A strategic perspective for performance-driven marketing leaders
Despite Germans spending an average of 182 minutes daily watching television¹ and 77% using streaming services weekly², many German e-commerce brands remain skeptical about TV advertising as a growth driver. For performance marketers who’ve built their success on pixel-perfect attribution and real-time optimization, the TV landscape presents both unprecedented opportunities and familiar frustrations.
The German TV Reality Check
The numbers tell a compelling story. Linear TV still commands significant attention with 73% weekly viewership of public broadcasters ARD and ZDF³, while connected TV penetration has reached over two-thirds of German households. Traditional TV advertising revenue remains robust at €4.07 billion⁴, even as streaming platforms reshape viewing habits.
Yet for e-commerce brands averaging 2-3 years in market, the hesitation is understandable. You’ve built your growth engine on measurable channels where every euro spent can be traced to revenue. TV feels like stepping into the dark.
The Attribution Anxiety
The Core Challenge: Unlike your Facebook pixel or Google Analytics, TV attribution remains probabilistic rather than deterministic. While solutions from Nielsen, Innovid (formerly TVSquared), and Attributy are advancing CTV measurement capabilities in Germany, the gap between TV exposure and conversion tracking creates genuine concerns for performance marketers.
What’s Changing: Connected TV is bridging this gap. New measurement frameworks launching in Q4 2024 promise cross-device attribution, including co-viewing data. CTV tracking now leverages IP hashing technology that follows users exposed to commercials for 7 days, documenting their behavior after exposure including website visits, purchases, and sign-ups. Major platforms are integrating with existing martech stacks, enabling more sophisticated multi-touch attribution models. For brands operating across Europe, standardized measurement across markets is becoming reality.
The Strategic Approach: Smart brands are adopting hybrid attribution models:
- Baseline lift analysis for linear TV campaigns
- Pixel-based tracking for CTV with QR codes and custom landing pages
- Marketing mix modeling to understand incremental contribution
- A/B testing with geo-targeted campaigns
The Cost Conundrum
The Perception: TV advertising requires massive upfront investments with uncertain returns – a deal-breaker for lean e-commerce operations focused on efficient growth.
The Reality: The German TV advertising landscape offers more flexibility than many realize:
- Linear TV: Yes, prime-time spots on RTL or ProSieben require significant investment. But smaller, private broadcasters with smaller market share and off-peak inventory provide testing grounds at fraction of the cost. We would recommend budgets between €15,000 to €25,000 per week running for 4 weeks for sufficient campaign learnings.
- Connected TV: Programmatic buying enables precise budget control, starting from €15,000 – €20,000 monthly minimums. You can scale based on performance, just like your digital campaigns
Budget Allocation Strategy recommendation:
- Start with 5-10% of total marketing budget for initial tests
- Focus on high-intent moments (evening prime time for CTV, Sundays or Mondays for linear)
- Layer TV investment on top of proven digital baselines, not as replacement
Making Linear TV Work: A Performance Marketer's Shortcut
- Start with Linear TV: Lower CPMs, TG and genre targeting, weekday and daypart adjustments for better affinity. Best periods to test: Q5 or Summer.
- Test and Learn: Run 4-week sprints with clear KPIs beyond direct response
- Creative Matters: TV demands different storytelling than performance creative – invest accordingly
- Measure Holistically: Track branded search uplift, direct traffic increases, and overall conversion rate improvements on all channels
- Think Portfolio: TV drives upper-funnel metrics that improve performance of all channels involved in the mix
The Bottom Line
TV advertising in Germany isn’t about abandoning performance discipline – it’s about expanding your definition of performance. While attribution and cost concerns are valid, the brands winning market share are those willing to test, learn, and scale into channels their competitors avoid.
For e-commerce brands ready to move beyond plateau growth, TV offers reach and credibility that pure digital strategies increasingly struggle to achieve. The question isn’t whether TV can drive growth – it’s whether you’ll figure it out before your competitors do.
The German market’s unique blend of traditional TV strength and advancing CTV adoption creates a window of opportunity. Performance marketers who crack the code now will have a sustainable advantage as the lines between TV and digital continue to blur.
Ready to explore TV for your brand? Start small, measure everything, and prepare to be surprised by what this “old” channel can do for modern e-commerce growth.
Sources
- AGF Videoforschung: Average daily television viewing time in Germany 2023 (182 minutes)
- Nielsen: “Streaming Takes Center Stage in Germany” – 77% weekly streaming usage
- AGF Videoforschung: 73% weekly viewership of public broadcasters ARD and ZDF
- PwC: Linear TV advertising revenue in Germany 2024 projection (€4.07 billion)
