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TV vs. Social: Why it’s time to shift your spend (even if just a bit)

If you're still debating “TV or social”... you’re asking the wrong question.

Spin

For years, TV has been the go-to for brand building at scale. And we won’t deny that TV still has its place… sometimes. But if you're still sinking the majority of your budget into linear, unmeasurable reach… you're not just missing a trick, you’re missing your audience.

Because while TV CPMs have exploded by 87% since 2020, Meta CPMs have quietly dropped by 18%​.

So why are brands still defaulting to TV?

Comfort. 
Familiarity. 
A (false) sense of scale?

But what if just 10% of your TV budget went to Meta?

Say you’re investing £5M in TV. Reallocating just 10% of that to Meta could reach 4.4M unique users at best-practice frequency, across a six-week campaign​. And that reach wouldn’t be theoretical. It would be:

That’s the difference. Social media doesn’t just reach people. It tells you who’s engaging, what’s resonating, and where to go next.

Still think social’s just a support act?

The University of Oxford’s ‘No Silver Bullet’ study, the largest academic investigation into brand-building effectiveness, found the most effective media mix is TV, Meta and YouTube​. Not just one. Not two. All three. But used strategically. We’ve long seen where the attention’s heading. It’s why we brought Be a Bear into the Spin fold, the YouTube and audience strategy specialists who help us go bigger, broader, and sharper across channels. Because in 2025, full-funnel doesn’t mean “a bit of everything.” It means knowing how to make each channel work harder. 

And when Meta owns the four most-used daily apps in the UK (👋 Instagram, Facebook, Messenger and WhatsApp), the opportunity to amplify ATL impact and extend reach is unmatched.

And here’s the kicker…

Social doesn’t just scale your ATL. It adds lift:

We’re talking social-first adaptation, where we translate ATL creative into a high-performance suite of assets designed to scale, test, and convert. It’s how we helped Brothers Cider exceed their reach targets with 12 modular assets from one TVC. It’s how we helped People’s Postcode Lottery turn a brand shoot into a DR sign-up engine on Meta.

So what makes social more measurable?

Unlike TV, social doesn’t rely on panels or extrapolation. You get live, platform-native performance data across every asset, audience, and placement.

Here’s what that looks like in practice:

Through SpaRk, our ad creative solution, we use this data to iterate in real time. We test modular creative, scale what works, and retire what doesn’t. It’s performance and brand-building, working together.

And here’s the stat that says it all: 56% of action outcomes on Meta are driven by creative alone​. 

TL;DR: If you're still debating “TV or social”... you’re asking the wrong question.

The right one?
How much of your TV budget could work harder on social?
We’re here to help you find out.

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