In this article…
Suppose you’re watching your favorite TV show, and an ad suddenly catches your attention. It urges you to take immediate action, whether to call a number, visit a website, or text a keyword like ‘DETAILS’ to a specific number for more information. This is direct response television (DRTV), a powerful form of advertising available on all TV types — including live, cable, and streaming — that directly connects brands with consumers to drive immediate engagement and measurable results.
The goal of DRTV marketing is simple: convert viewers into customers quickly and measurably by asking them to do something in real time. Every DRTV ad is carefully designed to drive quick conversions with a clear, direct path from interest to action. This makes it an essential tool for marketers who need to measure their return on investment (ROI) for TV and see instantaneous results.
Key benefits of DRTV marketing
Unlike traditional TV ads that build long-term brand awareness, DRTV campaigns are focused on driving instant results and are surprisingly effective at doing it. Here are a few benefits of DRTV and why it’s a powerful tool for marketers in a digitized world.
Immediate customer engagement
One of the biggest advantages of DRTV is its ability to engage customers right off the bat. DRTV grabs attention and motivates people to act now, whether with a phone number on the screen, a QR code to scan, or a limited-time offer, often with compelling incentives.
Measurable ROI
DRTV is designed to deliver precise, trackable results. Because the ads encourage specific actions — like visiting a website or calling a phone number — it’s easy to see what’s working and what’s not. Marketers can measure everything from sales to lead generation, which guides them in refining their strategies for even better results. Pairing DRTV with digital tools, like web analytics or CRM systems, can provide even deeper campaign performance insights.
Broad reach
Even in the streaming age, live TV and cable still attract millions of viewers, which makes DRTV excellent for brands needing to expand their reach. Marketers can even tailor DRTV ads to specific audiences by choosing the best time slots on the proper channels. Whether you’re targeting parents watching morning news or sports fans tuning into big games, you’ll know you’re connecting with the right people at optimal times.
Types of DRTV ads
DRTV advertising offers several formats, each suited to different audiences, budgets, and goals, whether you’re introducing a new product or driving traffic to your website.
Infomercials
Infomercials are the classic, long-form DRTV ads that most people associate with the term. These ads typically run for 15-30 minutes and go into detail on product benefits and features. They often include demonstrations and special offers to educate and engage viewers with urgent, limited-time deals. Think of the iconic “But wait, there’s more!” ads used to sell everyday items ranging from household cleaners to exercise equipment.
Short-form ads
Short-form DRTV ads are 30-second to 2-minute ads that get straight to the point with a single message or offer and a clear call-to-action (CTA) to encourage immediate engagement. Short-form ads are ideal for quick bursts of information, like promoting a flash sale or highlighting a new product. A 60-second ad showcasing a new mobile app might feature a quick walkthrough of its features, followed by a QR code or website URL to download it instantly.
Product demos
Some DRTV ads focus exclusively on demonstrating how a product works in real-life scenarios. These ads are great for showing off unique features or solving familiar pain points that make the product feel essential. A cookware brand might show how its nonstick pans make cooking and cleanup a breeze while including a CTA to “order now and get a free bonus spatula!”
Testimonials
Testimonials from real customers or experts are a great way to build trust and credibility. Hearing someone’s success story or endorsement of a product or service can help viewers feel confident about their purchase decision. A skincare brand, for example, might air a two-minute ad of a dermatologist explaining the science behind the product, along with five-star reviews from satisfied users.
Call-in contests or limited-time offers
This type of DRTV ad creates urgency by promoting a special offer or giveaway. Viewers might have to call a number or visit a website within a specific timeframe to claim the deal. For example, travel agencies sometimes air ads offering free vacations or planning kits to the first 100 callers, which helps them generate immediate leads.
Hybrid ads with digital integration
Many modern DRTV campaigns blend traditional TV with digital tools, like QR codes, social media hashtags, or links to custom landing pages. These hybrid ads meet viewers wherever they are. A fitness program might air a short-form ad with a QR code linking to their free app trial, making it easy for viewers to instantly engage.
Success tips for DRTV advertising
Creating a successful direct response TV campaign centers on messaging that resonates with the right audience, inspires action, and delivers measurable results. Here are some essential tips for a winning DRTV strategy.
Strong CTA
Every DRTV ad should include a compelling, straightforward CTA that motivates viewers to act immediately. Whatever it is, your CTA should be easy to understand and time-sensitive to create urgency, such as, “Claim this limited-time offer in the next 30 minutes!”
Multi-channel integration
Direct response TV works best when part of a broad multi-channel strategy, so you should make sure your campaign integrates well with digital channels. This can reinforce your message, help consumers engage across platforms, and drive better results.
Audience targeting
Precise audience targeting is critical to DRTV campaign success. Experian’s advanced TV audiences, developed with the Advertising Research Foundation (ARF), help you connect with the right viewers to drive immediate action. These syndicated audiences are now available on FreeWheel, the TV advertising industry’s global tech platform.
With over 2,400 ready-to-use audience segments, Experian enables you to target specific groups, such as:
- TV viewership audiences: Target households based on viewing habits and preferred devices.
- In-market car buyers: Reach consumers actively searching for their next vehicle, which is ideal for driving sales.
- Holiday shoppers: Engage gift-givers, deal-seekers, and travelers during peak shopping seasons.
New TV audiences released in August 2024
In addition to these, our August 2024 release introduced several updates that further refine Experian’s targeting capabilities. Some of the audience updates in this release included:
- New retail transaction audiences: These segments offer insights into categories like children’s products, parenting, hobbies and crafts, science and nature, and sports and fitness. With high spending and frequent purchase behaviors, these audiences provide a deeper understanding of consumer preferences. Notable segments include:
- Sports and fitness high spenders
- Children’s product high spenders
- Science and nature high spenders
- Updated TV audiences: New and refreshed TV segments now reflect the viewing habits of today’s consumers for accurate insights and targeting. Examples of newly added segments include:
- Free and paid ad-supported streaming TV subscribers
- Satellite service subscribers
- Cable and streaming TV service subscribers
With these advanced targeting capabilities, your DRTV campaigns can be more effective and resonant with viewers most likely to respond for maximum ROI and engagement.
Effective planning
A strong DRTV campaign starts with defining your objectives, budgeting effectively, and identifying the right media mix. Understanding where your audience spends their time — prime-time TV or niche cable channels — will get you the most value from your DRTV investment.
Real-time tracking
Tracking your DRTV campaign’s performance in real time is critical for success. Tools that provide immediate insights into viewer responses, website visits, or call volumes allow you to identify what’s working and pivot quickly if needed.
Measuring success
Measuring success against key performance indicators (KPIs) like conversion rates, ROI, or cost-per-acquisition (CPA) is an excellent way to know if your DRTV campaign is delivering results. Experian’s advanced data solutions make tracking and analyzing campaign performance easier, so you can make data-informed decisions and deliver precise results to stakeholders.
Continuous optimization
DRTV marketing is an ongoing effort. Use the insights from real-time tracking and performance measurement to refine your strategy. Optimization keeps your campaign relevant and effective, whether you need to tweak your CTA, adjust your audience targeting, or test new creative formats.
How DRTV relates to advanced TV and connected TV
While DRTV has historically focused on immediate viewer actions via traditional linear TV, it’s found new relevance within advanced TV and connected TV (CTV) ecosystems. These modern formats expand the measurable, action-driven qualities of DRTV while incorporating the precise targeting and personalized storytelling made possible by digital technologies.
DRTV and advanced TV
Advanced TV enhances DRTV by enabling addressable advertising, which helps marketers deliver ads to specific households based on behavioral or demographic data. For instance, using tools like Experian’s Graph, advertisers can integrate data sets across multiple sources to refine audience segmentation and tailor messages to individual households.
Advanced TV also supports cross-channel consistency to provide a unified customer experience whether the viewer engages with linear TV, streaming services, or other devices. Additionally, programmatic ad buying plays a role in automating the ad-buying process. This helps advertisers optimize their bids and placements and get DRTV campaigns in front of the right audience at the right time, which maximizes cost-efficiency across both traditional and digital channels.
DRTV and CTV
CTV has a high rate of logged-in, authenticated viewers and provides a lot of helpful first-party data. This allows for hyper-precise audience targeting, cross-device attribution, and an ability to link ad exposure to conversions — even when purchases occur on non-CTV devices. Universal IDs like UID2 further strengthen these capabilities by creating consistent and privacy-respecting user identities across platforms.
Experian’s TV partnerships
Through partnerships with leading CTV players like Madhive, Samsung, Disney/Hulu, and others, Experian’s identity solutions integrate seamlessly to support well-timed, personalized ads across major streaming platforms. These integrations, powered by our Digital and Offline Graphs, offer a complete view of audiences to enable more controlled, effective activation across mediums, including free ad-supported streaming television (FAST) channels.
Using Experian’s advanced data and identity tools, advertisers can tap into the full potential of DRTV strategies within advanced TV and CTV to make campaigns more actionable, efficient, and impactful.
The future of DRTV
So, what is DRTV going to look like in the future? With the integration of digital and television platforms, DRTV is becoming more targeted, interactive, and personalized. This shift creates new opportunities for advertisers to drive conversions. Here are some key advancements that will continue to shape the future of DRTV:
- Addressable TV: Advertisers can deliver targeted ads to specific households based on demographic and behavioral data. It uses data from smart TVs, streaming devices, and third-party data providers to enable highly relevant ads based on the interests of individual viewers.
- Interactive TV ads: Interactive TV ads enable viewers to engage directly with the content through their remote control or mobile devices. Users can click on a product for more information or make purchases without leaving the TV screen and immediately convert.
- Authenticated audiences: With CTV and AI technology, advertisers can use first-party data from authenticated users to improve targeting, measurement, and campaign performance. Advertisers can create a more cohesive and personalized experience by linking viewers across multiple devices, which improves ad effectiveness and attribution.
- Branded apps with saved information: Branded apps that store payment and personal information streamline the direct response process. These apps reduce purchase journey friction and allow quicker conversions, as viewers can complete transactions with fewer steps.
- QR codes replacing URLs: QR codes are becoming a popular alternative to traditional URLs in DRTV ads. These codes provide a quick, convenient way for viewers to visit a website, access a product page, or act on a CTA simply by scanning the code with their phone.
- Better targeting algorithms: Advancements in targeting algorithms allow advertisers to serve more personalized and relevant ads. These algorithms help ads reach the right audience at the right time, which can increase engagement and conversion rates.
These innovations offer advertisers more tools to connect with audiences in a personalized, interactive, and measurable way.
Connect with Experian’s TV experts
Experian can help you achieve the full potential of your direct response TV advertising efforts with our advanced tools, precise audience targeting, and strong industry partnerships. We help brands create impactful DRTV campaigns that drive real-time engagement, audience connection, and measurable results, whether for traditional, advanced, or CTV.
Reach out today to work with us on your DRTV efforts and achieve better ROI, or explore how our expertise can transform your TV advertising campaigns.
Latest posts
2013 has been a milestone year for those lobbying on behalf of expanded rights of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered (LGBT) Americans. With 12 states and the District of Columbia now formally recognizing same sex marriages and two highly anticipated rulings from the U.S. Supreme Court expected shortly, the momentum is currently on the side of those seeking greater recognition and support of LGBT-related issues. The speed with which public attitudes have shifted towards greater acceptance of LGBT individuals and their causes has left many marketers scrambling to devise plans that are not only inclusive of LGBT consumers, but in many instances, designed to overtly and publically court this influential and growing consumer segment. The 2013 LGBT consumer report out from Experian Marketing Services delivers insights marketers need to better understand the market that is on everyone’s radar. In this first of a series of blog posts, we’ll highlight key data from the report. Readers can download the full report at any time here. Living out Loud In 2006, when Experian Marketing Services first began measuring sexual orientation among respondents to our Simmons® National Consumer Study, we found that 3.4% of all non-Hispanic adults self-identified as either lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgendered (LGBT), a figure consistent with what leading LGBT researchers predicted at the time. However today, 4.3% of the non-Hispanic adult population self-identifies as LGBT, a figure that has risen slowly but steadily year-after-year. Younger adults have consistently been more likely to identify as LGBT, and in fact today, 5.8 percent of 18 to 34 year olds say they are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgendered. As a result, the adult LGBT population predictably skews towards the younger age cohorts. Specifically, 36% of LGBT adults today are aged 18 to 34 versus 26% of the heterosexual population in that age range. Likewise, while 20% of heterosexual adults are age 65 and older, just 16% of LGBT adults are in this age range, though our data shows that the share of adults age 65 and older identifying as LGBT has also risen. Home and Family As a growing number of U.S. states pass laws recognizing same-sex marriages and civil unions, we see an increasing percentage of gay and lesbian Americans reporting that they are married. In 2007, for example, when only Massachusetts allowed same-sex marriage, 8% of gay men and 14% of lesbian women said they were married. Today, 17% of gay men and 16% of lesbian women are married. Marriage rates among lesbian and gay adults still lag well behind those of heterosexuals, but the gap is closing from both sides. In fact, while marriage rates are rising among lesbians and gays, they’re falling among heterosexuals. Today, 58% of heterosexual men and 53% of heterosexual women are married, compared to 60% of heterosexual men and 55% of heterosexual women who were married in 2007. The Pink Dollar Income levels are important to consider when targeting consumers, but more important is determining the amount of money left over for non-essentials after the other bills are paid. Despite earning nearly identical salaries, gay men have lower annual household discretionary expenditures than heterosexual men. Likewise, lesbian households have fewer dollars than those of heterosexual women to spend on non-essentials. This is mostly likely due to the fact that both lesbian and gay adults tend to reside in larger cities where the cost of living can be considerably higher than average. Interestingly, when household size is brought into the equation, we see that gay males actually have higher discretionary spending per capita than heterosexual men. In fact, gay men live in households that devote $6,794 per capita annually to non-essentials, which is $753 more than what heterosexual men spend. Forthcoming posts from this series will include insights into the automotive and food vertical markets; the mobile habits of LGBT consumers; and an examination of online visitors to LGBT content sites. Don’t want to wait? Download the full report now. Also, learn more about the Simmons LGBT Consumer Study, the only syndicated, national probability sample survey that measures the lifestyles, attitudes, media habits and brand preferences of the LGBT population giving marketers actionable insights into this powerful consumer segment that can be directly compared with those of heterosexuals.
The importance of affiliate marketing as a marketing channel is evident; it ranks as one of the most effective marketing channels for retailers, along with paid search and e-mail. While effective affiliate marketing relies on two groups, the publishers (affiliates) who display advertisements online and the advertisers (merchants) who aim to increase sales for their online shop, incorporating insights from Experian Marketing Services’ Hitwise can strengthen affiliate programs. I recently worked with Rakuten LinkShare on a webinar which highlights how their affiliate marketing services partnered with Hitwise create a proven package for success by providing valuable and actionable insights to affiliate marketers in understanding and targeting key consumer segments. Identify sites sending traffic to your category For our case study, we examined a custom category of Rakuten LinkShare department store clients and compared them with a category of department store non-clients. Using Hitwise, we examined which publisher sites sent traffic to each of the categories in order to identify the best affiliates to partner with. Among the top 20 publisher websites, a number of fashion and style content websites were sources of traffic to LinkShare Department store clients. Fashion and trend focused affiliate sites, namely ShopStyle and Polyvore, pointed to clear fashion editorial interest amongst those who visited LinkShare department store clients. Consider search terms used to capture consumer interest and intent Next, we looked at generic terms that sent traffic to affiliate site ShopStyle. Terms included searches for products sold in department stores such as variations of “heels” and “dresses”. The data indicates that ShopStyle is a good candidate to partner with because it attracted visits from those who are interested in fashion, looking for a deal, and who are likely in-market for specific products. Monitor effectiveness of affiliate programs and make timely decisions Hitwise can also be used by marketers to evaluate the effectiveness of their affiliate partnerships. For this example, we were able to show that Rakuten LinkShare affiliates sent a larger share of traffic to department store clients versus non-clients, pointing to a clear benefit from affiliate partnerships. As affiliate marketing is an increasingly critical channel for marketers, the importance of selecting the best and most relevant publishers is clear. When used in conjunction with affiliate marketing programs, Hitwise enables marketers to understand competitors’ online distribution and sources of traffic, select the best affiliates to partner with, and quantify the return on investment from partnerships.
New data from Experian Marketing Services’ Simmons® ConnectSM mobile and digital panel sheds light on the way smartphone users spend time using their phone, with the average adult clocking 58 minutes daily on their device. On average, smartphone owners devote 26% of the time they spend on their phone talking and another 20% texting. Social networking eats up 16% of smartphone time while browsing the mobile web accounts for 14% of time spent. Emailing and playing games account for roughly 9% and 8% of daily smartphone time, respectively, while use of the phone’s camera and GPS each take up another 2% of our smartphone day. *Activities include use of a smartphone’s native features dedicated to each activity as well as downloaded apps whose primary function falls under the given activity. For instance, “watch video” includes the act of watching video on the smartphone’s native video player as well as use of video apps such as YouTube, Netflix, etc. iPhone versus Android users Smartphone users may constantly debate which operating system is supreme, but we see clear differences between the ways consumers use their phone depending on the operating system that runs it. For starters, iPhone users spend an hour and fifteen minutes using their phones per day, a full 26 minutes more than the typical Android phone owner. Additionally, iPhone and Android smartphone owners use their phones in markedly different ways. For instance, 28% of the time that Android users spend using their phones is dedicated to talking, whereas iPhone users spend only 22% of their smartphone time talking on the device. Android owners also devote a greater share of time visiting websites on their phone than iPhone owners. On the other hand, iPhone owners spend a disproportionately greater share of smartphone time than Android owners texting, emailing, using the camera and social networking. Note on time spent It may surprise some to read that an activity like watching video accounts for such a small share (less than 1%) of the typical adult’s daily smartphone use. However, for the charts above to sum to a single daily total it was necessary to calculate individual activity contribution using a base of all smartphone owners, including those who don’t spend any time engaging in a given activity during a typical day. The chart below provides additional insights into the time spent engaging in the major smartphone activities examining only those individuals who engaged in each activity during a 24-hour period. I’ve also added into the chart a reach and frequency metric to indicate the popularity of each activity and the number of times per day that individuals engage in them. In the chart, the activities with the largest bubbles are those in which the greatest share of smartphone owners engage during a typical day and include the usual suspects: talking (79%), texting (76%), visiting websites (62%), emailing (61%) and social networking (52%). Activities with the fewest daily participants are: watching video, which 2.3% of smartphone owners do during a typical day, and reading, which just 0.5% of smartphone owners do daily. Given that nearly 98% of smartphone users don’t watch videos on their phone during a typical day, it’s easier to understand why video comprises such a low share of the average adult’s daily smartphone use. However, the chart above reveals that those who do watch video on their phone spend, on average, 5 minutes a day watching videos spread out over 4.2 different viewing sessions. For more information on consumers’ usage of smartphones, digital tablets, computers and other traditional and digital media platforms, check out Simmons Connect.