Commercials Aren't Just for Big Brands Anymore

For a long time, a commercial was something only large companies could afford. Airtime was expensive, production was expensive, and the audience you paid to reach was mostly people who had nothing to do with your business. A local business could spend a fortune and still waste most of it.

That has changed, and it's changed enough that it's worth a second look if you wrote commercials off years ago.

Your audience moved to streaming, and the ads came with them

A growing share of television viewing now happens through streaming, including free ad-supported services like Tubi, Pluto TV, and the Roku Channel. According to industry reports, those free services together reach over 100 million monthly viewers in the U.S., and 62% of U.S. broadband households used at least one of them in 2025, up from 50% the year before. Connected TV ad spending in the U.S. is projected to reach $33.35 billion in 2026, a 16% increase over 2025. Where viewers go, advertisers follow.

Local businesses can finally target locally

This is the part that matters most to a business in Toms River. Streaming platforms can target by ZIP code, which means a restaurant, a contractor, a medical practice, or a real estate team can put a commercial in front of people who actually live within driving distance, instead of paying for viewers three states away. According to Nielsen data cited in the same industry roundup, 68% of connected TV impressions now use targeting beyond basic age and gender.

The entry cost has dropped too. Some self-serve streaming ad platforms advertise campaigns starting at a $50 minimum, and average streaming CPMs are reported in the range of $15 to $35 per thousand views. These are vendor-reported figures and your actual costs will vary, but the direction is clear: running a commercial no longer requires a network-sized budget.

It strengthens everything else you do

A commercial doesn't have to stand alone. Advertisers who added connected TV to their existing digital mix reported a 22% lift in overall campaign performance, according to figures from the Video Advertising Bureau. Viewers who see your brand on a screen in their living room are more likely to recognize you later in a search result, a social post, or a Google Maps listing. QR code scan rates on connected TV ads rose 42% year over year, with local service and retail advertisers seeing the strongest engagement, which gives a commercial a direct path from watching to acting.

The creative is now the only thing that separates you

Here's the catch: when anyone can launch a campaign for $50, more brands will. The ad space is getting more accessible, which means the thing that determines whether your commercial works is no longer the media budget. It's the creative. A viewer deciding in the first three seconds whether to keep watching or reach for the remote isn't comparing your budget to anyone else's. They're comparing how your commercial feels.

That's where production quality, a clear idea, and real people and real places make the difference. A commercial that shows your actual team, your actual storefront, and an honest reason to choose you will always land differently than a generic template that could belong to any business in any town.

What a good local commercial does

The best ones keep it simple. They pick one message, show it quickly, and end with one clear next step, whether that's a phone number, a QR code, or a location. A 30-second spot gives you room to introduce who you are, why it matters, and what to do next. A 15-second version cuts the same idea down for social and streaming placements. One shoot can produce both, plus a handful of still frames and short clips for your other channels.

Is a commercial right for your business?

If you serve a defined local area, if your customers make decisions based on trust, and if you're ready to put a consistent message in front of the same neighborhoods over time, a commercial is worth serious consideration. It works best alongside the rest of your video, not instead of it: the website, the social content, and the monthly work that keeps your brand visible between campaigns.

Endless Wave Productions writes, shoots, and edits commercials for local and regional businesses in Toms River, NJ, built for streaming, social, and the web. Let's talk about your commercial.