Streaming television advertising faces mounting complexity as viewer attention fragments across platforms. An independent advertising agency has demonstrated how precise targeting and advanced measurement can cut through that fragmentation, achieving conversion rates fourteen times higher than traditional connected TV campaigns.

H/L today announced results from its partnership with Nexxen showing how signal-backed media strategies delivered exceptional performance for clients across automotive and insurance verticals. The collaboration addresses challenges that have intensified as streaming officially surpassed combined broadcast and cable viewership for the first time, reaching 44.8% of total television usage in 2025.

According to Jeremy Cobb, Vice President of Digital Platforms at H/L, the agency strategically embraced the evolving CTV landscape by leveraging Nexxen's advanced insights to transform its approach to connected television advertising. "By tapping into Nexxen's advanced insights, we've crafted a strategy that blends premium inventories and custom placements for initial viewer activation, with cost-effective long-tail," Cobb stated in the announcement made today.

The fourteen times conversion lift compared to traditional CTV programs represents a significant achievement validated by Marketing Mix Modeling partners. Those measurable successes consistently position H/L's clients to exceed their performance goals, according to the announcement.

Strategic approach prioritizes attention over traditional metrics

H/L's methodology departed from conventional connected television buying practices by prioritizing cost-per-unique reach over traditional cost-per-thousand impressions. The agency implemented blended and unique frequency management by app, while optimizing toward down-funnel business outcomes rather than upper-funnel awareness metrics.

These tactical decisions reflected broader shifts in how agencies approach streaming advertising. Connected TV advertising budgets doubled from 14% in 2023 to 28% in 2025, with 72% of marketers planning to increase programmatic advertising investment. Yet 32% of media professionals characterize CTV advertising as ineffective despite these substantial budget allocations.

The partnership between Nexxen and H/L addressed these effectiveness concerns through precision targeting and measurement capabilities. According to Kara Puccinelli, Chief Customer Officer at Nexxen, navigating the new CTV landscape requires knowing who is truly paying attention and managing ad frequency with precision.

"That's why agencies are leaning into advanced measurement, balancing high-attention placements with cost-efficient reach," Puccinelli stated. "Nexxen DSP combines buying power with supply-side insights to help advertisers target actively engaged viewers, not just where they watch, but on what they watch."

Industry context reveals attention fragmentation challenges

The streaming landscape that H/L and Nexxen navigated has transformed dramatically. Streaming viewership surpassed the combined share of broadcast and cable television for the first time in 2025, commanding 44.8% of total TV usage. Free ad-supported streaming television channels have experienced rapid growth, with monthly viewership up approximately 12% year-over-year and average session lengths increasing.

Second-screening has simultaneously intensified, with 78% of U.S. adults expected to use multiple screens simultaneously by the end of 2025. These fragmented attention patterns have made broad, untargeted media strategies far less effective than precision approaches, according to the announcement.

The challenges extend beyond simple fragmentation. Research published in July 2025 revealed that 72% of marketers reuse or slightly modify assets across social media and connected TV platforms, while just 25% tailor creative for both channels. This creative adaptation gap limits campaign effectiveness regardless of targeting sophistication.

Media companies have responded by enhancing inventory with audience insights and unique formats to meet buyer demand for quality and attention. Platforms like Philo and DIRECTV Advertising are offering advanced ways of delivering results, surfacing high-value inventory and improving viewer engagement.

According to Aulden Kaye Yi, Head of Advertising Partnerships at Philo, CTV remains one of the most impactful ways to connect with audiences, particularly while watching content they are passionate about. "Navigating today's environment, it's critical to find viewers in those premium environments and then to engage with them in a relevant way," Yi stated. "Working with Nexxen allows us to surface our inventory with granular audience and contextual signaling, which enables partners like H/L to connect effectively with Philo's viewership and deliver results."

Live sports programming shifts to streaming platforms

Edmund Jules, Senior Director of Ad Sales Partnerships at DIRECTV Advertising, emphasized how live sports programming continues to shift to connected television. According to Jules, Nexxen allows DIRECTV Advertising to surface and package high-value ad inventory with contextual and audience data signals that buyers can easily decipher to enable real-time transactions.

"It facilitates an audience-driven approach to advertising, helping brands get in the game more efficiently and reach their target audiences during big sports moments with peak engagement," Jules stated.

The live sports shift reflects broader content migration patterns. Nielsen data from July 2025 showed streaming represented 44.8% of TV viewership while broadcast at 20.1% and cable at 24.1% combined represented 44.2% of total television viewing. This milestone underscored the growing importance of understanding attention dynamics within streaming environments.

Measurement capabilities advance alongside spending growth

The H/L and Nexxen partnership validation through Marketing Mix Modeling partners reflects broader industry focus on sophisticated measurement. Research from Kochava published in September 2025 demonstrated that marketing mix modeling revealed 35% higher incremental impact for TikTok campaigns compared to last-touch attribution reporting.

Attention-based measurement has expanded rapidly throughout 2025. The Media Rating Council and Interactive Advertising Bureau issued comprehensive attention measurement guidelines in November 2025, establishing standardized frameworks for measuring attention across digital advertising formats. These developments reflect advertiser demand for granular engagement insights beyond traditional viewability standards.

Platform-specific measurement has also advanced. Teads launched deterministic CTV measurement in October 2025, enabling advertisers to move beyond standard metrics like impressions and completion rates. The solution tracks exposure to action, bringing accountability to connected TV campaigns for the first time outside the United States.

LG Ad Solutions and Taboola announced a partnership in December 2025 introducing Performance Enhancer, designed to connect premium television exposure with measurable digital outcomes across connected TV and digital channels globally. These measurement developments enable the type of validation H/L achieved for its Nexxen partnership results.

Technical infrastructure enables precision targeting

Nexxen operates as a flexible advertising platform with deep expertise in data and advanced TV. The company's technology stack comprises a demand-side platform and supply-side platform, with the Nexxen Data Platform at its core. These capabilities span discovery, planning, activation, monetization, measurement and optimization.

Nexxen has pursued multiple partnerships throughout 2025 to enhance measurement and targeting capabilities. The company licensed automatic content recognition audience segments to Yahoo DSP in October 2025 across the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia. ACR data provides highly accurate information about viewing habits across linear television and streaming platforms, enabling precision targeting based on specific content preferences.

The company also renewed its partnership with VIDAA in August 2025, investing an additional $35 million to secure exclusive global ACR data access and ad monetization rights through 2029. These strategic partnerships enable the type of signal-backed targeting strategies that powered H/L's exceptional conversion results.

Industry experts have identified technical barriers preventing connected television advertising from reaching full programmatic potential. Operations professionals examined limitations in CTV advertising infrastructure during 2025 workshops, highlighting the need for inventory curation, appropriate measurement approaches, appropriate pacing controls, and television-specific creative development.

Frequency management emerges as critical capability

H/L's implementation of blended and unique frequency management by app addresses one of the most pressing operational challenges in connected television advertising. Frequency management has become increasingly sophisticated, with platforms enabling household-level frequency management using cross-device signals.

Traditional frequency management approaches have been limited by their siloed nature, with advertisers typically setting caps on a one-to-one basis for each publisher or demand-side platform. This fragmented approach often results in viewers being bombarded with repetitive ads, leading to inefficient spending and potentially negative viewer experiences.

The shift toward unified frequency management reflects industry recognition that effective CTV advertising requires sophisticated orchestration across platforms. As content consumption fragments across multiple streaming services, the ability to manage cumulative exposure becomes essential for maintaining advertising effectiveness while controlling costs.

Creative quality remains persistent challenge

While H/L achieved exceptional results through advanced targeting and measurement, creative adaptation remains a limiting factor across the industry. Research published in November 2025 identified four critical mistakes marketers make when activating connected TV campaigns, including reusing creative assets from online video campaigns.

According to industry analysis, connected television proves highly sensitive to creative quality, requiring authentic television-style formats with strong storytelling, high-quality audio, cinematic framing, and larger text elements. Before launching CTV campaigns, experts recommend investing in creative development that incorporates great sound, clear brand mentions, readable text, and cohesive narratives.

The H/L and Nexxen partnership success demonstrates that when sophisticated targeting meets appropriate creative execution and rigorous measurement, connected television advertising can deliver transformational business results. The fourteen times conversion lift compared to traditional CTV programs provides concrete evidence that precision beats scale in fragmented attention environments.

Business implications for marketing community

For marketing professionals planning CTV campaigns, the H/L and Nexxen partnership offers a roadmap for navigating the complex streaming landscape. The focus on cost-per-unique reach rather than cost-per-thousand impressions represents a fundamental shift in how agencies evaluate connected television investments.

The validation through Marketing Mix Modeling partners addresses persistent questions about streaming television advertising effectiveness. Research examining connected television performance revealed that 32% of media professionals find their CTV advertising "not very effective," despite substantial budget allocations to the channel. The H/L results demonstrate that format innovations and targeting precision can improve advertising effectiveness within streaming environments.

Connected television's share of media budgets doubled from 14% in 2023 to 28% in 2025, creating demand for strategies that demonstrate measurable engagement advantages and business outcomes. The H/L approach of blending premium inventories for initial viewer activation with cost-effective long-tail inventory provides a template for efficient budget allocation.

Nexxen is headquartered in Israel and maintains offices throughout the United States, Canada, Europe and Asia-Pacific. The company trades on Nasdaq under ticker symbol NEXN. H/L operates as an independent agency serving local, regional and national marketers.

Timeline

Summary

Who: Nexxen, a global advertising technology platform specializing in data and advanced TV, partnered with H/L, an independent multiservice advertising agency serving local, regional and national marketers. The collaboration involved media companies Philo and DIRECTV Advertising, which enhanced inventory with audience insights and unique formats.

What: The partnership delivered up to 14x lift in conversion outcomes for H/L clients across automotive and insurance verticals through signal-backed media strategies. H/L implemented cost-per-unique reach prioritization, blended frequency management by app, and optimization toward down-funnel business outcomes using Nexxen's demand-side platform and advanced insights. Marketing Mix Modeling partners validated the measurable successes.

When: Nexxen and H/L announced the partnership results on February 4, 2026, with performance data demonstrating outcomes achieved during the period when streaming viewership surpassed combined broadcast and cable television for the first time in 2025, commanding 44.8% of total TV usage.

Where: The partnership operated across the United States connected television landscape, leveraging Nexxen DSP's access to premium streaming inventory including platforms like Philo and DIRECTV Advertising. The collaboration addressed fragmented viewer attention across expanding CTV markets where monthly viewership increased approximately 12% year-over-year.

Why: The partnership addressed pressing challenges facing advertisers as streaming officially surpassed broadcast and cable television, creating fragmented attention environments where broad untargeted media strategies prove far less effective. With second-screening intensifying and 78% of U.S. adults expected to use multiple screens simultaneously by end of 2025, advertisers require more precise signal-backed approaches. The 14x conversion lift demonstrates how combining advanced targeting, appropriate frequency management, and rigorous measurement enables exceptional business results in fragmented streaming environments.

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