TV reclaims spotlight as appointment viewing shapes advertising

For years, the narrative around television was simple. People were quick to claim, 'It’s dying’. Smartphones, OTT platforms, and infinite scroll feeds seemed to have pushed linear TV into irrelevance.

But in 2025, something unexpected is happening. TV is making a quiet comeback in a new form: leaner, sharper, and increasingly built around appointment viewing.

This isn’t a return to the 1990s, where TV was the default. It’s a shift toward intentional, moment-based consumption, and it’s forcing advertisers to rethink how they plan and buy the medium.

From always-on to highly-intent

In the past, television was ambient. It played in the background as families went about their lives, filling rooms with a steady hum of content. Planners could buy across multiple dayparts and channels knowing they would capture a broad audience, even if attention levels varied.

That world has changed. Urban households, especially in the top socio-economic segments, have begun to cut the cord or reduce their DTH subscriptions.

Mobile has become the first screen for casual consumption, while the TV set is now reserved for moments that demand scale, spectacle, and shared experience. Put simply, television is no longer the default — it is a destination.

Why appointment viewing is rising again

It may seem counterintuitive that appointment viewing is growing in the era of mobile dominance, but the drivers are powerful.

Television still creates shared cultural moments. Mobile viewing is private; TV is communal.

A cricket final, a season of Bigg Boss, or the climax of a reality show brings families and friends together in a way no phone screen can. The collective experience is the point.

The spoiler effect also matters. In an age where Twitter, Instagram, and WhatsApp light up with updates in real time, you can’t “watch later” without risking the moment being ruined. That urgency drives live tune-in.

There is also the matter of immersion. For high-stakes drama, sport, or entertainment, the big screen still delivers an attention quality that a five-inch device cannot replicate.

And ironically, the on-demand culture of OTT has reintroduced the joy of anticipation. Weekly drops and fixed-time programming are creating a new nostalgia — the pleasure of waiting for something, of marking time around it.

Smart TVs have only reinforced this habit by bringing OTT and linear into the same living room, training viewers to expect both flexibility and structure.

What’s working, what’s not

Certain genres remain untouchable on linear TV. Live sports, from IPL to the ICC World Cup, still command massive reach.

Prime-time reality shows and regional dramas continue to be cultural anchors, particularly outside metros. And in Tier 2 and Tier 3 towns, the living room television is still the centrepiece of family life.

What’s fading, however, is the utility of daypart-based planning. Afternoon soaps or filler slots no longer deliver meaningful audiences.

The old ‘spray and pray’ approach of buying across multiple channels and dayparts often results in wasted impressions. Attention is now concentrated, not distributed, and planning must reflect that.

Rethinking TV planning

If the legacy playbook was built around coverage, the new one must be built around concentration. Instead of chasing GRPs scattered across the grid, advertisers need to think in terms of attention, co-viewing, and cultural impact.

TV cannot be treated in isolation anymore; its real power lies in how it sparks conversations that spill into search, social, and OTT. Optimisation is no longer about cost per rating point but about cost per real engagement.

So, what is the role of television in 2025? Its scope may have narrowed, but it has also sharpened. Television is no longer about blanket reach; it is about commanding attention at scale.

It is at its best when it delivers mass simultaneity — everyone watching at the same time. It confers cultural currency, feeding conversations the next morning. And it carries a weight of trust and authority that digital-first formats are still struggling to match.

How marketers can win

Winning on TV today means changing the mindset. The objective is not to “defend” a medium but to help brands grow. That requires using TV with greater precision.

First, advertisers should focus on fewer, bigger, better buys. Cultural tentpoles such as IPL or Shark Tank already attract intense attention; amplifying them creates disproportionate recall and impact. Fragmentation only weakens the punch.

Second, television and social must work in tandem. TV sparks the cultural moment, but social media sustains and amplifies it. The smartest brands are already designing campaigns where hashtags, live polls, or influencer watch parties extend the life of a television event well beyond the broadcast.

Third, marketers should remember that television still signals scale. In semi-urban and rural India, presence on TV is synonymous with credibility. For new entrants, appearing on television is often the clearest way to say, “we’ve arrived.”

Finally, the industry must move beyond the rigidity of 15- and 30-second spots. The attention economy rewards integration over interruption.

Branded segments, sponsorships, or in-show mentions often deliver more memorability than a standard ad block. These feel like part of the show, not an intrusion, and they are more likely to be talked about after.

Linear TV isn’t dying — it is evolving into a premium attention medium. Like cinema, it wins not by being everywhere, but by owning the moments that matter most.

For advertisers, that means a mindset shift: from presence-based planning to moment-based planning. In 2025, the brands that thrive on television will be those that stop chasing every impression — and start chasing the right ones.

- Rajiv Gopinath, chief solutions officer, Publicis Media