This website uses cookies to help improve your user experience
TV is still on. Phones are buzzing. Tablets are open. And your audience? They’re everywhere, often all at once.
Today, people consume content across multiple devices, moving from screen to screen without a second thought. They don’t think in channels or devices and simply switch screens, expecting the experience to follow them. For advertisers, that means a single-screen strategy can no longer reflect how people actually watch content.
Multiscreen advertising is built for this reality. It goes beyond following the viewer, trying to engage them in the right way, in the right place, at the right time.
So, what is multiscreen advertising exactly? It’s an approach that delivers marketing messages across several devices (smart TVs, smartphones, tablets, laptops) in a coordinated or complementary manner. Visibility matters, but relevance matters more. And in an attention economy, that changes everything.
The challenge is that many assumptions about multiscreen viewing don’t hold up in practice. In this article, we combine findings from Comcast’s research with our own firsthand AdTech experience to clear up any multiscreen video advertising myths that don’t let advertisers create ad tactics that resonate precisely.
Key takeaways:
Multiscreen advertising is the practice of running coordinated advertising campaigns across connected TVs, smartphones, tablets, desktops, laptops, and other connected devices. The same audience may encounter different creatives on different screens, with each impression supporting a single campaign, not competing for attention.
That’s a practical response to how people consume media today. Someone might start watching a live basketball game on a connected TV, browse player stats on a phone during halftime, and later order team merchandise from a laptop. Those interactions happen on different devices, yet they belong to the same viewing journey.
A well-planned multiscreen campaign connects those touchpoints through shared audience targeting, coordinated creatives, and unified measurement. Advertisers gain a clearer view of campaign performance and can adapt messaging based on where viewers are in the decision-making process.
Common elements of multiscreen advertising include:
This approach has become standard across digital advertising because audiences rarely stay on a single device for long.
A consistent multiscreen experience starts with a platform that works seamlessly across every device. Oxagile helped an enterprise media company launch a single OTT solution across web, mobile, smart TVs, and set-top boxes without rebuilding the product for each platform.
Key outcomes:
Multiscreen advertising become the default way to plan video campaigns for many advertisers, so it isn’t an emerging trend. As audiences spread their viewing time across connected TVs, mobile devices, desktops, and streaming platforms, media budgets have followed the same path.
Five key industry trends continue driving this growth:
As investment grows, advertisers increasingly focus on the following video industry trends:
The numbers point in the same direction: multi-screen streaming solutions have become a core media strategy as budgets continue following audiences across connected TV, mobile, and digital channels.
Yet some of the assumptions behind campaign planning haven’t kept pace. Let’s see how they compare with today’s viewing habits.
Viewers expect to pick up where they left off, regardless of the device they’re using. We develop multiscreen video platforms designed to support that experience.
It’s tempting to think that mobile rules the world. After all, phones are always within reach, and Gen Z seems to have been born with one in hand. But does that mean the TV screen is fading into irrelevance? Not quite.
Connected TVs remain the centerpiece of streaming in households. 64% of Europeans watch video on a TV every day, 71% stream content on a TV at least once a week, and 86% say the living room remains their primary viewing space4.
Sure, phones are perfect for watching a clip under the covers or avoiding eye contact on a train, but when people want to truly relax, they turn to the big screen. No need to hold anything, squint at a small display, or worry about battery life. The couch, the remote, and the TV is still the ultimate combo for immersive viewing.
Viewing on a TV often involves longer sessions and fewer distractions than mobile viewing. People lean back, settle in, and are more likely to pay attention, which translates into measurable results.
An expert tip from Oxagile
Engage with the audience on the biggest display within the household, because the unaided recall will be 2.2 times higher, and the intention to buy will be 1.3 times greater than when the same advertisement is shown on a mobile.
Let’s be honest, the name doesn’t help. “Free Ad-Supported TV” might sound like a lesser cousin of AVOD, a kind of low-budget backup channel. But that’s not how audiences experience it.
FAST platforms continue to gain ground, not because they’re flashy or new, but because they feel familiar. The channel-like structure, lean-back experience, and zero-cost access make them appealing to viewers who don’t want to spend time browsing or deciding what to watch.
This return to passive discovery, paired with premium content from recognizable brands, makes FAST surprisingly strong.
FAST mirrors the classic TV experience and brings the modern on-demand channel-surfing experience. Viewers spend less time deciding what to watch, and advertisers reach audiences watching premium video content on the biggest screen in the house.
A tip from Oxagile’s team
Promote the services or products through high-quality, expertly crafted videos, because they usually stick in viewers’ minds 58% better compared to simple videos made by users.
Streaming may be booming, but don’t count out linear TV just yet. It still commands massive daily engagement, especially among audiences who crave simplicity, routine, and live content.
Live sports continue to draw large television audiences. Nielsen’s recent research suggests that sports accounted for nearly one-third of all ad-supported TV viewing5 among U.S. adults aged 25 to 54 during the second half of 2025. Sports events, news, and reality shows remain strongholds for traditional broadcasters, while for advertisers, they offer reach at a scale most streaming services can’t yet match.
People are still dedicating close to 6 hours a day to the ritual of watching traditional TV.
Most likely, it’s all about that convenience factor. Viewers can sit down, surf the channels, and stumble upon something intriguing. And considering that the majority of modern TV watching consists of live content, it’s safe to say there’s no match for the joy of turning to your sporting event viewing companion and exclaiming, “Hey, did you see that?”.
The passive discovery experience is a hidden strength. People don’t need to decide what to watch, they just tune in. That simplicity, combined with real-time shared experiences, keeps linear TV relevant, especially for live programming.
Advice from Oxagile
Spend about 20-30% of your premium video budget for ads within streaming content and allocate the rest of the funds towards traditional TV.
Prime time has always been the crown jewel of television advertising. For decades, advertisers raced to secure those golden hours between 8 PM and 11 PM. But that rulebook is changing.
The Advanced TV Study shows that connected TV has nearly caught up with linear television6 in daily viewing time. People now spend an average of 2 hours and 32 minutes a day watching CTV, compared with 2 hours and 34 minutes for linear TV.
Viewers have reshaped their routines, choosing flexibility over programming schedules, and advertisers who still cling to prime-time-only strategies risk missing out on massive chunks of engaged audiences.
Viewers do not rely on network schedules the way they once did. They stream a drama at noon, binge reality shows after midnight, or tune in to live sports on a weekend afternoon. Prime time still matters, but advertisers now have many more opportunities to reach audiences throughout the day.
Off-peak viewing has become valuable in its own right. Advertisers can reach more specific audience segments during these hours, often at lower media costs than traditional prime-time placements.
What Oxagile’s experts suggest
Distribute the budget across different months, networks, and times of day.
We’ve all been there: stuck in a never-ending ad pod, wondering how we went from watching a thriller to suddenly craving cat food. It’s easy to assume that streaming is smarter, faster, and better about ads. But is that really the case?
Streaming services often carry a lighter ad load than traditional TV, yet commercials have become part of the experience on most major platforms as ad-supported plans continue gaining popularity. The difference often comes down to how ads are delivered, not how long the break lasts.
Streaming didn’t kill the long ad break, it simply changed the wrapper. Whether on FAST channels or AVOD platforms, viewers often sit through multiple unskippable ads, many of which run back-to-back for minutes. The assumption that streaming equals shorter exposure just doesn’t hold up.
The lesson for advertisers? The focus shouldn’t stop at ad break length. A relevant audience, strong creative, and the right viewing environment often make the biggest difference across both linear TV and streaming.
An expert recommendation
Allocate 70% of impressions to broad, data-driven TV and streaming, while designating the rest 30% to highly targeted, addressable strategies.
Five myths later, one thing becomes clear. Multiscreen advertising keeps changing because people keep changing the way they watch content.
Some assumptions have already outlived their usefulness. Others, like the growing demand for personalized advertising, continue shaping how successful campaigns are planned across streaming platforms, OTT solutions, FAST channels, and linear TV.
The strongest media strategies don’t treat TV, CTV, mobile, and desktop as separate channels. They connect them around real viewing behavior, helping advertisers reach the right audience with the optimal message, wherever the next screen happens to be.
At Oxagile, we’ve spent years building the technology behind those experiences. Our team designs custom AdTech platforms, cross-platform ad logic, attribution and measurement solutions, AI-powered targeting, and campaign optimization tools across FAST, AVOD, OTT, CTV, and linear TV.
If a new AdTech platform, smarter campaign delivery, or cross-screen measurement is on your roadmap, we’d be happy to share ideas and the solutions we’ve built for companies facing the same challenges.
1. Multiscreen Advertising Market Outlook, Growth Drivers, and Consumer Device Trends — Mordor Intelligence
2. Digital Video Ad Spending to Surpass $80 Billion in 2026, CTV Continues to Drive Market Growth — IAB
3. Global Multiscreen Advertising Market Forecast, Growth Drivers, and Industry Trends Through 2030 — IndustryARC
4. Living Room Study 2026 Finds TV Remains the Primary Screen for Streaming — RTL AdAlliance
5. Streaming Reaches a Record 46.6% of Ad-Supported TV Viewing — Nielsen
6. Connected TV Viewing Reaches Near Parity With Linear TV at More Than 2.5 Hours Per Day — Advanced TV Study 2026
Advertisers synchronize TV and mobile campaigns by using identity graphs, real-time bidding platforms, and cross-device data. A common campaign might look like this:
This coordinated approach helps maintain consistent messaging without overwhelming the audience.
Measuring multiscreen attribution means tracking how different devices contribute to a conversion instead of evaluating each channel separately.
Modern AdTech platforms combine signals from multiple sources, including:
Thus, advertisers can identify which screen started the customer journey, which influenced consideration, and which drove the final conversion.
Multiscreen advertising works across both linear TV and streaming platforms. The difference lies in how campaigns are delivered and measured.
Linear TV still offers unmatched reach for live events, sports, and premium programming. Streaming adds audience targeting, personalization, and detailed performance measurement. Combining both channels allows advertisers to balance broad reach with more precise targeting throughout the customer journey.
Custom AdTech platforms solve multiscreen measurement challenges by bringing campaign data into one place, giving advertisers a unified view across channels.
Within the same platform, teams can also:
Successful multiscreen campaigns are built around the audience, not individual devices. Each screen plays a different role within the same campaign.
For example, a connected TV ad may introduce a product, a mobile ad can encourage further research, and a desktop ad may drive the final purchase. Campaign management platforms coordinate creative delivery, audience targeting, frequency caps, and timing so those interactions work together as a single customer journey.
