Watch: TV Is Alive, Thriving, and Finally Measurable

What if the channel everyone said was dying turned out to be the one that made your whole business more predictable? In the latest episode of Shift Happens, DAC's Nasser Sahlool sat down with Mike Fogarty, Head of Client Development, Brand and Agency Partnerships at Tatari, to break down why the "TV is dead" narrative was always wrong, and what marketers need to do differently now that TV has become one of the most measurable channels in the mix.

Here are a few takeaways from their conversation:

The "TV is dying" story was mostly noise

The channel never disappeared. What changed was how audiences consumed it, and how competing platforms framed that shift to serve their own interests. "I think this topic was a bit disingenuous," Fogarty said. "We've been saying television is decaying or dying for the last ten years, but it's been a thriving channel for the last 80 years." The real story is fragmentation, not decline.

Many marketers overcorrected to streaming-only strategies

When audiences shifted to streaming, many brands followed via DSPs and programmatic buying — but that only reaches a fraction of the total TV ecosystem. A significant portion of inventory, traditional and streaming alike, is still transacted through upfronts and direct deals. "You're only buying in a very small pocket when you're only buying through streaming and only through a DSP," Fogarty said.

Convergent TV is about orchestration, not labels

Linear vs. streaming. CTV vs. digital video. These planning buckets make internal conversations easier, but they don't reflect how audiences actually watch. Convergent TV means orchestrating every environment — living room screen, mobile, tablet — to reach the right household at the right moment. "It's not just a media label," Fogarty said. "It's about fluidity on the glass."

TV measurement has moved well beyond reach and frequency

GRPs and Nielsen ratings are no longer the ceiling for what TV can tell you. Incrementality testing, geo-matched market holdouts, footfall attribution, and MMM validation have changed what's possible. Saatva, for example, built models connecting TV impression volume directly to branded search lift and retail store visits. "We are very much moving beyond the traditional measurement," Fogarty said. "And that's what's making TV so alive and well and thriving."

Watch the full episode

Nasser and Mike go deeper on convergent TV strategy, how to think about measurement frameworks, and what it actually takes to connect TV investment to business outcomes. Watch the full episode of Shift Happens.