PI law firms have advertised on television for decades. CTV doesn’t replace TV advertising. It transforms what TV advertising can do.
Here’s why connected TV makes strategic sense for PI firms.
Benefit 1: Precision Targeting
Traditional TV reaches everyone watching a program. CTV reaches the households you actually want.
Option A
Option B
Traditional TV
Buy evening news in Philadelphia DMA. Hope 5-10% of viewers are potential PI clients. Pay for 100% of impressions regardless.
CTV Approach
Target households in specific zip codes. Layer behavioral signals (auto loans, motorcycle ownership, workers’ comp research). Reach 20-30%+ potential clients. Pay only for targeted impressions.
The math is stark. Traditional TV at $25 CPM reaching 10% relevant households = $250 effective CPM. CTV at $40 CPM reaching 25% relevant households = $160 effective CPM. Higher sticker price. Actually 36% cheaper for reaching people who might need you.
Benefit 2: Measurable Attribution
For decades, TV advertising required faith. Spend money. Hope phones ring. Try to correlate timing with results.
CTV provides actual measurement:
CTV accounted for 38% of ad impressions but drove 63% of attributable conversions. You can see that influence. Not just correlate it.
CTV campaigns deliver 23% higher ROI than traditional television. Measurement enables optimization. That’s why.
Benefit 3: Reach Cord-Cutters
A growing portion of households is unreachable via traditional TV:
If you’re only buying broadcast, you’re missing a large and growing segment of television viewers. CTV reaches them.
Benefit 4: Completion Rates
Digital video has a skip problem. YouTube pre-roll, social video, display ads: viewers skip, scroll, or ignore.
CTV maintains the traditional TV environment:
Viewers watch your entire 30-second message. Streaming viewers are engaged with content. Your ad benefits from that environment.
Benefit 5: Brand Building + Response
CTV achieves what digital channels struggle with: simultaneous brand building and direct response.
Brand Building
- + TV credibility transfers to streaming
- + Professional production values
- + Living room presence builds trust
- + 62% of consumers discover brands through TV
Direct Response
- − Measurable website visits
- − Trackable conversions to cases
- − Full attribution to ROI
- − Continuous optimization capability
You don’t have to choose between awareness and performance. CTV delivers both.
Benefit 6: Competitive Differentiation
Most PI firms are fighting over the same Google keywords. CPCs for competitive terms like “car accident lawyer” can exceed $500 in major markets.
Option A
Option B
Search Competition
Every firm bids on same terms. Costs escalate through competition. Diminishing returns as market saturates.
CTV Opportunity
Create demand (not just capture it). Build awareness before accidents happen. Be the firm they think of first. With exclusive audiences, competitors can’t access your targeting.
Benefit 7: Flexibility and Optimization
Option A
Option B
Traditional TV
Committed weeks/months in advance. Difficult to cancel or change. Optimization happens between flights (if at all). Creative changes require new buys.
CTV
Real-time budget adjustment. Pause and resume as needed. Continuous optimization during flights. Creative testing and rotation. Immediate performance feedback.
ROAS improves 6.6% after 30 days and 24% after 90 days with consistent investment. Ongoing optimization. Traditional TV doesn’t allow that.
Benefit 8: Cost Efficiency
CTV CPMs look higher than some traditional TV rates. But efficiency tells a different story:
| Factor | Traditional TV | CTV |
|---|---|---|
| CPM | $15-35 | $35-50 |
| Target relevance | 5-10% | 20-30%+ |
| Effective CPM | $150-700 | $115-250 |
| Completion rate | 70-85% | 94-96% |
| Attribution | Correlation only | Household-level |
| Optimization | Minimal | Continuous |
The nominally cheaper option is actually more expensive when you account for waste.
Benefit 9: Local Market Precision
PI law firms serve specific geographies. CTV supports local targeting that traditional TV can’t match:
Option A
Option B
Traditional TV
DMA-level only (entire metro). Can’t exclude areas you don’t serve. Paying for impressions outside service area.
CTV
Zip code targeting. Radius targeting around office. Neighborhood-level precision. Geographic exclusions.
If you serve northeast Philadelphia but not the suburbs, CTV lets you target accordingly. Traditional TV buys the entire DMA.
Local CTV spending is growing 29% year-over-year, faster than any other local digital tactic.
Benefit 10: Second-Screen Response
Modern TV viewing happens with phones in hand.
When paired with search protection, CTV becomes a demand generation engine that search campaigns capture. See CTV Creates Demand, Search Captures It.
The Business Case
For a mid-size PI firm, CTV economics look like:
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Monthly CTV spend | $40,000 |
| Impressions | ~1,000,000 |
| Verified visits | ~4,000 |
| Leads attributed | ~80 |
| Cost per lead | $500 |
| Lead-to-case conversion | 20% |
| Cases | 16 |
| Cost per case | $2,500 |
| Average case value | $25,000 |
| ROI | 10x |
Numbers vary by market and execution quality. But the fundamental economics, precision targeting, measurable results, competitive differentiation, make CTV strategically sound for PI advertising.
References
- Decentriq. (2025). CTV advertising: The complete guide. https://www.decentriq.com/article/ctv-advertising
- Southern California News Group. (2025). Connected TV marketing stats 2025. https://www.socalnewsgroup.com/2025/05/06/connected-tv-marketing-stats-2025/
- Nielsen. (2025). Streaming reaches historic TV milestone. https://www.nielsen.com/news-center/2025/streaming-reaches-historic-tv-milestone/
- IAB & Innovid. (2022). CTV takes center stage: 2022 video benchmarks. https://www.iab.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Innovid_CTV-Takes-Center-Stage.pdf
- MNTN Research. (2025). 62% of consumers discover new brands through TV. https://research.mountain.com/insights/62-of-consumers-discover-new-brands-or-products-through-tv/
- MNTN Research. (2023). Increased investment in CTV leads to better performance. https://research.mountain.com/trends/data-reveals-increased-investment-in-ctv-leads-to-better-performance/
- Marketron Aspire. (2025). Local CTV advertising spend 2025. https://aspire.marketron.com/what-to-expect-in-local-ctv-advertising-spend-for-the-back-half-of-2025/
- GWI. (2024). Second screening infographic. https://www.gwi.com/reports/second-screening-infographic
- MNTN Research. (2025). Second screen use by TV viewers. https://research.mountain.com/insights/an-exploration-of-second-screen-use-by-tv-viewers/
- JamLoop. (2025). CTV attribution modeling and ROI measurement. https://jamloop.com/ctv-attribution-modeling-roi-measurement/