Anyone considering TV advertising asks first: what will a TV ad cost me? The answer hinges on something that surprises many people. It depends on whether you advertise on classic television or in streaming. Because the two are billed in completely different ways. In classic TV you buy an airtime slot, in streaming you buy contacts reached within your audience. This difference decides what ends up on your bill.
This article explains both models, shows with concrete figures what a spot costs in each, and makes clear why streaming is usually the more accessible route for smaller budgets. For the full price overview across all channels, see the complete TV advertising price guide.
Classic TV: you buy an airtime slot
In classic linear television, billing happens spot by spot, by airtime. Every channel has a per-second rate, and your spot's price is that per-second rate multiplied by your spot's length.
An example from ZDF's pricing logic makes this tangible: at a per-second rate of €500, a 20-second spot costs 500 times 20, so €10,000 gross. The large commercial channels work on the same principle via a per-second or 30-second rate.
What matters: this price is tied to the specific slot. Weekday, time of day, program environment and expected viewership determine how expensive the second is. A spot in the early evening before the news costs more than one in the late-night program, because more people are watching. Many sales houses also charge a surcharge of up to 30 percent for spots under 30 seconds or for a requested placement within the ad break.
So you are buying airtime, not a guaranteed audience. Who actually sees that slot depends on the ratings, and you pay for all viewers, including those who don't belong to your target audience at all.
Streaming: you buy contacts reached within your audience
In streaming, billing works fundamentally differently. You don't buy a slot or airtime, but reach, much like in online advertising. You pay per thousand contacts reached, and only the contacts within the audience you booked beforehand.
The unit for this is the cost per mille, CPM, in German called Tausender-Kontakt-Preis or TKP. It states what it costs to reach a thousand people in your audience. The decisive word here is audience: you define in advance who you want to reach, by region, age, interests, and then pay only for those people. Wastage on viewers outside your audience falls away. Whether you use a guaranteed placement or an auction also affects the price, more on that in the article Guaranteed Placement or Auction.
This is the fundamental difference to classic TV. There, you pay for a slot and get whichever audience happens to be watching. In streaming, you define the audience and pay only for the people you actually want to reach.
The difference at a glance
| Classic linear TV | Streaming | |
|---|---|---|
| You buy | an airtime slot | contacts reached within your audience |
| Billing | per-second rate times spot length | price per thousand contacts (CPM) |
| Price depends on | slot, time of day, viewership | booked audience and reach |
| Audience | all viewers of the slot | only the audience booked in advance |
| Wastage | yes, you also pay for non-audience | no, only relevant contacts |
| Entry point | usually five to six figures | from €1,000 per campaign |
What this means for the price
Both models can be compared via the CPM, even though only streaming is billed directly by it. And that comparison is revealing.
In classic linear TV, the cost per mille for a 30-second spot is around €18 to €20 with the large commercial channels, and somewhat lower with the public broadcasters (source: AGF Videoforschung / GfK, heise regioconcept). That sounds low. But once you relate the price to a specific audience such as the 14 to 49 year olds, the effective cost per contact rises to over €48 according to the German Advertising Federation (ZAW). The reason is exactly the wastage: you paid for everyone, only a portion was relevant.
In streaming via onescreen, the CPM starts at €25. Nominally, that is above the linear TV average, but every one of these contacts belongs to your booked audience. Measured by price per relevant contact, streaming is therefore often cheaper, even though the number looks higher at first glance. How this contact also differs in quality from a contact on other channels is shown in the article Media Quality: Streaming vs. Social Media. For more CPM benchmarks and worked examples across all channels, see the TV advertising price guide.
A worked example for streaming
Because streaming is billed by contacts, you can calculate in advance exactly what your budget delivers. The formula is simple: budget divided by CPM, times a thousand.
At a CPM of €25, you reach around 40,000 contacts in your audience with €1,000. With €5,000, it's around 200,000. So you see the reach your money buys before you even start, and in the dashboard you track how the campaign develops, updated daily.
One thing applies to both routes: the one-time production of the spot. If you don't have a video yet, that shouldn't be seen as a hurdle. onescreen supports spot creation with the help of AI, noticeably faster and more cost-efficient than classic production, built from existing materials like images and logos.
From what budget does a spot make sense?
This is where the practical advantage of streaming lies. While classic TV campaigns at large channels usually start in the five to six figure range, in streaming via onescreen you start from €1,000 per campaign, with no commitment and no minimum runtime. You can test small and scale up on success.
The best approach is to calculate from the goal backward: how many people do you want to reach, in which region and audience? Your budget follows from that via the CPM.
Want to know what a spot costs for your specific goal? Book a demo, and we'll work it out with you in 30 minutes. Or get started directly in the Ad Manager.
FAQ
What does a TV ad cost? It depends on the channel. In classic linear TV you buy an airtime slot and pay per-second rate times spot length, a 20-second spot can range from four to five figures per airing depending on channel and slot. In streaming you pay per thousand contacts reached in your audience, starting from €1,000 per campaign.
What is the difference between TV and streaming billing? In classic TV you buy airtime: a slot at a fixed per-second rate, and you get whichever audience happens to be watching. In streaming you buy contacts reached, and only those within the audience you booked beforehand. This eliminates wastage.
What does a 30-second spot cost? In classic TV the price depends on the slot's per-second rate, the cost per mille is around €18 to €20 with the large commercial channels, but significantly higher once related to a specific audience. In streaming you pay the same CPM regardless of spot length, because billing is by contact, not by second.
Why is the CPM higher in streaming, yet the advertising often cheaper? Because in streaming every contact belongs to your booked audience. In linear TV you also pay for viewers outside your audience. Measured by price per relevant contact, streaming therefore often comes out ahead, even though the nominal CPM is higher.
How many contacts do I get for my budget? In streaming you can calculate this directly: budget divided by CPM, times a thousand. At a CPM of €25, €1,000 reaches around 40,000 contacts, €5,000 around 200,000, all within your audience.