Let's stop counting impressions and start making impressions count

Let’s Be Honest — The Game Has Changed, So Let’s Change the Scoreboard

TV’s currency has officially shifted — from ratings to impressions, now measured in the thousands. Media companies will tell you this is about modernization, keeping pace with streaming and digital. But let’s be real: this isn’t evolution. It’s a lifeline.

Linear ratings are cratering. Cord-cutting is accelerating. Broadcast and cable are consistently underdelivering. The solution? Change the math. By shifting to impressions, sellers can prop up performance by bundling in digital — CTV, online video, display — whatever helps hit the promised number.

But here’s the truth bomb:If buyers wanted more digital display or pre-roll inventory, they’d already be buying it — and most are. Adding weight to those impressions after the fact doesn’t make the media more valuable; it makes the buy less transparent.

And yet, there a few in the industry that keep shouting the same tired line:“All impressions are equal.”

Let’s stop pretending. Smart marketers already know they’re not.

A digital display ad that registers because half the pixels were onscreen for one second doesn’t belong in the same conversation as a :30 ad running in full on a 65-inch screen while someone’s fully engaged with their favorite show.

We’ve got to stop treating passive mobile scrolls like they compete with lean-in, living-room attention. They don’t — and experienced buyers know this. They plan accordingly, breaking out CPMs by media type: TV, CTV, pre-roll, display, email blasts, and more. They assign value by daypart, tentpole events, context, and platform. And when it comes to CTV, they’ve got more levers than ever to zero in on real buyers.

Even when we compare like-for-like — TV, cable, CTV — they’re not the same.

TV casts a wide DMA net. Cable might sell zones that may work they both rely on age/gender demos that are relics from the dial-up era. Remember 25–54? I’ve aged out. But the truth is, I have more in common with my 27-year-old son — in interests, intent, and behavior — than with most of my 60-year-old peers.

That’s where CTV wins.

CTV doesn’t just guess who you are — it knows. It uses income, interests, purchase behavior, real-world and digital breadcrumbs, and geographic targeting to build precise profiles. To the consumer, the ad looks the same. But to the marketer, it performs completely differently — smarter, stronger, more accountable.

CTV isn’t just another impression. It’s a better one.

Savvy buyers know that scale without strategy is just noise. They plan smarter. They buy smarter. Because real planning isn’t about counting impressions — it’s about making them count.

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