How To Advertise on Streaming Services

Streaming services have transformed the way audiences consume content, offering advertisers an unprecedented opportunity to connect with engaged viewers across a variety of platforms. With the rise of ad-supported streaming giants like Hulu, Peacock, and YouTube TV, brands can now deliver highly targeted messages in premium, non-skippable environments.

Advertising on streaming services goes beyond traditional TV commercials, offering advanced targeting, cross-device reach, and measurable performance metrics. From Connected TV (CTV) ads to interactive campaigns, streaming platforms enable businesses to craft tailored experiences that resonate with their audience.

In this guide, we’ll go through the strategies, formats, and platforms available for advertising on streaming services. Whether you’re looking to build brand awareness, drive conversions, or optimize your ad spend, this article will provide actionable insights to help you succeed in the competitive world of streaming advertising.

Key Takeaways

• Streaming services dominate digital advertising: Platforms like Hulu, Peacock, and YouTube TV offer unmatched access to engaged, ad-supported viewers.
• Targeting precision boosts ROI: Advanced audience insights allow advertisers to tailor campaigns based on demographics, behaviors, and interests for maximum impact.
• Diverse ad formats enable flexibility: From pre-roll and mid-roll ads to interactive and shoppable formats, brands can craft campaigns to meet specific goals.
• Cost varies by platform and goals: Hulu and YouTube TV require higher budgets (~$10,000+), while smaller campaigns can start on niche platforms or with self-serve tools.
• Optimization drives success: Regular monitoring and A/B testing of creatives, targeting, and bids ensure campaigns deliver strong engagement and conversions.
• Partner with experts from Strategus for managed services to simplify streaming ad campaigns, offering premium inventory, AI-driven targeting, and real-time reporting for top results.

Why Advertise on Streaming Services?

Streaming services have redefined how audiences consume content, offering advertisers unparalleled opportunities to connect with engaged viewers. With platforms like Hulu, Peacock, and YouTube TV leading the charge, streaming services have become essential for brands seeking innovative and impactful advertising solutions.

Extensive Reach and Growing Audiences

Streaming platforms now dominate the media landscape. Over 55% of U.S. internet users are expected to watch content through ad-supported streaming services by 2026 (Tinuiti). This growth reflects a massive audience shift toward streaming, offering advertisers access to a wide range of demographics, including cord-cutters who have moved away from traditional TV.

Precision Targeting for Higher ROI

Streaming services excel at delivering tailored advertising through advanced targeting capabilities. Advertisers can reach audiences based on factors like viewing habits, demographics, and interests. This precision ensures that campaigns resonate with viewers, driving better engagement and maximizing return on investment (ROI). Additionally, streaming platforms provide real-time analytics, allowing brands to monitor performance and optimize their campaigns dynamically.

Premium Content and Non-Skippable Ads

Ads on streaming platforms often run alongside premium, professionally produced content. Many ad formats, such as non-skippable video ads, ensure the audience fully engages with the brand’s message. This creates a high-value environment that fosters trust and positive brand association. With interactive ad options, brands can further enhance user engagement and encourage immediate action.

Streaming Is the Future

In 2024, brands allocated $30 billion to streaming advertisements, a figure that continues to rise (Tinuiti). As more viewers shift to streaming services, this channel provides the ideal blend of reach, precision, and performance, making it an indispensable part of any advertising strategy.

How to Advertise on Streaming Services

Here’s how to effectively advertise and market your brands on streaming services in 2025.

1. Choose Your Streaming Platforms

Selecting the right streaming platforms for your advertising campaign is a critical first step to ensure your message reaches the desired audience effectively. With numerous options available, each platform offers unique advantages tailored to specific goals and audience segments. Below are four top streaming platforms and what sets them apart.

• Hulu: Known for its large ad-supported subscriber base, Hulu offers diverse targeting options and high-quality inventory. It’s ideal for reaching Millennials and Gen Z audiences.
• Peacock: With a growing subscriber base, Peacock offers affordable CPMs and extensive ad-supported content, making it a cost-effective choice for brands.
• YouTube TV: Combining live TV with YouTube’s powerful targeting capabilities, YouTube TV is perfect for engaging audiences across multiple content categories.
• Roku: As a leader in connected TV (CTV), Roku provides robust targeting tools and access to a vast range of free and premium content.

Choosing the right platform depends on your advertising objectives, budget, and target audience. By understanding each platform’s strengths and limitations, you can tailor your strategy for maximum impact.

2. Determine Your Ad Format

Once you've selected your streaming platforms, consider the ad formats that best suit your campaign objectives and creative assets. Streaming services offer a wide range of ad formats to engage viewers effectively.

Pre-roll Ads

Pre-roll ads play before the main content starts, ensuring high visibility and viewer attention. These ads are typically 15-30 seconds long and work well for building brand awareness or promoting specific products or services.

Mid-roll Ads

Mid-roll ads appear during natural breaks in the content, such as between episodes or at a cliffhanger moment. While viewers are more likely to be engaged with the content at this point, mid-roll ads can be longer, allowing for more detailed messaging or storytelling.

Post-roll Ads

Post-roll ads play after the main content ends, providing an opportunity to reinforce your brand message or drive specific actions, such as visiting your website or making a purchase.

Interactive Ads

Interactive ads allow viewers to engage with your brand directly through their streaming devices. These ads can include features like quizzes, polls, or clickable elements that lead to additional information or shoppable experiences. Interactive ads drive higher engagement rates and can provide valuable insights into viewer preferences.

Shoppable Ads

Shoppable ads seamlessly blend content with e-commerce, enabling viewers to purchase products directly from the ad using their remote control or connected device. This format is particularly effective for retail brands looking to drive sales and reduce friction in the buying process.

3. Set Your Budget and Bids

Determining your advertising budget is a critical step in your streaming service advertising strategy. Your budget will influence which platforms you can advertise on, the ad formats you can use, and the duration of your campaigns.

When setting your budget, consider your overall marketing goals and the role streaming service advertising will play in achieving those objectives. Allocate a portion of your budget to testing different platforms, ad formats, and targeting strategies to identify the most effective combinations for your brand.

Many streaming services use a programmatic ad-buying model, which allows you to set bids based on your target CPM (cost per thousand impressions) or CPA (cost per acquisition). Programmatic buying enables real-time bid optimization, ensuring your ads are shown to the right audience at the right price.

To determine your target CPM or CPA, consider factors such as:

• Industry benchmarks for streaming service advertising
• Historical performance data from previous campaigns
• The lifetime value of a customer acquired through streaming service advertising
• Your overall advertising budget and ROI goals

Streaming services often provide tools to help you manage your bids and optimize your ad spend. These tools may include:

• Real-time bidding dashboards
• Automated bid optimization based on performance data
• Audience insights and segmentation options
• Frequency capping to avoid overexposing viewers to your ads

Take advantage of these tools to maximize the efficiency of your ad spend and ensure your budget is allocated effectively across your chosen streaming platforms.

4. Create Compelling Ad Creative

Capturing viewer attention in the crowded streaming service landscape requires creating compelling ad creative that resonates with your target audience. Here’s how to ensure your ads make a lasting impact.

Keep It Short and Impactful

Streaming viewers have limited patience for long ads, so brevity is key. Aim for 15-30 seconds for pre-roll and mid-roll ads, and use 6-second bumper ads on platforms that support them. These shorter formats encourage higher engagement and ensure your message is delivered without losing the audience’s attention.

Utilize Storytelling to Connect Emotionally

Storytelling is one of the most effective tools in advertising. Build a narrative that resonates with viewers, using humor, inspiration, or relatability to capture their attention. Focus on how your product or service solves a problem or enhances the viewer’s life. This approach not only informs but creates an emotional connection that makes your ad memorable.

Enhance Engagement With Interactive Features

Interactive ads allow users to engage directly with your brand, driving both interest and action.

• Use features like polls, quizzes, or clickable CTAs to make ads more dynamic.
• Include shoppable ads to let viewers seamlessly purchase products or learn more with minimal friction.

Optimize for Multiple Screens

Streaming service ads can appear on various devices, from smart TVs to mobile phones. Ensure visuals and text are legible across all screen sizes, using high-resolution images and videos to maintain quality. Clear, bold designs perform better, especially on larger screens where poor resolution may stand out.

5. Launch and Monitor Your Campaigns

With your streaming platforms selected, ad formats chosen, budget and bids set, and compelling creative ready, it's time to launch your campaigns. Upload your video ads to the chosen platforms, ensuring they meet the required specifications for file format, resolution, and length.

Set your targeting parameters based on the audience insights you've gathered. Most streaming platforms offer a range of targeting options, such as:

• Demographics (age, gender, income, etc.)
• Interests and behaviors
• Geographic location
• Device type
• Contextual targeting (ads shown alongside relevant content)

Carefully consider which targeting parameters align with your campaign goals and target audience. For example, if you're promoting a new product launch, you may want to target a broader audience to maximize reach. If you're looking to drive conversions, more narrow targeting based on interests and behaviors may be more effective.

Once your ads are uploaded and targeting is set, launch your campaigns on the selected streaming platforms. Keep a close eye on ad performance from the start, using metrics like:

• Impressions: The number of times your ad is shown
• Video completion rate: The percentage of viewers who watch your ad to completion
• Click-through rate (CTR): The percentage of viewers who click on your ad's CTA
• Conversion rate: The percentage of viewers who take a desired action after seeing your ad
• Cost per acquisition (CPA): The amount you spend to acquire a new customer or conversion

Regularly monitor these metrics to gauge the effectiveness of your campaigns. Most streaming platforms provide real-time reporting dashboards, allowing you to track performance and make informed decisions about optimizations.

Pay attention to how your ads perform across different platforms, ad formats, and targeting segments. Identify which combinations deliver the best results in terms of engagement, conversions, and ROI. Use this data to inform ongoing campaign management and future ad creative decisions.

6. Optimize Based on Performance

As your streaming service ad campaigns run, dive deep into the data to uncover valuable insights. Analyze key metrics like video completion rates, click-through rates, and conversion rates to identify the ads, audiences, and placements that deliver the best results.

Use this information to make data-driven optimizations to your campaigns. If certain ads resonate particularly well with viewers, consider allocating more budget to those placements. Conversely, if some ads or targeting segments underperform, pause or adjust them to improve overall campaign efficiency.

A/B Test Your Campaigns

A/B testing is a powerful tool for optimization. Experiment with different ad creatives, messaging, and CTAs to determine which elements drive the highest engagement and conversions. Continuously refine your targeting parameters based on audience insights, ensuring your ads reach the most receptive viewers.

Adjust Bids

Keep a close eye on your bids and adjust them based on performance data. If certain ad placements or audience segments deliver strong ROI, consider increasing your bids to secure more impressions. On the other hand, if some aspects of your campaign have a high cost per acquisition, reduce bids or reallocate budget to more profitable areas.

Frequency Capping

Frequency capping is another important optimization tactic. While it's important to reach viewers multiple times to build brand awareness and drive action, overexposure can lead to ad fatigue and diminishing returns. Set frequency caps to ensure viewers see your ads at an optimal cadence without becoming overwhelmed or annoyed.

Tips for Effective Streaming Advertising

While it may seem simple to run advertising campaigns on streaming services, here are some ways you can make them even more effective.

1. Know Your Audience

Understanding your audience is the foundation of effective streaming advertising. Research viewer demographics, interests, and behaviors to create targeted ad campaigns that resonate. This strategic approach ensures your message reaches the right people, increasing the likelihood of engagement and conversion.

2. Keep Ads Short and Engaging

In today's fast-paced digital world, keeping ads short and engaging is key. Streamline your message and use compelling visuals to maintain viewer attention. A concise ad with a strong call-to-action can leave a lasting impression and prompt immediate viewer action.

3. Leverage Interactive Features

Interactive features can significantly enhance ad engagement. Utilize interactive ad formats, such as polls or clickable elements, to encourage viewer interaction. This not only boosts engagement but also drives conversions by offering an engaging and memorable experience.

4. Test and Optimize Continuously

Continuous testing and optimization are vital for maximizing ad performance. Experiment with different ad creatives, targeting strategies, and placements to identify what works best for your audience. This iterative process helps refine your approach and improve ROI over time.

Closing Thoughts - Should You Advertise on Streaming Services with a Self-Serve Approach?

Advertising on streaming services offers immense opportunities to connect with engaged audiences, but the decision between using a self-serve approach or partnering with a managed service requires careful consideration. 

A self-serve platform provides control, flexibility, and lower upfront costs, making it appealing to businesses with experienced in-house teams and the resources to handle campaign management. However, the complexity of streaming service advertising—managing creative, targeting, optimization, and analytics—can be overwhelming without specialized expertise.

For many businesses, the challenges of navigating a self-serve platform outweigh the benefits. Without the right tools and knowledge, campaigns can underperform, resulting in wasted budgets and missed opportunities. That’s why partnering with an expert-managed service like Strategus is often the better choice.

Strategus simplifies streaming service advertising with a fully managed, hands-off approach. From campaign strategy and audience targeting to creative production and real-time optimization, Strategus handles every aspect of your campaign. With access to premium inventory across top streaming platforms and the power of AI-driven targeting, Strategus ensures your ads reach the right audience at the right time.

Our real-time reporting dashboard provides complete transparency, offering actionable insights without requiring you to dive into technical details. This means you can focus on running your business while Strategus delivers measurable results tailored to your goals.

If your team is stretched thin or lacks programmatic expertise, choosing Strategus over a self-serve platform ensures your campaigns are executed with precision and maximum impact. 

Speak to a Strategus expert today to unlock the full potential of streaming service advertising—effortlessly and effectively.

Frequently Asked Questions

What Is the Minimum Budget for Advertising on Streaming Services?

The minimum budget for streaming service advertising depends on the platform. Hulu and YouTube TV typically require starting budgets of around $10,000, but smaller campaigns can be run on niche platforms. Many services offer flexible options, allowing advertisers to scale campaigns according to their financial resources and goals.

Which Streaming Platforms Offer the Best Targeting Capabilities?

Hulu, YouTube TV, and Roku provide advanced targeting capabilities based on demographics, viewing habits, and interests. These platforms leverage robust audience data and analytics, ensuring ads are delivered to highly relevant viewers, maximizing engagement and conversion opportunities.

How Do I Track Conversions From My Streaming Ad Campaigns?

Streaming platforms like Peacock Ad Manager and Hulu offer analytics tools to track key metrics such as click-through rates, video completion rates, and conversions. These insights allow advertisers to measure campaign effectiveness and make informed optimizations.

What Are the Most Effective Ad Formats for Streaming Services?

Pre-roll and mid-roll ads are effective for delivering concise messages, while interactive formats like shoppable ads and clickable CTAs encourage direct engagement. The choice of ad format depends on campaign objectives and the features of the selected platform.

How Can I Ensure Brand Safety When Advertising on Streaming Platforms?

To maintain brand safety, use tools provided by reputable streaming platforms, such as content filters and placement controls. Advertising in premium inventory ensures your brand appears alongside high-quality, professionally produced content, protecting your reputation.