Not Dead Yet: Ad Spending On Linear TV Up Despite Decline In Impressions, iSpot Q1 Report Says

Streaming is gaining, but linear TV is not yet extinct. Especially as far as advertisers are concerned.

Image courtesy of iSpot

In its new Q1 2025 TV Ad Transparency Report, measurement and analytics company iSpot found that ad spending on linear TV was $12.34 billion, up 3.99% from a year ago.

Total TV household ad impressions fell 5.41% to 1.84 trillion. Looking at a basket of 50 top brands, streaming impressions climbed to nearly 14% of total TV ad impressions in Q1 2025, while linear’s share was reduced to around 86%, highlighting the continued shift toward cross-platform viewing.

In the first three months of 2023, streaming accounted for just 6% to 8% of ad impressions in the first three months of 2023.

Despite the spending increase, linear TV impressions were down 4.25% to 1.54 trillion during the quarter, according to iSpot, which would indicate that advertisers are paying more per impression.

Why pay more? According to iSpot, this represents a flight to quality ahead of a potentially rough patch as tariffs and other governmental activity creates uncertainty for businesses and consumers. Also, more spending is being directed to sports, where ad demand and pricing remains strong on linear.

Source: iSpot

“The rise in linear TV ad spend, even as impressions softened, shows that brands aren't pulling back, they're getting smarter—prioritizing precision, tailored placements and measurable outcomes," said Mark Myers, chief commercial officer, iSpot. “Brands that are finding success with their campaigns are pairing quality media mixes with outcome-driven strategies beyond surface-level metrics.”

It’s not an upset that sports remain a huge factor in linear TV. In Q1, the March Madness of the men’s college basketball championship tournament accounted for 2.85% of impressions. With the playoffs and Super Bowl, NFL programming accounted for 2.66% of impressions. The NBA generated 1.29% of impressions.

The reach generated by the Super Bowl increased 4.55% from a year ago, including streaming viewership on Tubi.

Following the NCAA tournament, NFL, and NBA, the Top 10 programs in terms of impression share in Q1 were Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, The Big Bang Theory, The Price Is Right, SportsCenter, college football, NCIS, and Friends.

The iSpot report also found that news programming continues to contribute to linear TV viewing, even in a post-election year. In the first quarter, seven of the morning news shows were among the Top 20 Programs, compared to just three a year ago.

The Academy Awards delivered a 4.37% increase in TV ad impressions compared to a year ago, and a 28% boost in attention.

The bottom line is that live programming, mainly sports and news, remain the strength of national linear TV.

How should advertisers adjust as viewing shifts to streaming? iSpot analyzed 224 billion linear and connected TV ad impressions from 87 brands across 12 product categories. It compared the campaigns that generated results in the top third of all ads, to those in the middle and bottom third. It found that best performing campaigns allocated 23.7% of ad to connected TV, while the mediocre and worst performers allocated an average of 17.4% of their ads to CTV.

The large brands that leaned into streaming in Q1 included Allstate, Progressive, Hyundai, Chick-fil-A, Capital One, Liberty Mutual, Intuit’s Credit Karma, McDonald’s, TurboTax, and Febreze.

“Campaigns that succeeded paired efficient media mixes with outcome-driven strategies, moving beyond surface metrics to focus on real-world impact,” iSpot said.

The report recommends that shifting more of their budget to CTV would lead to ”measurably stronger performance across KPIs while decreasing wasted impressions on linear TV.”

Some signs that advertisers are reacting to the uncertain economy were found in the iSpot report. Automaker advertising had less reach than a year ago, dropping to 3.07% in Q1 2025 from 4.24% in Q1 2024. At the same time, quick service restaurant commercials focused more on messages about prices than a year ago.