forrester Research
- Moderated by: Tracy Hermans, Director of Community – Western Region, CommerceNext
Uniting Brand and Performance with a Balanced Media Mix
Marketing Architects opened with a clear directive: the most effective marketers no longer choose between brand and performance; they balance both. Research and decades of campaign data guide an optimal 60/40 split between brand-building and activation efforts. Brands that lean too heavily into short-term performance risk long-term erosion, while a balanced mix has been shown to lift ad-driven revenue by 25–100%.
TV is uniquely positioned to support this mix. It offers unmatched attention, credibility and memory impact, while simultaneously boosting performance channels. Exposure to TV paired with mobile increases recall significantly, and TV triggers uplifts in search, social and direct traffic, creating a compounding effect across the media plan.
Planning Across Linear + CTV for Efficient, Full-Funnel Impact
The changing TV landscape offers more flexibility—and more pitfalls—than ever. Marketing Architects explained that while CTV enables precise targeting, advertisers often narrow their buys too quickly, resulting in inflated costs and missed reach. Linear TV, meanwhile, still provides highly efficient mass exposure, especially through opportunistic remnant inventory.
The strongest results come when linear and CTV are planned together, using:
- AI-assisted forecasting to calibrate reach, frequency and cost
- Broad-based planning to discover undervalued opportunities
- Unified measurement models to capture cross-channel impact
With smart planning and the right mix, TV drives measurable mid and lower-funnel performance in a way that complements digital channels, rather than competing with them.
Reaching Beyond the “Bull’s-Eye” Audience
A major theme was the risk of over-targeting. While CTV makes hyper-specific audiences tempting, true incremental growth lives just beyond the core customer profile.
Cuyana reinforced this from experience: TV helps reach out-of-market shoppers who are not actively searching or engaging on social yet. These are the customers who enter the consideration set through memorable storytelling, then convert across other channels in the weeks ahead.
Panelists advised brands to resist the urge to limit reach early. Instead, widen the aperture, test different genres and networks and let testing reveal where incremental customers come from.
Designing Creative That Builds Equity and Converts
One message was consistent: good TV creative must do both brand building and performance.
Cuyana provided a straightforward checklist:
- Hook the viewer in 3 seconds
- Deliver one clear value proposition
- Show a problem → solution transformation
- Use a strong, explicit CTA
- Include captions to capture muted streaming viewers
ThirdLove added that brands shouldn’t wait for a “perfect” brand film. Start with a few creative variants, release them into controlled tests and iterate quickly. Both ThirdLove and U Beauty shared that TV success often comes from testing multiple creative angles: brand-led, benefit-led and more direct response formats.
The takeaway: TV creative should elevate the brand but still feel shoppable.
Measurement that Proves Incrementality
One of the biggest myths about TV is that it’s hard to measure. The panel pushed back strongly on that perception.
Brands today use:
- Geo/match-market lift tests
- Spike analysis across traffic, branded search and sales
- Cross-channel halo measurement
- Econometric/MMM models
These tools reveal not only direct sales impact but also how TV lifts other channels, especially paid search, social and marketplaces.
U Beauty noted that Amazon performance is still the toughest piece of the puzzle because of data restrictions. However, with Amazon Marketing Cloud and careful timing analysis, they can still see correlated lift by region and product.
All in all, TV works, and the impact is measurable. Brands simply need the right testing windows and internal alignment.
Holiday Outlook: Sentiment, Promos, Mobile and Answer Engine Optimization (AEO)
The session closed with a holiday forecast from Forrester, who highlighted an unusual dynamic: even with strong macroeconomic conditions, consumer sentiment is low. Despite this, most projections still show holiday sales growing, with ecommerce continuing to outpace stores.
Key shifts:
- Promo levels will remain steady but will become more targeted and personalized
- Brands must “do more with the same” amid privacy concerns and rising ad costs
- Mobile now drives more than 50% of ecommerce sales—optimize accordingly
- Discovery is shifting to social and LLMs, making AEO a critical emerging capability
Forrester’s overarching guidance: optimize for mobile, plan promos carefully and prepare for a future where AI-powered search drives brand discovery.
CommerceNext Steps
- Blend Brand + Performance: Use a balanced mix so TV builds consideration that performance channels can convert.
- Plan Linear and CTV Together: Linear drives efficient reach; CTV adds precision—measured under one framework.
- Broaden Your Targeting: Avoid overly narrow segments; reach beyond the bull’s-eye to unlock incremental growth.
- Create to Convert: Use fast hooks, one message, problem–solution framing, strong CTAs and captions.
- Test and Prove Incrementality: Use geo tests, spike analysis and cross-channel halo metrics to quantify TV’s impact.
- Prepare for a Mobile and AI-Led Holiday: Personalize promos, optimize mobile UX and begin building toward AEO.
To gain more actionable insights on what’s driving retail forward, join us at the 2026 CommerceNext Growth Show, June 23-24 in NYC. Register now.
