Why Broad Reach Matters More Than Ever for Marketers

TL;DR 

1. Most brands have more potential customers out-of-market than in-market at any time, making growth dependent on building mental availability. 
2. Narrow targeting tactics recycle existing demand and fuel the advertising doom loop. 
3. Last-click attribution models reward short-term results rather than marketing channels that create future buyers. 
4. Light buyers and purchase influencers drive a large share of sales, and broad reach is the most effective way to reach them. 

Most of your future buyers are out-of-market right now. They're not searching for your category. They're not clicking on your paid search ad.  

So what are they doing? 

They're watching TV. Streaming their favorite shows. Half-paying attention while dinner cooks. And whether you realize it or not, they're deciding which brands matter. 

For B2B brands, 95% of potential buyers are out-of-market at any time, leaving just 5% in-market. And while the exact ratio may differ, many B2C categories have more buyers out-of-market than in-market. 

Performance marketing tends to chase that active 5%. Which means most campaigns compete for the same in-market shoppers, ignoring everyone else. But without building mental availability across the full audience, long-term growth flatlines. 

 

The Advertising Doom Loop Is Real

Under pressure to deliver immediate results, many advertisers have fallen into what researchers call the "advertising doom loop."

Strict performance targets drive the need for quick results. That leads to cuts in brand investment. Which ultimately causes growth to plateau. So marketers optimize harder, cut deeper, and the cycle repeats. 

Media investment data makes this pattern clear. 

WARC's latest research shows linear TV ad spend has fallen 28% since 2014, a much sharper drop than actual TV viewing. At the same time, brands may now spend three times too much on social media, according to an analysis from UK media planner Richard Kirk. 

The pendulum swung too far toward short-term measurability. And business growth is suffering because of it. 

 

Your Measurement Systems Are Lying to You

Faulty attribution is one reason the doom loop maintains its holds. 

Analytic Partners found that last-click attribution over-credits paid search by 190% while under-crediting brand TV by 90%. Put simply, your most 'efficient' channels may actually be the ones starving your growth. 

This creates a vicious cycle. Fewer than four in 10 marketers feel confident that they’re measuring TV effectively. So they default to what's easiest to track, even when it's less impactful.  

This isn't just a measurement problem. It's a strategy problem. When your models tell you to invest more in channels that only harvest existing demand, you starve the channels that create future demand. 

 

Hypertargeting Limits Your Growth 

Precision targeting feels smart. Why waste impressions on people who aren't likely to buy? 

But what most marketers miss is that the vast majority of your future customers aren't in-market right now. 

The Dirichlet model of buying behavior shows that light buyers (those who only purchase once or twice a year) provide nearly half of a brand's sales. They almost always sit outside narrow target audience definitions. 

Brands grow by reaching more category buyers overall rather than squeezing an additional order out of loyalists. 

 

Privacy Changes Make Targeting Even Less Reliable

Even if precision targeting were strategically sound, it’s no longer operationally reliable. 

Cookie deprecation, iOS privacy changes, and tightening data regulations have made third-party targeting increasingly unreliable. Only 23% of global marketers say they have the data needed to maximize their media investments.  

Meanwhile, streaming TV's promise of "digital-like" targeting has proven more complicated than expected. IP-based targeting can reach the wrong person in a household since account sharing skews who actually sees your ads. And CTV ad fraud is growing faster than CTV viewership itself. 

These issues are baked into how streaming works today, making broad reach strategies increasingly necessary. 

 

You Can't Predict Who Will Buy 

Precision targeting has a blind spot: it assumes you know who matters. 

With tightly targeted digital ads, you run the risk of missing hugely important purchase influencers. In reality, 89% of purchase decisions are discussed with others, and the average B2B buying group includes six to ten people. The bigger the purchase, the more people influence it. 

Consider a B2B software deal. You target the IT leader doing the research. Your site tops their search results. If the CFO has never heard of your brand, the deal often goes elsewhere, even if you "won" the click. 

That's where positive spill comes in. What looks like waste often includes the people who recommend you, remember you, or become buyers later.  

Broad reach ensures your brand is present when decisions happen, even when you can't predict who will be involved. 

Broad Reach Is Efficient Marketing, If Done Right

The real cost of narrow targeting isn't what you're paying. It's who you're missing. 

Future customers who aren't in-market yet. Light buyers who purchase infrequently but represent half your sales. Influencers who won't buy from you but will recommend you to someone who will. 

None of these people will click your ad today. But when a purchase decision finally happens, whether that's next quarter or next year, your brand will either come to mind or it won't. 

Marketing has two jobs: create demand and capture it. Right now, most brands are starving the first to feed the second. 

Short-term measurement can mislead. Targeting misconceptions can weaken performance. And eventually, growth stalls. 

Broad reach marketing has never mattered more. 

 

Want the full story on balancing brand and performance? Download TV as a Full-Funnel Channel to explore the data and frameworks behind these principles.