For decades, local TV advertising was one of the most powerful brand-building tools available to home service companies. A well-produced TV spot running on the local news could build name recognition across an entire market in a matter of months. But the television landscape has changed dramatically. Cord-cutting has accelerated, streaming services have proliferated, and the homeowners you're trying to reach are increasingly watching content on platforms that traditional TV advertising can't reach.
Connected TV (CTV) and Over-the-Top (OTT) advertising — ads served on streaming platforms like Hulu, YouTube TV, Peacock, Pluto TV, and Roku — represent the evolution of television advertising for the streaming era. And for home service companies, they offer something traditional TV never could: precise geographic targeting, demographic filtering, and measurable performance data.
The Cord-Cutting Reality
The numbers tell a clear story. Traditional pay-TV subscriptions have declined for nine consecutive years. Streaming now accounts for the majority of TV viewing time in the United States. Among the 35–65 age demographic — the core homeowner audience for most home service companies — streaming viewership has grown dramatically while traditional TV viewership has declined. If you're only advertising on traditional broadcast TV, you're reaching a shrinking audience.
What Makes CTV/OTT Different for Home Service Advertisers
The most significant advantage of CTV/OTT advertising over traditional TV is targeting precision. Traditional local TV advertising targets everyone in a broadcast area — you're paying to reach people who rent apartments, people who just moved in and aren't ready to spend on home improvements, and people who live outside your service area. CTV advertising lets you target by zip code, household income, homeownership status, and even behavioral signals like recent home purchase or home improvement interest.
This targeting precision means your budget goes further. Instead of buying a 30-second spot on the local news that reaches 100,000 households — many of whom are irrelevant to your business — you can run the same ad to 20,000 homeowners in your specific service area who match your ideal customer profile. The reach is smaller, but the relevance is dramatically higher.
How to Use Streaming Ads Effectively for Home Services
The most effective use of CTV/OTT for home service companies is as a brand awareness and top-of-funnel channel, integrated with your performance marketing stack. Streaming ads build recognition and trust over time — they're not designed to generate immediate calls the way Google LSA is. The goal is to ensure that when a homeowner's AC breaks down and they search Google, they recognize your name and logo from the streaming ad they saw last week. That recognition increases click-through rates, improves conversion rates, and ultimately lowers your cost per lead across all channels.
Best practices for home service CTV/OTT campaigns:
- Run 15–30 second non-skippable ads for maximum brand impact
- Target by zip code to stay within your service area
- Layer homeownership and household income targeting
- Run seasonally — increase budgets 4–6 weeks before peak demand
- Coordinate creative with your Google and Meta campaigns for consistent messaging
- Include your phone number and website URL on screen throughout the ad
- Use frequency capping to avoid overexposure (3–5 impressions per household per week)
The Integration Advantage
The real power of streaming advertising for home service companies comes from its integration with the rest of your marketing stack. A homeowner who sees your streaming ad, then gets served a Meta retargeting ad, then searches Google and finds your LSA listing has been exposed to your brand three times across three different contexts. That multi-touch exposure dramatically increases the likelihood of conversion — and it's the principle behind the GAS Demand Stack approach to multi-channel advertising.
Streaming advertising is no longer a 'nice to have' for home service companies with growth ambitions. As your competitors begin to discover CTV/OTT, the window to establish brand dominance in your market before the space gets crowded is closing.
Written by
Global Ad Solutions
GAS Marketing Team