How Startups Scale with Linear TV and BVOD 2026 Guide
Why do startups hit a ceiling with social advertising?
Startups exist to grow, everything they do is about promoting growth and gaining new users. As startups scale, they gain a social following that provides growth for a while. However, this audience is limited to people who are already interested. Pushing outside this audience to build a massive global following is a huge effort; it generally involves advertising.
Building on a social following with advertising on the same platform is the logical next step for brands keen to keep their customer base growing. Transitioning from a purely earned audience to a mix of earned and paid is a comfortable move. The marketing team knows the platform and has probably experimented with some advertising along the way.
What are the signs your startup is ready for TV advertising
If you’re struggling with the following issues, it’s probably time to consider upgrading your marketing plans. Your customer pool isn’t growing, and you spend most of your marketing time upselling to an audience that already buys your product. Activation channels are stretched, and payback isn’t growing in line with increased spend.
You know competitors can muscle in and steal your customers; you’ve been thinking about increasing your brand strength. You treat video as a powerful marketing tool, but it’s no longer powerful enough to drive the numbers you need. You’d be better off capping social media spend at the best-performing level and investing more of your marketing budget in something that can bring in massive amounts of new customers.
What is the difference between linear TV, BVOD and CTV?
How much does it cost a startup to advertise on TV in the UK?
Making the leap from social advertising to linear TV and BVOD advertising can feel like a cliff edge. Well-funded startups will have advertising in their growth plans. The investment they have gained is directly tied to increasing growth. TV advertising has a strong track record of delivering not only new customers but also strong returns on investment.
You can get on TV on a small budget; in fact, 27% of TV advertisers spend under £50k. But Toast TV recognises that spending wisely on TV advertising can drive the explosive growth hungriest startups need. Our TV advertising production budgets generally start at around £80k. We also recommend a media budget of at least £150k. Putting your brand on TV alongside the likes of Audi, Google and Apple needs careful consideration. A poorly produced TV ad will tarnish your brand in front of millions of viewers.
Should a startup start with BVOD, regional TV or addressable TV?
Advice from the TV advertising body Thinkbox is to start regionally or target a reasonably tight demographic using BVOD advertising. This will give you a test platform and results to build a stronger national campaign based on real-world learning.
One of the great features of TV advertising is its ability to open brands to new audiences. Be careful how tightly you tune your media plan. By focusing on a narrow market, you could miss out on customers who are ready to buy.
Can you turn our social ad creative into a TV ad?
We can, but we often advise against it. Social ads just don’t have the production values needed to survive on TV. If you’re a brand selling high-ticket items or you need to build trust, you’ll need an advert that makes you look trustworthy. Building a consistent brand is one of the most important jobs when planning a TV campaign.
If you’re using a scattergun approach in social media campaigns, where you replace an ad within a week, this will hamper brand recognition.
How should startups measure TV and BVOD results?
Agree on what success looks like before your first ad goes out, because TV works over two different timeframes. In the short term, look for spikes in web visits, app downloads and branded search in the minutes after each spot airs. The longer payoff is higher brand awareness and a lower cost per acquisition across your other channels, and that can take a few months to show.
Record at least four weeks of baseline data before launch so you can compare. BVOD makes the job easier because broadcaster platforms report completed views and can link ad exposure to visits on your site.
What does a startup’s first TV campaign plan look like?
- Set objectives. Decide whether the first campaign is there to build awareness or to drive direct sales, because that choice affects every step after it. For most startups, building the brand first makes the sales activity that follows work harder.
- Set up measurement. Get your tracking partner and baseline data sorted well before launch day. Trying to work out what happened after the ads have gone out is a lot harder.
- Choose the format. Linear TV gives you scale, while BVOD lets you target by region or audience with much less wastage.
- Produce the ad. Keep the message simple, because one idea told well will beat three ideas crammed into 30 seconds. Edit a 10 or 20-second cut-down the same day, as it costs much less than going back for a re-edit later.
- Get Clearcast approval. Every ad on UK TV has to be cleared before it airs, and Clearcast checks the script as well as the finished film. Send your script in early, especially if you’re making claims you’ll need to back up with evidence.
- Launch a burst. Thinkbox’s research found that new advertisers do better with a short, high-impact burst than with a small, continuous drip. Put enough weight behind the campaign to get noticed, then hold your nerve while the data comes in.
- Review and scale. Compare your results against the baseline and see which channels, dayparts and creative performed best. Put more behind what worked, drop what didn’t, and move more of the budget into TV for the next burst.
Work with Toast to grow your Startup
Toast has worked with brands like Innocent Smoothies, Loaf Sofa and Abel&Cole. We produced each one’s first-ever TV advertising. We're proud to be part of their growth strategy.
