Welcome to The tvRoom. Your weekly digest of television, streaming, and digital media insights.
This week we're covering:
- 📰 Small Sponsors Make Big Moves
- 📺 Bad Bunny Takes the Super Bowl Stage
- 🎬 Creative Spotlight: Doritos: “Telethon for Hawkins”
- ⚖️ Merger Police at the FTC
Small Sponsors Can Still Compete
It’s not too late for the little guy: Fox News has reported that small and medium-sized businesses account for one-third of the channel’s national advertising revenue, and NBCUniversal reported a 30% increase in small business ad buys in July.
Hearing a customer say, “I saw you on TV,” still carries weight. That recognition is exactly why small businesses are shifting budgets from crowded digital channels to television.
Breaking into TV screens
For years, many entrepreneurs focused almost entirely on search and social ads. Those platforms are still important, but they’ve become crowded and expensive, with diminishing returns. TV, on the other hand, provides a way to reach large, engaged audiences in a format that still carries weight with consumers.
Networks and streaming platforms are leaning into this shift. From cable news to connected TV, ad sales teams are actively courting smaller advertisers, offering flexible buying options and self-serve tools that make it easier to get started.
Why it matters
The appeal goes beyond prestige. TV ads can drive immediate results. Many small businesses report seeing clear spikes in traffic and sales right after their spots air, something that’s harder to track in the noisy digital ecosystem. And with connected TV, advertisers can now measure outcomes with the same precision they expect from online campaigns.
The future of TV advertising won’t just be the domain of global corporations with massive budgets. More and more small and mid-sized businesses are finding that TV offers something digital channels can’t always deliver: scale, credibility, and measurable impact.
Read More:
TV Industry Updates
- Bad Bunny takes the stage: The NFL announced him as the Super Bowl LX halftime performer, set for Levi’s Stadium in February 2026.
- Snoop hit the slopes: NBC confirmed Snoop Dogg will join Winter Olympics coverage, bringing his trademark humor to Milan and Cortina.
- Cheez-It crashed the party: The snack brand launched spots where cravings hijack funerals, dates, and book clubs.
- Hollywood’s AI starlet: Eline Van der Velden introduced Tilly Norwood, an AI “actress,” sparking backlash and calls for agency boycotts.
- Hilton turned hotel stays into quests: Motto by Hilton dropped a POV ad series styled like a choose-your-own-adventure video game.
- Zales paused your show: The jeweler tested new CTV “pause ads” that boosted QR scans by 276% and drove sales.
Creative Spotlight: Doritos: “Telethon for Hawkins”
Doritos turned a snack tie-in into a full-blown retro TV event with its 1980s-style “Telethon for Hawkins,” celebrating the final season of Stranger Things.
The details:
- The spot brought together pop culture icons David Hasselhoff, Paula Abdul, and ALF in a hotline fans could call to hear messages and leave their own.
- The launch came paired with limited edition Doritos Collisions Stranger Pizza x Cool Ranch chips and Glow in the Dark Minis, both adding supernatural flair.
- The ad is just the next leg of major hype for Netflix’s November 26 premiere of Stranger Things 5, connecting the brand with one of streaming’s most anticipated finales.
What We Loved: The campaign fused ’80s nostalgia with live fan participation, turning a snack promotion into a multi-channel stunt that felt straight out of Hawkins. The ad aced in credibility, flair, and style in a rare feat of corporate relatability.
Your Cheatsheet to Winning Black Friday & Cyber Monday
The busiest shopping days of the year are nearly here, and the challenge is clear: which ad channel will truly maximize your return.
Every holiday season brings the same challenge: costs rise, competition spikes, and finding a channel that delivers real performance feels tougher than ever.
This year, more marketers are turning to Connected TV (CTV) now ranked the #2 holiday advertising channel. Why?
- It cuts through crowded digital feeds.
- It reaches shoppers where attention is highest, the big screen.
- And it delivers measurable performance you can optimize in real time.
Marketing Mix
- Merger police: FTC tightened rules on Omnicom’s $13.5 billion IPG buy, banning ideology-based ad blocklists unless clients asked.
- Pin it to win it: Pinterest unveiled “Top of Search” ads that lifted Wayfair’s clicks 237% in tests.
- AI side-eye: Deloitte found 82% of users worried AI could be misused, even as device spend rose 17%.
- Toy takeover: Target unwrapped in-store toy demos and a QR-led catalog focused on gifts under $20.
- Shack attack: Shake Shack hired its first chief brand officer to sharpen positioning and push paid media.
- Cheers & chill: AB InBev teamed with Netflix for co-branded campaigns, live events, and special packaging.
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