First-of-its-kind analysis shows ads that are emotionally aligned with surrounding content consistently capture greater attention and drive performance
Wurl, a leader in the streaming TV industry, in partnership with TVision, the company measuring every second of TV and CTV viewer engagement, published a new report called, The Impact of Emotion Alignment on Ad Attention in Streaming TV. The report offers a first-of-its-kind analysis across 50+ advertiser campaigns to explore how emotional alignment between ads and on-screen content can boost attention on streaming TV.
Streaming TV now reaches hundreds of millions of viewers, outpacing linear in key demographics and driving an 18% year-over-year increase in CTV ad impressions. Yet, in a media environment saturated with ads, marketers aren’t just vying for screen time or impressions – they’re competing for hard-earned attention. Simply appearing on a viewer’s TV isn’t enough; ads need to align with the emotion and context surrounding them to truly break through. In their latest report, Wurl and TVision set out to prove just this: why emotional resonance is a powerful strategy in driving attention, and how it can measurably improve campaign performance.
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“In TV media buying today, audience targeting is table stakes. The new edge comes from emotional alignment – tapping into the story your viewers are already experiencing,” said Dave Bernath, General Manager, Americas at Wurl. “When your ad feels like part of the moment – not a break from it – it earns more attention, sparks deeper engagement, and drives stronger results all the way down the funnel.”
Key findings from the report include:
Viewers in this study paid more attention to 30-second ads that matched the content’s emotion, with attention jumping from 27% to 66% of the ad – a 2.4x boost.
Whether 15 or 30 seconds long, emotionally aligned ads got similar attention levels – showing that emotion keeps viewers engaged no matter the length.
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“Ad attention is driven by a number of factors. The strength of the preceding content, the quality of the ad, and the app it runs on all factor into attention,” said Yan Liu, CEO at TVision. “But context also matters. Aligning an ad’s emotional tone with the programming it runs in can significantly improve attention, as this study shows.”
“Marketers need to break out of their comfort zones. Playing it safe won’t unlock what’s next,” said Anant Veeravalli, Global Chief Analytics Officer, Acxiom and IPGMB. “It’s time to elevate measurement and start thinking of attention as a viable currency – and emotion as the signal that drives it.”
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