Before long, TV home screens may have as many ads as they currently have content recommendations.
Television manufacturers like Vizio, Roku and LG are opening their home screen space to advertisers beyond media and entertainment. And brands are biting. Home screen ads help brands reach just about any smart TV owner – even if those viewers mostly choose to stream ad-free.
Toyota is dipping its toes into home screen ads with a recent campaign for the new hybrid 2025 Camry model in hopes of reaching younger consumers. Camry has been around since the early ’80s, so younger consumers generally see it as the kind of car their parents or grandparents may buy, Ann Dragovits, media manager for integrated marketing operations at Toyota Motor’s North America business, tells me.
To change that narrative, Toyota wants to send a message to younger consumers that Camry is a cool and exciting model to consider if they’re in the market for a new car. The campaign includes several 15- and 30-second spots that portray a mix of drivers cruising through a cityscape in a sleek Toyota Camry to various destinations with a soundtrack that includes music from up-and-coming artists, including Gen Z musician and influencer Alejo.
But to effectively send that message, Toyota needs mass reach. “[It’s] really challenging for us to pinpoint where our target audience is and how to reach them effectively” because viewers constantly switch streaming services and many won’t stream with ads, Dragovits says. Gen Z viewers are especially known for their aversion to ad-supported streaming.
Which is why the new Camry campaign revolves around a home screen sponsorship on Vizio TVs, complete with a branded content navigation menu.
How Toyota moves viewers
Toyota’s ongoing campaign, titled “It’s a Vibe,” started running in June on TV, display, search and social. But for Vizio TVs, the campaign goes further than just 15- and 30-second spots.
Toyota has a static hero ad on Vizio home screens, with a corresponding tile unit in the content recommendation row. When a user clicks on either ad, they’re sent to a Toyota-branded navigation page with titles on Vizio categorized by particular “vibes,” or genres. In this case, Vizio is including only content that is free to watch to minimize instances of viewers having to log in to a particular streaming service before they can watch the show they choose.
The content navigation page also has a static Toyota hero ad that, when clicked, plays a 15-second spot.
But the tough question here is: Are people actually choosing to watch Toyota’s video ad?
Neither Vizio nor Toyota shared stats on how many viewers have clicked to watch Toyota’s video ad before choosing something to watch. But Vizio can report how many viewers are watching shows they find in Toyota’s branded content collection, an indicator of engagement with the home screen ads, says Allison Clarke, head of general market national advertising sales at Vizio Ads.
Vizio is measuring Toyota’s campaign performance based on awareness, brand lift studies and click-through rates. And so far, Clarke says, Toyota’s home page ads on Vizio are proving successful in terms of driving awareness.
And awareness is the most important metric for Toyota’s latest campaign, since the goal is to reframe widespread consumer perception, Dragovits says. In this case, Toyota’s need for awareness is why it’s putting more dollars into home screen space.
For this reason, she says, home screen ads are proving to be a useful addition to Toyota’s existing TV and video strategy.
Consider that stance a vibe check on the rising trend of TV home screens becoming ad hubs. 📺
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