3 TV Advertising Myths DTC Brands Should Ignore

As customer acquisition costs climb and digital channels become increasingly saturated, many direct-to-consumer (DTC) brands are hitting a growth ceiling. They're asking themselves, "What comes next?"

Yet many still treat TV as something to “graduate” to — an expensive and exclusive awareness channel that’s been reserved for the biggest brands with even bigger budgets. Performance lived elsewhere, on platforms like Google and Meta that promise real-time reporting and enhanced return on investment.

However, streaming has fundamentally changed how TV advertising works.

It combines the reach of television with the targeting and flexibility that marketers expect from digital. For e-commerce brands, this solves a unique challenge that digital channels alone can’t: establishing familiarity and trust at scale for customers who may not encounter your brand in-store.

It’s also growing at record rates, now representing the majority of all TV usage. However, streaming is still incredibly underutilized, especially when compared to attention. In 2024, U.S. adults spent almost 18 percent of their viewing time on CTV (connected TV), where brands invested just 7.4 percent of total media spend.

This gap creates a huge opportunity for marketers willing to unlearn old notions and capitalize on CTV as one of the most effective new growth channels.

Myth No. 1: TV is only good for awareness, not performance.

The biggest misconception about TV is that it’s purely an awareness channel. Historically, the traditional TV ecosystem was too slow and complex to make measuring performance worthwhile, particularly for small and medium businesses.

In reality, streaming campaigns can now be evaluated with precision against the same signals DTC marketers rely on everywhere else (site visits, purchases, customer acquisition, incremental lift), opening the door to performance TV at scale.

From online clothing to mattresses and even local businesses, CTV is helping emerging retailers realize quadruple-digit return on ad spend and meaningful brand growth. What wasn’t possible in the linear era is now standard practice: reaching specific audiences on the biggest screen in the house — and measuring the impact on revenue.

Myth No. 2: TV is too expensive for DTC brands.

Technology has significantly lowered the creative barrier to entry for TV. Many brands are finding they already have the assets needed to get started, using AI to make basic tweaks or repurpose high-performing social content into streaming ads. Super Bowl-level production is great, but not required for success. What is essential is the ability to test, measure and optimize ads based on real-time results, which CTV enables.

In the linear era, buying TV also meant committing to large upfront deals, long timelines, and limited flexibility.

Streaming operates differently. It allows brands to launch TV campaigns with the same agility they expect from digital. Budgets are flexible, campaigns can be adjusted mid-flight, and ad buying is more accessible with fewer intermediaries.

Testing the waters of TV isn’t the risk for brands; it’s sitting on the sidelines of the streaming boom while relying on a narrow set of channels that have become more expensive and less efficient over time.

Myth No. 3: The future of TV advertising is all about shoppable ads.

There’s a lot of hype around shoppable TV. The promise to retail advertisers is compelling: audiences see your product during their favorite show and click or scan their way straight to a purchase, all from their couch. But in practice, most TV-driven conversions don’t happen instantly — and they don’t need to.

At its core, TV is a passive medium. While some audiences have experimented with buying via streaming ads, most people aren’t sitting down to make a purchase. They’re watching, not shopping. Formats like QR codes often interrupt the TV experience more than they convert sales, much like banner ads disrupt web browsing.

TV works by creating trust and intent. A viewer sees an ad on TV, becomes aware of your brand, and takes action later on. They visit your social pages, search for your brand online, or convert through another channel. This is how consumers naturally shop.

The real value of TV isn’t forcing immediate transactions, but rather influencing decisions in a way that improves performance across the entire marketing ecosystem. The best marketers focus on making a lasting impression during a lean-back viewing experience, then track the revenue lift that follows in the hours and days after exposure. They align TV campaigns to clear business goals, then adjust based on real outcomes and incremental demand that wouldn’t have existed otherwise — not just impressions.

It’s time for e-commerce brands to rethink TV’s role

TV used to be where brands invested after everything else was working. Thanks to streaming, it’s evolved into a scalable performance channel that builds credibility alongside proven outcomes.

The brands that recognize this shift are already benefiting from treating TV as a core part of their performance strategy, not a luxury or an experiment.

As CTV continues to redefine television, the question for DTC marketers is no longer about whether TV is accessible or efficient. It’s whether they’re ready to rethink old assumptions and seize the growth opportunity on streaming.

Arthur Querou is CEO of Vibe.co,  the only self-serve, end-to-end connected TV ad platform built to deliver measurable performance on streaming.