Your Audience Is Gone, But Not Really
Remember when TV audiences gathered around to watch major events like the Super Bowl? They still do. But not like before. The Super Bowl still pulls in millions on old-fashioned linear TV—in fact, it’s unmatched by anything else in terms of reach. Yet how people experience these must-watch spectacles has fundamentally changed.
Take the 2025 Super Bowl: audiences could watch the Philadelphia Eagles thrash the Kansas City Chiefs on both Fox – for a linear experience – and a host of connected TV platforms such as Tubi, the NFL+, Hulu+ Live, and YouTube TV. They could comment on the lopsided score or on Kendrick Lamar’s artful halftime performance on “second screens” ranging from X to Bluesky. On X, fans could indulge in the NFL Portal for additional content such as stats and behind-the-scenes moments.
The hybrid linear/connected TV nature of the 2025 Super Bowl reflected viewing habits for the 2024 Super Bowl, too. According to AdImpact, 59% of viewers tuned in to watch that game on linear TV, 14% streamed the game on YouTube, and 27% streamed it on other platforms like Hulu+ Live, NFL+, and YouTube TV.
Live events like the Super Bowl are a microcosm for how audiences experience television by comfortably toggling between traditional broadcast and connected TV while multitasking with social media as they do. As a result, media platforms and advertisers need to navigate a broad ecosystem that encompasses both linear and digital, especially as the typical household interacts with an average of 13 different entertainment sources.
What if the industry could reimagine the TV experience to embrace the best of both worlds—big-tent moments from linear TV with the interactivity of digital? In fact, it can.
Streaming and Linear Converge
Streaming platforms know this: traditional live events still have a magic that AVODalone can’t replicate. That’s why we’re seeing streaming take on linear-like features—think live sports and news. In early 2024, 38% of U.S. smart TVs accessed both linear and streaming content, demonstrating that hybrid viewing habits are becoming the norm.
This is what is popularly known as convergent TV: the blending of live, linear programming with the flexibility of streaming. Platforms like YouTube TV, Hulu + Live, and Free Ad-Supported TV (FAST) services, such as Tubi, are bridging these worlds, letting users watch live TV alongside on-demand shows.
Why does this matter? Because live events—sports, awards shows, breaking news—remain the linchpin for linear TV, even as those moments increasingly shift to streaming platforms.
Linear streaming, a topic we’ve been writing about at Operative, takes this integration further by combining the strengths of linear television with the dynamic capabilities of digital. This model blends pre-sold ad placements and scheduled programming with programmatic delivery and audience targeting. It’s particularly effective for live-streamed events, where media companies can sell premium inventory upfront while dynamically filling additional slots in real time.
Amid convergent TV and linear streaming, media are also diversifying their content creation approaches to the point that streaming platforms sometimes act like traditional broadcast networks. For example, on game day for the 2025 Super Bowl, Tubi presented live pre-show content that focused on celebrity appearances, fashion, and cultural moments surrounding the Super Bowl—an approach that is not out of place with traditional linear broadcasting.
Why does this matter? Because live events—sports, awards shows, breaking news—remain the linchpin for linear TV, even as those moments increasingly shift to streaming platforms. Amazon’s exclusive Thursday Night Football streams and Netflix’s big bets on live programming are redefining the playbook for what “live” looks like.
Amazon: The Innovator
Amazon’s approach to sports is less about “just stream it” and more about creating an interactive playground. Shoppable ads during the Black Friday 2024 NFL game delivered 11x higher engagement than QR code ads and boosted search rates for brands by 200%. During Thursday Night Football games, Amazon offers real-time stats, multiple camera angles, and even “Send to Phone” features to let viewers save product links for later. It’s sports + e-commerce + data innovation, all rolled into one.
Linear streaming also allows Amazon to pair traditional linear strategies, like pre-sold ad placements, with targeted digital capabilities, creating a hybrid model that maximizes revenue and audience engagement. The NFL’s Thursday Night Football broadcasts in particular exemplify how linear streaming can evolve to cater to modern viewing habits without losing the strengths of linear TV.
Stay tuned later this year for Amazon’s 2025 NFL-NBA Black Friday crossover. The double-header event will feature interactive shopping, league cross-promotion, and new audience engagement tools as Amazon transforms live sports into a hybrid viewing/shopping experience.
Netflix: the Entertainer
Netflix, the original streaming disruptor, is also getting into live programming. Its Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson boxing match in late 2024 drew 108 million viewers globally, making it Netflix’s most-streamed live event yet. Netflix placed personalized ads tailored to viewer interests and released supplementary content—docuseries, fighter interviews, behind-the-scenes footage—to keep subscribers engaged. That fight alone boosted Netflix’s subscriber count by 1.43 million accounts in three days.
And let’s talk about Netflix’s 2024 NFL Christmas Gameday. Beyond football, Netflix included entertainment elements like a Beyoncé halftime performance and pre-game celebrity interviews. These value-adds drew a wider, more diverse audience, proving Netflix’s strategy: sports + culture = streaming gold.
Ad Saturation: A Persistent Problem
But let’s not paint too rosy a picture. Advertisers are grappling with a fragmented media ecosystem that’s creating a saturation problem. Ads are hitting the same people over and over again, driving up costs and annoying audiences. Without effective cross-device tracking, it’s impossible to manage ad frequency, leading to wasted budgets and fatigued viewers.
This oversaturation doesn’t just harm the user experience; it’s bad business. Lower engagement rates, inflated costs per impression, and diminishing ROI are the byproducts of an ad market struggling to adapt to new media realities.
The Discovery Gap
Another hurdle: search and discovery. For audiences, finding what they want to watch or simply browsing with no particular program in mind feels less like convenience and more like a scavenger hunt. While some platforms, like Apple TV and Roku, offer universal search capabilities, these features are often incomplete. It’s frustrating, and it’s happening because search algorithms are incomplete or biased toward specific platforms. Worse, niche or smaller streaming services are often excluded entirely.
Fixing Fragmentation with Multiple Currencies
While no one has cracked the code on universal search, the ad saturation problem has a potential fix: multiple currencies. Platforms like iSpot, VideoAmp, and Comscore are offering alternatives to legacy Nielsen ratings. By using big data from smart TVs, set-top boxes, and automatic content recognition, these tools enable precise audience targeting and cross-platform tracking. The result is better measurement, fewer redundant ads, and campaigns optimized for performance metrics like conversions or brand lift. It’s not a perfect system, but it’s progress.
Operative’s Role in a Hybrid World
At the center of this hybrid media landscape, Operative’s AOS platform is helping media companies adapt. By unifying linear, digital, and streaming advertising operations, AOS streamlines workflows and gives companies a comprehensive view of their inventory and audience data.
Operative also specializes in applying first-party data to create highly targeted campaigns, making it easier for media platforms to engage audiences across channels. With these tools, companies can navigate fragmentation, reduce ad overload, and unlock growth opportunities in an evolving media ecosystem.
The line between linear and streaming is gone. For media companies, advertisers, and viewers, convergence isn’t just the future—it’s happening now. Operative is here to help make sense of it all.