Performance TV Becomes Advertising’s #1 Investment Channel as Marketers Navigate AI Disruption, Rising Costs, and the Fight for Attention

tvScientific, the most sophisticated advertising platform for Performance TV, released its 2026 State of Performance TV Report, revealing that it has become the number one channel for advertising investment as marketers face growing pressure to capture attention, control costs, and prove outcomes in a rapidly changing industry.

According to the report, Performance TV now accounts for 24 percent of total media spend and ties with social as the most effective channel for delivering results. The findings reflect a decisive shift away from channels where competition, volatility, and cost pressures are increasing, toward a channel that combines reach, accountability, and measurable performance.

“Performance TV is no longer an experiment. It has matured into one of the most reliable and accountable growth channels in modern marketing,” said Jason Fairchild, CEO and Co-Founder of tvScientific. “Performance marketers are no longer testing TV at the margins. They are moving the budget to make room for it and putting it at the center of their media strategies. Performance TV delivers the scale of television with the precision, transparency, accountability, and fully transparent ROAS measurement marketers need to drive real business outcomes.”

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Key findings from the report include:

• Performance TV is now the top channel for media investment at 24 percent of budgets.
• It is tied with social as the most effective advertising channel, significantly ahead of search.
• Budgets are shifting away from YouTube, Meta, and TikTok.
• AI is turning TV into an always-on experimentation engine, accelerating targeting, creative development, and optimization.
• The channel delivers full-funnel value, driving both sales growth and brand lift.
• Transparency expectations are rising, with more than half of marketers citing measurement clarity as critical to success.
• Adoption is broad, with 77 percent of small and midsize businesses running Performance TV campaigns.

This year’s findings build on significant momentum identified in the 2025 State of Performance TV Report, where 71 percent of marketers reported increasing their Performance TV budgets, with an average increase of 41 percent. Last year’s data also showed marketers were already reallocating budgets from social and search toward Performance TV, highlighted growing programmatic adoption, rising demand for better measurement, and identified AI as one of the biggest forces shaping performance television. That trajectory has now accelerated, and in 2026, Performance TV officially becomes the leading investment channel in advertising.

The 2026 report highlights how Performance TV is evolving from a traditional awareness channel into a high-accountability, outcome-driven platform powered by identity, automation, and measurable attribution.

“Performance TV is now foundational to modern marketing strategies,” Fairchild said. “It delivers the accountability marketers have always wanted from television with the scale and impact they still need.”