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Aaron Ferneno
Foreign. Welcome to Ad Exchanger Talks, the podcast
Alyssa Boyle
devoted to examining the issues and trends
Sarah Sluice
in advertising and marketing technology that matter most to you. This episode is brought to you by Zadac Z. Zeta's AI platform unifies paid, owned and earned media into one powerful growth engine, optimizing performance in real time and driving measurable outcomes with confidence. Don't Hope for higher ROI. Expect it with Zeta. Learn more at zetaglobal.com ADExchanger.
Alyssa Boyle
Hello listeners, and welcome to this week's episode of Ad Exchanger Talks. I'm your host, Senior Editor Alyssa Boyle, and today's episode will cover one of the most popular term du jour of the digital ad Performance tv. Maybe I'm biased because I mostly cover advertising from the video and connected TV lens, but I have to say, other than AI, this seems to be the topic I hear most about. So the more that advertising methods and infrastructure digitizes and the more pressure marketers feel to justify every media dollar by proving their ads are actually driving results, the more we see both sides of the industry trying to treat TV more like a performance marketing channel. So we're going to dive into all things performance tv, including what the heck? That term even means how media buyers and sellers are adjusting their strategies and how TV and streaming is evolving to meet market needs. Joining me today for this deep dive is Aaron Ferneno, SVP of Business Intelligence at Advertiser Perceptions. Thanks for joining me today, Erin.
Aaron Ferneno
You're very welcome. Thanks for having me.
Alyssa Boyle
All right, so Erin, tell us a bit about yourself and what exactly you do at Advertiser Perceptions. Sure.
Aaron Ferneno
So I work with the Business Intelligence team at Advertiser Perceptions. We are a consulting company that works with media brands to help them develop strategies to better serve advertisers. Awesome.
Alyssa Boyle
So, Erin, you and I have spoken a lot about TV advertising, in particular over the last few years, including the emergence of what some of us are calling performance tv. I sense that's a term that's gradually moved beyond certain press releases to come up in actual industry conversations sometimes. But there are times where I mention the term and people ask me, what does that mean? So it might still be referring to an emergent concept rather than a perceptive vernacular term. But all to say, Aaron, what exactly do you make of Performance tv?
Aaron Ferneno
Right. So to me, performance TV is the idea that TV can be used as a lower funnel channel and offer the same insights and meet lower funnel objectives like sales lift and traffic site traffic as other performance channels. And personally, when I hear performance tv, I'm talking about Or I'm thinking of streaming and ctv. I'm not thinking of linear tv.
Alyssa Boyle
Yeah, actually, you know what, let's jump to that because I was going to ask you that at some point, but let's just address it now. So I think part of this conversation also involves what is an outcome. Right. Because some might say, oh, I think linear is a performance channel because my main objective is reaching. And then, you know, I hear mixed opinions. I could probably split people down the middle as far as, you know, is reach an outcome. So I guess it's something that's, I guess a bit, what's the word, ambiguous as far as what an outcome is. But can you describe a bit more why it is that streaming TV kind of better fits the performance marketing channel bucket as opposed to linear and more traditional television?
Aaron Ferneno
Sure. Well, I think one reason is that streaming platforms are, are being more innovative in creating the tools needed to be considered a performance channel, I think, than some of the other legacy TV media brands. And streaming TV also has more signals than linear TV and different targeting capabilities. So I think it's just further down the road in being potentially considered a performance channel.
Alyssa Boyle
Okay. Yeah. Especially when we talk about the actual granularity of signals and also just the actual type of signals that are available in ctv. Some of them just don't exist in linear. So that makes a lot of sense. But I guess a follow up thought here is, know when we talk about signals that are used for targeting and measurement, do you feel like one side of the house, targeting or measurement is sort of more top of mind among the industry when we talk about, you know, performance tv? So, or in other words, you know, is performance TV and making TV act like a performance channel, is it more about how media buyers are activating it or more about how they're measuring it?
Aaron Ferneno
I believe it's more about their goal, is more about measurement. Their goal is to understand outcomes.
Alyssa Boyle
Yeah, and I know we kind of touched on this a bit before too, but what counts as an outcome? Because I feel like, you know, on, on, on the surface I would think, oh, you know, sales conversions, you know, but, but there's a gray area between a sale and just an impression. And I feel like, you know, of course a lot of people would say, oh, it's up to the marketer to decide, you know, what's an outcome. But you know, you know, if we keep, if we keep saying that, then we're still left wondering, well, what is an outcome? Because there's no consistency. What do you think counts as an outcome? Or at least the advertisers that you talk to on a daily basis.
Aaron Ferneno
Sure. So I think what advertisers want from streaming TV when they're thinking about performance, I think they're realistic. You know, I think they understand that, you know, clicks to buy and, you know, QR scans on streaming are going to be low. You know, it's limited, you can't transact directly on a CTV device. But advertisers see streaming TV as a performance multiplier, so they understand that a streaming TV campaign can support outcomes over time. So when you speak to advertisers, they'll often say, hey, how they can see that their meta campaign's performance improved when they're running a streaming TV or even a TV campaign. So I think what advertisers want to understand, or one of the things that advertisers would benefit from understanding is how they can get more insight into that performance impact. What happens when they turn on the TV campaign to their search and sales and traffic results and what happens when they turn off the campaign or turn on a specific platform. And turn off a specific platform?
Alyssa Boyle
Yeah, and I'm actually going to dive into that thought a bit more granularly, if you will too. So are you referring to, I guess, more signal that would indicate whether or not streaming is causing incremental performance?
Aaron Ferneno
Exactly.
Alyssa Boyle
I see.
Aaron Ferneno
I think, I think honestly, what marketers and media buyers should be focused on is incrementality testing.
Alyssa Boyle
Yeah, it's definitely a term I hear coming up more often in, you know, like just traditional digital attribution models. But how exactly do you think incrementality testing should apply on streaming environments? Especially if there's a difference between streaming and just, you know, other more individual based devices and channels.
Aaron Ferneno
So I think, you know, and I think it could be incrementality in both reach or, you know, lift metrics. I think it could be, you know, something like, you know, testing, you know, having a control group and understanding what happens when you run a campaign on a specific platform and how that impacts over time, your down funnel metrics compared to the control group.
Alyssa Boyle
Yeah, and I think this also brings another question to mind too. And you know, of course time is money and testing takes a lot of time. So I'm curious of how this, how this trend, because I definitely believe that, you know, marketers will, you know, do as you say and definitely we'll try incrementality testing because it's, you know, popular in other channels for a reason. But how do you think this will impact how CTV budgets are allocated in the near future if this is a priority for marketers. So, like, for example, do you think that a certain proportion of budget will sort of go towards testing at the expense of marketers maybe increasing their budgets in streaming? Or do you expect both to maybe rise concurrently?
Aaron Ferneno
That's an interesting question. I guess it depends on campaign goals and budgets. I think that a lot of big advertisers do have budgets that include these types of testing. I think that the platforms will have to, you know, we'll see how they can accommodate them and, you know, negotiate that.
Alyssa Boyle
Yeah, definitely. Yeah, that's also an interesting thought. As far as, you know, when you, when you make a media budget. And this is, this is, you know, why I talk to you. And don't assume I know certain things because I'm not a marketer. But, you know, at the get go, I'm sure it makes sense that marketers plan for certain things baked into their budget. You know, oh, I'm probably going to have to, you know, go back to the drawing table at some point in the fourth quarter or maybe I need to bake in some time for, you know, testing new methodologies because the industry doesn't slow down. So, yeah, that all checks out. So, sticking with budgeting and allocations for a moment, something that we talked about recently that is really interesting to me is, and I think this was surrounding the super bowl so recently, but we talked about the percentage or proportion of CTV campaigns that actually have performance goals. I believe you pinned that number at around 24%, based on recent advertiser perceptions research, and that that number has been consistent for several years. I'd love to hear more context from you on what, what that tells us and what that tells marketers about how performance is actually playing a tangible role in how the money's moving.
Aaron Ferneno
Sure.
Alyssa Boyle
Yeah.
Aaron Ferneno
So you're right. It's 24% of CTV or streaming campaigns have lower funnel goals. And then I think it's like 21% have full funnel goals and the remainder 55% have upper funnel or mid funnel goals. So marketers are absolutely still primarily seeing streaming TV as best suited for branding and upper funnel goals. And as you said, we've been tracking that in our CTV landscape report for about five years now and. Well, that's not true. Probably about three years. I think I added that question about three years ago and I haven't seen it moved. I thought maybe that slice of that pie, that 24% would grow, but it's been stable over time. I think that advertisers have like a healthy skepticism regarding CTV's ability to act as a performance channel and prove lower funnel outcomes. So I think that's what. The fact that that percentage hasn't changed over time, I think reflects that. I think it's challenging if CTV is saying, or streaming TV is saying that it's a performance channel, such as, you know, social or search, it's competing against channels that have, you know, that are much less expensive. So that's an obstacle, a big obstacle. And you know, there's a longer attribution window which we kind of talked about a little bit when we were talking about incrementality and the. Also the other, I think, thing that advertisers understand and the industry understands is that, you know, conversion data is typically on the second screen. Right. So I think there's real obstacles for streaming TV being perceived as a performance channel.
Alyssa Boyle
Yeah, I think actually this brings up a lot of thoughts for me. And I guess the most pressing one that comes to mind is I almost feel like we're talking about there's some sort of middle ground where, to your point, TV doesn't work the same way as other digital performance channels because there's a second screen where a conversion usually happens. And so there's sort of a path to conversion rather than just a straight up conversion. So my question is, how are you seeing advertisers or even publishers sort of try to capitalize on that middle ground? Let me give you an example. So we remember the QR code craze and everyone thought, oh no, are we going to just see QR codes on our TVs all day? Oh, but what's actually happening, I think is that instead of, I think that expectations are starting to reflect reality with QR codes. So I think that where they're most properly used is when, you know, instead of expecting someone to buy something, right then you can use a QR code, scan for push notifications later on or other ways of following up with the consumer throughout that, you know, quote unquote purchase journey. So that's kind of what I mean by middle. Middle ground or gray area between pure reach vehicle and performance channel. But yeah, question for you is what are you, what are you seeing out in the wild as far as how advertisers are really making the most of this gray area?
Aaron Ferneno
Yeah, well, I think that, I think the platforms that are going to be most successful right now at this point in time in making a performance claim or proving performance are the ones in closed loop ecosystems like YouTube or Prime Video where they can connect the dots or, you know, bridge the gap between streaming and search lift or sales lift.
Alyssa Boyle
All right, I like the idea of bridging the gap because I have a lot more thoughts on this. But I am going to stop us here before a quick break and then when we're back, we're going to talk more about some of the technology we're seeing emerge as, you know, TV becomes, or rather CTV becomes more reflective of performance marketing channels. So we'll talk about cappies, we could talk about self serve ad platforms and any other nerdy thing that comes to mind. So stick with us. We'll be right back.
Sarah Sluice
I'm Sarah Sluice, Editorial director of Ad Exchanger and I have with me here the chief growth Officer of Zeta, Ed C, who leads the charge in helping businesses and CMOs achieve measurable, high impact marketing outcomes. Thanks for joining us, Ed.
Ed C
Sarah, great to see you. Thanks for taking the time with me today.
Aaron Ferneno
Yeah.
Sarah Sluice
So what's different in the year 2026 about how brands and agencies are approaching ad tech?
Ed C
So, Sarah, I think it's a really, really interesting time. For years we've all been talking about ad tech and Martech and all these different things. But at the end of the day, as a marketer, what am I responsible for doing? Helping people make marketing decisions, helping them make buying decisions through a series of touch points. Adtech and Martech are actually artifacts of our history of how we bought meteorologists and how we managed our own touch points. What's finally happened with today's technology is we can release some of those artifacts and bring ad tech and Martech together. I think that's going to be a huge thing. We're seeing more and more people doing that and it's releasing marketers to have the freedom to really say, how do I reach Sarah? How do I recognize Sarah? How do I reach Sarah? How do I offer something relevant and how can I see the results of the communications I'm having with Sarah?
Sarah Sluice
So yeah, let's talk more about that freedom that comes from blurring the lines between ad tech and Martech. What else happens when you kind of unify things and blur them, bring them together?
Ed C
Well, a couple of things happen, Sarah. Instead of saying, how much did this chart produce? We actually started saying, how profitable is Sarah? To us, it changes from measuring the channel to doing what marketers are really responsible for creating a profitable customer and saying, what did each touch point, what did each offer, what did each thing actually contribute to the profitability of that particular customer? And allows the marketer to actually say, I'm managing a supply chain and I'm managing the most important supply chain to a company, the customer supply chain.
Sarah Sluice
So how does that unified customer view then empower marketing teams and agencies once they know about this profitable customer?
Ed C
Well, one of the big things here is it lets them do the really unsexy side of marketing, waste management. And that is incredibly important. Making sure that you're able to stop the wasted impression, the extra touch point. We have all probably in the last two weeks bought something and then got another impression trying to sell you the thing that you just bought. It helps take those things out, things that you would never buy. It allows us as marketers to say, I am being able to recognize a pocket of opportunity. With precision. I can reach that pocket of opportunity again with precision. I can be more informed of what relevant items I can bring to that person and I can leave enough data to actually say what's working, what's not, and see the results. It's incredibly empowering, it's incredibly freeing. And as a marketer, it helps you have a better conversation with your cfo, which some of those conversations haven't always been so positive.
Sarah Sluice
Okay, so less waste, more profit, better meetings with your cfo. Thank you, Ed, for weighing it all down for us.
Ed C
And it slices bread along the way, too.
Sarah Sluice
Wonderful. Thank you to add. And thanks to Zeynek for supporting our podcast.
Ed C
Thank you, Sarah.
Alyssa Boyle
And we're back. So, Aaron, we were talking a bit more about how environments in CTV with closed loop attribution can really help marketers achieve this goal of proving performance from investments. So one good example that comes to my mind would be, you know, prime video, because of course, you know, theoretically you have access to, you know, Amazon's first party shopping signals, I believe they call them signals, and you know, as well as the prime video reach and ad supported reach at that. So one thing I want to ask too is do you expect this rise in popularity of, you know, these discrete closed with attribution environments, do you expect this to maybe cause more fragmentation with, I guess, more environments acting more like walled gardens, if you will?
Aaron Ferneno
Yeah, you know, I'm going to take maybe a contrarian view and maybe a more optimistic view, but I almost see walled gardens becoming more porous. I feel like they are opening up the pipes. They're allowing third party data to integrate, they're creating partnerships with third party data for measurement, for targeting, so that advertisers can, say, leverage third party data to target car buyers. And I think a Good example of this is Netflix's announcement with a partnership with Amazon and, and Yahoo and which allows advertisers, for instance, to target Netflix's audiences using Amazon data. So I'm sort of hoping that there will be more partnerships like that, which kind of helps minimize this fragmentation.
Alyssa Boyle
Yeah, I think that that's a good point too because I think, you know, I've noticed a couple more, you know, partnerships here and there out in the wild. Like Amazon had a recent partnership with one of the agency old cos, I believe. And I think a big part of the, the backstory in that particular sense was, you know, how can we, you know, enable marketers to combine more data in a way that can actually help them see beyond a particular publisher's own four walls, but actually make a comprehensive comparison of what's going on and what's working and what's not? So, yeah, you know, I'm hopeful that more piecemeal partnerships like that can maybe chip away at some of the, some of the concerns related to old gardens or lack of transparency. But, but yeah, I mean, overall it'll be interesting to see, I guess, how much they lower their garden walls. Another promising trend I'm kind of seeing. You mentioned Netflix. I think in tandem with their announcement about Amazon ads and Yahoo audience data being available through those respective DSPs for Netflix inventory, Netflix also announced a conversion API. And I noticed that it's becoming more of a trend gradually in streaming environments. So of course cappies are probably know, table stakes for, for years now for platforms like meta snap, LinkedIn is more, more recent, but you get by point. So what do you make of this recent trend of, of cappies becoming more popular in streaming environments?
Aaron Ferneno
I think it's great. I think it's a, a positive step in the right direction. You know, like you said, you know, cappies are, you know, ubiquitous and digital advertising, I think it's, you know, one of the most popular ways to measure conversions. So I think that anything that platforms can do to build out their infrastructure that recognizes how digital advertisers typically activate campaigns or transact or plan and build out their capabilities is a positive. And I think, you know, a capi will allow, you know, Roku, Netflix, you know, advertisers to see, you know, the transparency, to see, you know, if an audience is showing up in attribution reports.
Alyssa Boyle
Yeah, yeah, I think, yeah, there's a lot to look forward to as far as that goes. And I think, you know, it's the only, the only place in the world, this industry where Cappy doesn't end in Barra. I had to make that joke. I had to make that joke. It reminds me of. There's this episode of Family Feud where Steve Harvey asks people to combine a word with pork to make a full word and someone says Q pine like porcupine. Anyway, so that's what I think about every time I talk about Cappy. So it'll be a long, a long career for me trying not to laugh in meetings about performance advertising. Okay, moving right along. So another, another trend that I'm seeing is, you know, kind of supporting this whole concept of making streaming act more like a performance channel is the rise of self serve ad platforms like Paramount has one. There's you know, Universal ads for, for NBCU inventory.
Aaron Ferneno
There's.
Alyssa Boyle
And I could keep going, Roku, et cetera. You get the idea. Yeah. What do you make of the rise of self serve ad platforms too? Because I feel like it's a testament to how akin streaming can be to digital environments. But it also raises the question of so is streaming just going to become the same infrastructure or like how digitized can it really get? And what do we learn from the rise of self serve ad platforms as far as what to expect next?
Aaron Ferneno
Yeah, again I think this is a positive movement. I am all for listening to advertisers needs and building out the services and the infrastructure that they're used to having on digital platforms. And I think that what we're hearing ironically from advertisers is that they prefer to transact and use their preferred DSP when buying streaming tv. So although you know, having your, your own ad buying platform as, as a streaming publisher I think offers optionality. I think advertisers do like the idea of having their buys and their one preferred dsp. I think of course you know, self serve is great for the SMB space.
Alyssa Boyle
Yeah. And that's, yeah, definitely validates your point as to why at least initially self serve platforms from what I've seen have always been pitched, you know, primarily, not exclusively, but primarily as a solution for small and mid sized businesses that maybe wouldn't have had a way to get their foot in the door otherwise. So. Oh, sorry, lost my train of thought and then the train came back into the station. Okay, so you mentioned DSPs and I think know Programmatic is obviously a really good testament to how, you know, digitized and performant if you will, streaming can become. But I do want to ask, you know, how, how do you see programmatic kind of playing into the future of streaming and its status As a performance channel. Given the simultaneous rise in popularity of more direct buying methods,
Aaron Ferneno
I think that programmatic buy buying of streaming TV inventory will only grow. I, I think that as they continue to figure out how to handle live, you know, buying live events programmatically, I think that advertisers like those CSP dashboards. So you know that that would be, my money is on more programmatic buying.
Alyssa Boyle
And what do you think is the biggest appeal of programmatic for media buyers? Like is it the ease of access, is it the targeting granularity or is it the, the measurement that comes back? And what if I was evil and said you can only pick one that is evil?
Aaron Ferneno
Because I say all, all of the above. I guess what I'm hearing from advertisers, it's the report reporting. If I had to choose spot.
Alyssa Boyle
Yeah, I mean to be fair, I mean like good reporting comes from good data coming in too. But I think coming full circle here, it's all about, you know, if, if performance means one thing in streaming, it really means outcomes and can I prove that they happened. There's an old saying, old saying, it's a Gen Z saying, but pics or it didn't happen. So when I cover ad tech, I think outcomes or it didn't happen. That's, that's how I look at CTV now as far as what I'm perceiving to be the most important thing. So I'm going to just pull us out of the weeds ever so slightly. I know we talked a lot about recent trends, developments in the industry. I want to just kind of open this one up to you. But what are you seeing advertisers and buyers kind of doing to make their own lives a little easier? Despite some of the challenges and change we're seeing throughout this transition of TV evolving from a reach vehicle to performance
Aaron Ferneno
marketing channel, you know, I, I, I'm not seeing any changes. I think that, you know, like I mentioned before, that advertisers understand the role of streaming TV on their plans and the how it can impact outcomes. You know, I think that they understand that they're not going to get it at the speed that they get from other channels. Doesn't mean that they're happy about it. I think they're building their own, a lot of agencies are sort of building their own tools to understand the impact that streaming has. So I think that if platforms can help meet those needs, that, and publishers can help meet those needs, that would be just make a lot of advertisers very happy.
Alyssa Boyle
Yeah, and I Think, you know, I mean, as much as we need standardization, I mean, of course there's a reason why agencies, media buyers, really, anyone, you know, innovates their own, their own tools behind the scenes, you know, because if you want something done, do it yourself. Right. So what do you expect to see between now and the upfront says? I think we're already well underway in upfront planning season and we're already seeing some, you know, publishers kind of come out and start to start to strut their stuff a little far in advance because that's what the upfronts are for. Planning only gets earlier and earlier every year. Is there anything that you expect to happen between now and then or any particular trend or development that we've already discussed that you expect to play a particularly major role in marketers preparation for the upfront season this year?
Aaron Ferneno
I think that what we'll be seeing is what we typically see at the upfronts, where there will be great shows, great entertainment. I think they'll be focused on new content and I think there will all be with a somewhat good helping of how publishers have the tech that advertisers need. It seems to me that the publishers and platforms sort of talk about the tech prior to the upfronts and, you know, give announcements and they have, and, and they have their, you know, this, they, they talk about it a lot in, you know, at ces. So I think the upfronts is going to be about, you know, performance and ad results, but it's not going to take up too much of the shows.
Alyssa Boyle
Yeah, I think that's something I've been, you know, seeing more of over the years. You know, like advertising and technology and data is gradually becoming more, a more important part of upfront presentations. But it's still not the main show. The main show is still going to be the content like it always was. And in the segments that are dedicated to advertising and technology then to your point, I think we'll start to see a lot of that attention focused on performance and outcomes. And I think just based on the new front's agenda alone, I think we're already seeing that emerging as a very clear trend this year. So let's leave our listeners with this. Do you have any last words, any last words of advice or takeaways that you would share with marketers who are maybe still wrapping their heads around, you know, what is performance TV and how should I be treating streaming in the new age of, you know, performance marketing?
Aaron Ferneno
Yeah, you know, I actually have, you know, words for advice. Yeah, for for advertisers and, and, and, and publishers. And that is. I don't know if you saw the recent PSA from Norway that was on LinkedIn. It was about how the digital channels are getting crappier for consumers throughout the psa, which was very funny. And I highly recommend they say over and over again, make it crappy. I'm giving you the PG version. What I want to say is don't make it crappy. In our pursuit of making streaming TV more accountable and having more visibility into attribution to keep the consumers still front and center and to remember how they're watching streaming and maybe don't overwhelm them with lots of click to buy ads or QR codes unless it makes sense for that creative. And we should absolutely improve targeting and make targeting more relevant. But let's not start creepy targeting on streaming tv. I think that we need to keep in mind how consumers watch streaming and keep in mind the unique value of TV and the ability to tell your brand story on a big screen in a premium environment.
Alyssa Boyle
Yeah, I think that's a really, really good note to end on because at the end of the day, TV exists, like to what to entertain people and it's the consumers ultimately that are, you know, spending the money that makes the world go around. Right. So I think, and also to your point too, I think respecting the viewer experience in the unique environments, they exist, you know, at different viewing sessions or maybe make sense for more of that direct response treatment. But whereas, you know, the Super Bowl, I was very thankful I didn't see a whole deluge of QR codes or anything like that. But yeah, it's a takeaway. Don't be, don't be creepy and don't be desperate for clicks. I think we should also give that advice to people on dating apps. What do you think?
Aaron Ferneno
Exactly.
Alyssa Boyle
Right.
Aaron Ferneno
Great.
Alyssa Boyle
Well, great talk. Erin. Thank you so much for joining us today.
Aaron Ferneno
Thanks.
Sarah Sluice
This episode was brought to you by Zeta. Zeta's AI platform unifies paid, owned and earned media into one powerful growth engine, optimizing performance in real time and driving measurable outcomes with confidence. Don't hope for a higher ROI. Expect it with SEDA. Learn more at sedaglobal.com adexchanger.
Date: March 24, 2026
Host: Alyssa Boyle (Senior Editor, AdExchanger)
Guest: Aaron Ferneno (SVP of Business Intelligence, Advertiser Perceptions)
This episode of AdExchanger Talks dives deep into the rapidly evolving concept of “Performance TV.” Host Alyssa Boyle and guest Aaron Ferneno unpack what “Performance TV” actually means, explore the distinctions between streaming/CTV and traditional linear TV for performance goals, and discuss how the marketing industry is adapting strategies and technology to bridge the gap between branding and measurable lower-funnel outcomes. The episode also considers challenges around measurement, attribution, and viewer experience as TV environments become increasingly digital.
Definition: Aaron Ferneno frames "Performance TV" as the use of TV (primarily streaming and CTV) as a lower-funnel channel for performance outcomes such as sales lift and site traffic, akin to traditional digital channels.
CTV vs Linear TV: Aaron distinguishes that performance TV predominantly refers to streaming and CTV, not linear TV, due to richer signal and targeting capability.
Streaming’s Edge: Streaming TV provides more robust data signals and targeting tools, making it better suited for performance goals compared to legacy linear TV.
Measurement vs. Targeting: The industry is more focused on measurement and proving outcomes, rather than just targeting.
Defining Outcomes: While high-funnel metrics like reach remain important, advertiser expectations for performance TV center on understanding incremental performance, even if direct clicks or conversions are limited.
Incrementality Focus: Marketers are increasingly interested in using incrementality testing (i.e., control groups, A/B testing) to assess actual performance lift from streaming campaigns, despite slower or less direct attribution compared to traditional digital.
Budget Implications: Larger advertisers plan for testing within their media budgets, but performance claims for CTV face skepticism due to expense and indirect conversion paths.
Current State: Only 24% of CTV campaigns are designated as having performance (lower-funnel) goals, a figure flat for several years.
Barriers: Higher CPMs of CTV, longer attribution windows, and the challenge of connecting TV viewing to second-screen conversions make advertisers wary of overcommitting to performance claims.
Conversion Pathways: Rather than expecting “click-to-buy” or direct conversion on the TV screen, advertisers are innovating around indirect conversion paths (e.g. QR codes for notifications or later engagement).
Closed-Loop Ecosystems: Walled-garden environments like YouTube or Amazon/Prime Video are better positioned to demonstrate performance due to tight integration between platform exposure and conversion data.
Walled Gardens Becoming Porous: Although closed attribution environments could increase fragmentation, recent industry partnerships (e.g., Netflix with Amazon and Yahoo) are bringing more data interoperability—lowering the “garden walls.”
Conversion API (CAPI) Adoption: Streaming platforms are adopting “CAPIs” (Conversion APIs) similar to social and digital channels, helping advertisers tie exposure to site actions/sales and see attribution data more clearly.
The Future is Programmatic: Programmatic CTV buying is expected to grow, especially as technology solves for live events and further integrates with established DSP reporting dashboards.
Primary Programmatic Appeal: Advertisers cite reporting as the main draw of programmatic streaming TV buys—granular data makes performance assessment easier.
Content Still Rules: Upfront presentations remain anchored in content, but tech and attribution get growing attention, especially in advance press or at events like CES.
Advice: Don’t Overdo Performance TV
On the definition of Performance TV:
“To me, performance TV is the idea that TV can be used as a lower funnel channel and offer the same insights and meet lower funnel objectives like sales lift and traffic site traffic as other performance channels.”
— Aaron Ferneno (02:45)
On streaming TV’s measurement focus:
“Their goal is more about measurement. Their goal is to understand outcomes.”
— Aaron Ferneno (05:25)
On incrementality testing:
“What marketers and media buyers should be focused on is incrementality testing.”
— Aaron Ferneno (07:57)
On barriers to CTV as a performance channel:
“Advertisers have like a healthy skepticism regarding CTV’s ability to act as a performance channel and prove lower funnel outcomes.”
— Aaron Ferneno (13:00)
On welcoming CAPIs in CTV:
“I think it’s great. I think it’s a positive step in the right direction... anything that platforms can do to build out their infrastructure that recognizes how digital advertisers typically activate campaigns ... is a positive.”
— Aaron Ferneno (24:31)
On user experience and the limits of ‘performance’ in TV:
“Let’s not start creepy targeting on streaming TV. I think that we need to keep in mind how consumers watch streaming and keep in mind the unique value of TV and the ability to tell your brand story on a big screen in a premium environment.”
— Aaron Ferneno (34:35)
The discussion strikes a friendly but incisive tone, mixing optimism about emerging technology and collaboration (e.g., partnerships, CAPIs, programmatic) with realism about the industry's limits and risks—especially around measurement, fragmentation, and respecting user experience. The ultimate message: CTV is edging closer to acting like a true performance channel, but advertisers, platforms, and publishers must balance accountability with creative sensibility and consumer respect.
Final Advice: Don’t oversaturate CTV with aggressive performance tactics; keep the consumer front and center and remember the unique story-telling power of TV.