Streaming video has quickly turn into probably the most crucial supply of digital development for native broadcast tv. In 2024, Linked TV and over-the-top promoting surged to just about 30% of all digital income at native stations, up from roughly 10% the prior 12 months, in keeping with Borrell Associates’ 2025 Annual Digital Benchmarking Report.
Borrell estimates that native TV stations generated $2.3 billion in digital advert income in 2024 – an 11% improve from the prior 12 months. The report attributes a lot of that development to the growth of streaming advert merchandise and the elevated willingness of native advertisers to incorporate OTT of their media plans.
Streaming’s rising affect is reshaping the economics of the native TV advert enterprise. In 2024, 42% of TV advertisers bought OTT stock, and almost half plan to take action this 12 months, in keeping with a Borrell survey of 183 native TV advert consumers. Amongst these advertisers, 22% say they plan to extend OTT spending in 2025, in comparison with simply 7% of advertisers who don’t at the moment purchase broadcast TV.
Advertisers who interact with broadcast TV are additionally spending considerably extra throughout the digital spectrum. They’re roughly 50% extra prone to improve budgets for search engine advertising and marketing and banner advertisements. And they’re embracing extra subtle, full-funnel methods that weave collectively streaming placements, viewers extension, and localized retargeting.
The typical spend per advertiser on streaming video advertisements was $54,195 in 2024, greater than the typical spend on social media, unsolicited mail, or radio.
The structural shift of OTT turning into a centerpiece of the pitch is fueling a broader reconfiguration of how stations promote digital. For years, most digital income was confined to advertisements positioned on the station’s personal web site or app. Now, Borrell reviews, high-performing stations derive two-thirds of their digital revenue from off-property stock—primarily resold programmatic placements and streaming video buys.
This mannequin permits stations to behave extra like native businesses, bundling their very own stock with third-party placements on platforms resembling YouTube, Roku, and Hulu. Advertisers profit from unified reporting and viewers extension, whereas stations acquire entry to higher-margin digital merchandise and deeper shopper relationships.
Regardless of the positive aspects, the report reveals that many broadcasters have but to totally capitalize on the chance. Whereas the typical station introduced in $2.9 million in digital income final 12 months, solely 3.5% of native TV entities certified as “finest observe” operators – outlined as these capturing a minimum of 25% of the obtainable digital income of their market.
Most nonetheless hover under the ten% mark, a niche that underscores the problem going through legacy media: find out how to scale digital capabilities quick sufficient to match demand.
Including urgency is the promoting neighborhood’s rising consolation with streaming platforms. In accordance with the report, TV consumers had been thrice extra probably than non-TV advertisers to extend OTT budgets in 2025.
At the same time as OTT grows, the transition stays uneven. The report notes that conventional TV corporations, together with main teams like Nexstar and Sinclair, usually fail to satisfy the ten% SEC reporting threshold for digital income. The result’s a phase that’s rising shortly, however not but sturdy sufficient to offset declines in core income from conventional spot gross sales and retransmission charges.
For the primary time within the report’s 23-year historical past, Borrell Associates is making its annual briefing on digital income tendencies, development benchmarks, and media efficiency throughout native markets obtainable to the business without charge. All attendees of Borrell’s Could 29 webinar with CEO Gordon Borrell and EVP of Native Market Intelligence Corey Elliott will obtain a replica.
