Television has never been a static industry. First there was “The Golden Age of TV,” then “The Silver Age of TV,” and for the last two decades, we’ve been living in the era of peak TV. The peak TV era has set new benchmarks for entertainment, lasted for years, and kinda-sorta felt like it’d go on forever.

But, if the last seven decades is any indication, TV has a life cycle—and this one is clearly over. That’s still not exactly devastating news for advertisers.

The Rise of “Peak TV Advertising”

There’s a number of reasons why the era is over, and EMARKETER details them in their recent report, “The End of Peak TV.” You should read it, because we’re not going to go into it. What we want to do is assuage anxiety, because while peak TV may be over, peak TV advertising is just ramping up.

Over the last year, as costs for ad-free streaming subscriptions have increased, industry heavyweights like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Disney+, have introduced ad-supported tiers. This offers a lower price point for those who may not otherwise be able to afford ad-free subscriptions, which deepens the pool of audiences advertisers can target.

At the same time, free ad-supported streaming (FAST) channels have exploded in popularity. According to a May 2023 report from Hub Research, as of 2023, 57% of viewers watch FAST content. And as the price for streaming tiers continues to increase, interest in completely free options is set to grow with it.

Rerunning Up That Hill

What these ad-supported experiences have in common is they both feature libraries of legacy rerun content. In an August 2023 survey, CivicScience asked US adults what they’d watch if their favorite TV shows didn’t return with new episodes in the fall, 45% said reruns. This means that even with less content being released, audiences will still be streaming, whether they’re catching up on their watch lists or revisiting comfortable classics.

This proves that advertisers will always have a wealth of opportunities to target, engage, and convert audiences on TV, even without peak content to run ads on. And recent data shows advertisers have already taken notice and shifted budgets accordingly. A 2023 survey from Guideline found the share of ad spend allocated to rerun content had increased to 79%, while spend for new content had dropped to 21%—the lowest it’s been since 2020.

A New Era for TV Advertising

What the peak TV advertising era is destined to prove is the resiliency of connected TV (CTV) to weather any and every evolution of the television landscape.

Data shows there will always be eyes on TV, so advertisers should feel empowered to maintain an “always-on” approach with CTV, dedicating budgets to formats proven to be engaging, like FAST channels and ad-supported streaming platforms with deep libraries of legacy content.

So even as we wave goodbye to peak TV, don’t shift your budgets away from the living room screen—double down on it by finding modern audiences as they binge classic content.