TV advertising costs between €1,000 for a regional streaming campaign in self-service and €150,000 or more for a classic campaign on a large commercial channel in 2026. The range is huge, because "TV advertising" today means many different things: the classic spot in the linear program, the video spot in streaming and display formats like the SwitchIn, which work entirely without a spot.
This guide shows you how TV advertising is billed, what the individual ad formats cost, how you calculate your budget yourself and from what amount the entry is realistic.
The short answer
| Ad format | Entry | Billing |
|---|---|---|
| Streaming advertising in self-service (onescreen) | from €1,000 per campaign | CPM from €25 |
| Classic linear TV, niche channels | from approx. €40,000 per channel | CPM / per-second price |
| Classic linear TV, large commercial channels | from approx. €150,000 per channel | CPM / per-second price |
The most important insight up front: the TV screen itself is not expensive. What is expensive are the classic booking routes via agencies, minimum volumes and long lead times. Via streaming and Smart TV, the same screen is bookable today from €1,000.
How TV advertising is billed: the CPM
The basis of almost every TV booking is the cost per mille (CPM), in German called Tausender-Kontakt-Preis (TKP). It indicates what it costs to reach 1,000 people with your advertising.
The formula:
CPM = campaign cost ÷ contacts reached × 1,000
Or the other way around, when you plan your budget:
Contacts = budget ÷ CPM × 1,000
An example: with a budget of €2,000 and a CPM of €25 you reach 80,000 ad contacts. The CPM makes advertising channels comparable, but says nothing about the quality of the contact. A non-skippable spot on the big screen is a different contact than a scrolled-past social video.
CPM benchmarks 2026: what does the contact cost?
In classic linear TV, the CPM for a 30-second spot is around €18 with the large commercial channels (RTL, Sat.1, ProSieben) and about €9 with the public broadcasters (source: AGF Videoforschung / GfK). That sounds cheap, but has a catch: you pay for all viewers, including those who do not belong to your audience. If you relate the price to a specific audience such as the 14 to 49 year olds, the effective CPM rises to over €48 according to ZAW.
This is exactly where streaming advertising comes in: through targeting, you pay from the start only for contacts in your audience. At onescreen the CPM starts at €25, with over 100 targeting options by region, demographics, interests and household attributes. The nominal CPM is higher than the average CPM in linear TV, but the effective price per relevant contact is significantly lower, because wastage falls away.
On top of this comes an effect that is often overlooked: on average 1.5 people sit in front of the TV set. What gets billed is the impression on the device, and the additional reach through co-viewing you get for free.
What does classic TV advertising cost?
For context, it is worth looking at the classic booking routes:
According to booking service providers, a classic campaign on a large commercial channel starts at around €150,000 per channel for a two to three week runtime. Niche channels are bookable from about €40,000 per channel and month. Individual premium placements blow up any SME calculation: a 20-second spot directly before the Tagesschau costs on average over €40,000, per airing.
On top of this come the conditions of the classic system: booking via agencies or marketers, several weeks of lead time, gross price lists with intransparent discount structures and fixed minimum volumes. Over 90% of TV revenues in Germany run through just seven agencies. For smaller budgets there was simply no room in this system.
What does streaming and Smart TV advertising cost?
Streaming advertising runs on the same televisions, in premium environments like Netflix, Disney+, Prime Video or RTL+, but is booked and billed digitally. That changes the cost structure fundamentally:
Spot in streaming: your video spot runs non-skippable in streaming environments, live and on demand. At onescreen from €1,000 per campaign, CPM from €25, with no commitment and no minimum runtime. With €1,000 you thereby reach around 40,000 ad contacts, with €5,000 around 200,000.
Worked example: regional campaign for an SME
Let us assume that as a business in the greater Munich area you want to show presence on the TV screen for 4 weeks:
- Budget: €2,500
- Format: spot in streaming, CPM €25
- Targeting: greater Munich, 25 to 54 years
Calculation: €2,500 ÷ €25 × 1,000 = 100,000 ad contacts in your audience. At a targeted contact frequency of 4, you thereby reach around 25,000 households in your region, multiple times, non-skippable, on the largest screen in the house.
For comparison: in classic TV, such precise regional targeting would not be bookable at all. You would pay for nationwide reach to reach Munich customers.
Do not forget: production costs
The media costs are only one part of the calculation. A classic TV spot costs from around €5,000 to produce, elaborate brand spots reach five to six figure sums.
But it also works without this hurdle: for the SwitchIn you only need a display creative, which can be created from existing brand assets. And with the spot too you do not have to start from scratch, onescreen supports creative production for both formats. Existing material from social campaigns can often be adapted for the big screen.
What drives the cost up or down?
Four factors determine your effective price:
Targeting precision. Tighter targeting raises the CPM slightly, but almost always lowers the cost per relevant contact, because you do not pay for wastage.
Environment and format. Premium streaming environments and live sport cost more than standard rotations.
Regional vs. national. Regional postcode targeting makes small budgets effective, because the entire budget lands in your catchment area.
How much budget should you plan?
Our recommendation for getting started: start with a test campaign between €2,500 and €5,000, targeted regionally to your catchment area, over 3 to 4 weeks. That is enough to build visibility and to see in the dashboard how your campaign performs: impressions, completions, reach, in real time.
Only when the numbers are right do you scale. The biggest mistake in TV advertising is not a budget that is too small, but a large budget without a prior test.
Conclusion: TV advertising is no longer a big-corporation privilege
The question "What does TV advertising cost?" has two answers in 2026. The classic route costs six figures and remains reserved for large brands. The digital route via streaming and Smart TV starts at €1,000, with transparent net prices, targeting instead of wastage and reporting depth.
Want to know what reach your concrete budget delivers? Book a demo or get started directly in the Ad Manager.
FAQ
What does TV advertising cost in 2026? Between €1,000 for a regional streaming campaign in self-service and €150,000 or more for a classic campaign on a large commercial channel. The decisive factor is the booking route: digitally booked advertising on the Smart TV is possible from €1,000 per campaign.
What does CPM mean in TV advertising? The cost per mille indicates what 1,000 ad contacts cost. In classic TV it averages between €9 and €18, but is significantly higher when related to specific audiences. At onescreen the CPM starts at €25, and you only pay for the audience defined via targeting.
What does producing a TV spot cost? Simple spots from around €5,000, elaborate productions significantly more. Alternatively, the SwitchIn works entirely without a video spot, using a simple display creative. onescreen supports the creation of both formats.
What is the minimum budget for TV advertising? Classic: depending on the channel, from approx. €40,000 to €150,000. Via onescreen: €1,000 per campaign, with no commitment and no minimum runtime.
Is TV advertising worthwhile for small businesses? Yes, especially regionally. With postcode targeting, the entire budget lands in your own catchment area. A test campaign from €1,000 shows, based on real metrics, whether the channel works for your business.