PASADENA, Calif.—A new report from tvScientific finds performance TV is the No. 1 channel for marketers’ ad investment, accounting for 24% of total media spending and tied with social media as the most effective channel for delivering results.
The “2026 State of Performance TV Report” finds that budgets are shifting away from YouTube, Meta and TikTok and that artificial intelligence is turning television into an always-on experimentation engine for marketers, allowing them to accelerate ad targeting, creative development and optimization.
Performance TV is an advertising model that combines the reach and impact of traditional TV with the precise targeting, real-time data and measurable outcomes of digital platforms, through the use of connected TV platforms, including Roku and Apple TV.
“Performance TV is no longer an experiment,” tvScientific CEO and Co-Founder Jason Fairchild said. “It has matured into one of the most reliable and accountable growth channels in modern marketing.
“Performance marketers are no longer testing TV at the margins,” he continued. “They are moving the budget to make room for it and putting it at the center of their media strategies. Performance TV delivers the scale of television with the precision, transparency, accountability and fully transparent ROAS [return on ad spend] measurement marketers need to drive real business outcomes.”
The report also found:
- Performance TV delivers full-funnel value, driving sales growth and brand lift.
- More than half of markers cite measurement clarity as critical to success.
- 77% of small and midsized businesses run performance TV campaigns.
“Performance TV is now foundational to modern marketing strategies,” Fairchild said. “It delivers the accountability marketers have always wanted from television with the scale and impact they still need.”
The “2026 State of Performance TV Report” analyzes channel effectiveness, budget movement, AI adoption, transparency expectations, and how performance TV is reshaping growth strategies.
tvScientific offers a performance advertising platform built for performance TV.
