At almost every advertising campaign review that includes streaming media, someone inevitably raises that unavoidable question:"The reach numbers look great, but is it really driving business growth?"For a long time, the honest answer was often "we believe so." Today, advertisers can see more clearly the types of real outcomes that streaming platforms can deliver.

Streaming platforms have lagged behind other channels in terms of measurable performance outcomes. Streaming grew into a major channel during a period when privacy regulations tightened and brands reduced direct data sharing with media partners. Measurement frameworks built in a click-dominated world inherently have a recency bias, defaulting to undervaluing upstream and impression-based channels. Streaming was categorized under "reach" not because it couldn't drive outcomes, but because CTV inherited linear TV's measurement methods, and no one questioned whether those methods were applicable.

"Both advertisers and media partners have an incentive to move from reach to more meaningful brand and business outcomes," said Cierra Prince, Vice President of Advertising Measurement at Tubi. "When budgets are limited and video inventory seems limitless, driving measurable behavioral impact becomes increasingly critical."

What the results actually show

Performance benchmark research based on brand and performance data running on Tubi shows consistent lower-funnel impact in industries historically classified under "awareness." In the QSR category, Tubi campaigns drove a 26% lift in store visits and a 37% lift in incremental sales¹; in retail, store visits increased 21% and incremental sales 27%²; in the automotive industry—a category with long purchase cycles and difficult-to-close attribution chains—brand vehicle purchases increased 25%³; in the CPG category, incremental sales rose 13% with an incremental ROAS close to 4:1⁴.

"Advertisers' biggest concern with streaming platforms is that our value is limited to the upper funnel," Prince said. "The new reality is that streaming video truly delivers full-funnel results—Tubi has proven we can build brand awareness and consideration while also influencing conversion, sales, and loyalty."

Case studies further confirm this. A retailer using Tubi Moments (a targeted carousel buying approach based on metadata tags for visual cues, tone, emotion, and atmosphere, ensuring ads air immediately after relevant moments) rather than standard targeting drove an 8.4% lift in incremental sales⁵. An automotive brand using the carousel format saw a 33% lift in car sales, far exceeding Polk benchmarks⁶. In the film studio category, movie launch campaigns on Tubi drove a 14% lift in related movie ticket purchases⁷.

The synergy of ad receptivity and measurement infrastructure

The streaming model matters. Unlike other platforms, Tubi is entirely ad-supported free content—this open value exchange creates a level of ad receptivity different from subscription services. But receptivity alone doesn't explain the consistency of lower-funnel outcomes.

This is where Tubi's measurement approach comes into play. Tubi acts as a measurement orchestrator, integrating advertiser goals, third-party partners, and media execution into a closed loop, directly linking exposure to outcomes. Its technology stack is designed for interoperability, working with the measurement providers brands already use: Kantar and Upwave for brand lift, InMarket and Foursquare for foot traffic, Circana and Polk for sales, and Innovid for attribution.

"We start with the KPIs advertisers care about and the partners they trust," Prince said. "After proving we can drive outcomes through the same frameworks they use to evaluate traditional partners, we can scale with them through a test-and-learn framework."

The goal is to create a continuous cycle of measurement, learning, and optimization, where insights from one campaign directly guide the next. In a competitive market where every media partner can sell reach, closing the loop from exposure to sales is the key differentiator that transforms streaming from a reach tool into a performance channel.

References

  1. Aggregated sales lift, InMarket, Q1 2025 to Q1 2026.
  2. Aggregated sales lift, InMarket, Q4 2025 to Q1 2026.
  3. Average aggregated automotive sales lift, Polk S&P Global, Q4 2025 to Q1 2026, directional results.
  4. Aggregated sales lift, InMarket, Q4 2025 to Q1 2026.
  5. Tubi + InMarket, December 2025; reflects Tubi Moments performance only.
  6. Polk S&P Global; Q4 2025.
  7. Kochava, January 2026.