How to Farm a ZIP Code on Streaming TV

Geographic farming is one of the oldest listing strategies in real estate: pick a neighborhood, show up there consistently, and become the name people think of when it's time to sell. Postcards and door knocking have been the tools for decades. Streaming TV adds a new one — your face on the television in those same homes.

Here's how to farm a ZIP code on streaming TV, step by step.

Step 1: Pick the right ZIP code

Choose a farm the same way you would for mail:

• Turnover. Look at how many homes sold in the last 12 months. A ZIP with steady sales gives you more listing opportunities.
• Price point. Commissions scale with price. Make sure the average sale is worth the investment.
• Competition. If one agent already owns the neighborhood, a nearby ZIP may be easier to win.
• Your connection. You'll convert best where you live, have sold before, or have a story to tell.

Then check the size. ZIP codes vary a lot. In Pinellas County, Florida, there are 48 ZIP codes and about 516,000 homes (2020 Census) — an average of roughly 10,700 homes per ZIP. A single ZIP like 33705 in St. Petersburg has about 14,000. Knowing the count tells you how much budget it takes to be seen often.

Step 2: Size the budget to the neighborhood

Streaming TV is bought by the thousand impressions (CPM). A useful rule of thumb for farming is to plan for each reachable home to see your spot about four times a month.

Homes reached ≈ (budget ÷ CPM × 1,000) ÷ 4

At about $33 CPM:

• $999 a month buys about 30,000 impressions — roughly 7,500 homes seeing you four times.
• $2,499 a month buys about 75,000 impressions — roughly 18,750 homes.

Not every home in a ZIP streams TV or can be reached in a given month, so a $999 budget can cover a large share of the reachable households in a ZIP code the size of 33705. Two or three ZIP codes call for a bigger plan.

Step 3: Build a farming spot

A farming spot sells you, not a single house. Keep it to 15 or 30 seconds:

1. Open with the neighborhood. A recognizable street, park or view tells viewers "this is about where I live."
2. Show your face and name. Within the first five seconds.
3. Give one reason to call. A recent sale nearby, a free home value estimate, or your track record in the area.
4. Close with a line to repeat. "Say 'I saw you on TV.'"
5. Include the required details. Brokerage name and the Equal Housing Opportunity notice.

Refresh the spot every few months — a new just-sold, a new season — so it doesn't go stale.

Step 4: Add just-sold and open-house flights

Your farming spot runs all the time. Layer short campaigns on top when something happens in the neighborhood:

• Just sold: a one-to-two-week flight announcing the sale to the surrounding homes.
• Open house: two to four days before the event, in the ZIP codes around the listing.
• Market update: a quarterly spot with one number neighbors care about, like how fast homes are selling.

Remember that ads about a specific listing are housing ads under the Fair Housing Act: run those to a radius around the property, with no demographic targeting.

Step 5: Pair it with what you already do

TV works best alongside your existing farm:

• Postcards: mail the same homes. Recognition from TV makes the card land.
• Phone prospecting: call the same neighborhood and mention the commercial.
• Social: run the same video on Facebook and Instagram so the message follows people from the TV to their phone.

Step 6: Measure the farm

Track results the same way every month:

• Calls to the phone number that only appears in the spot
• Visits to the landing page that only the spot points to
• "I saw you on TV" mentions at open houses and on calls
• Listing appointments from the farm versus a similar ZIP code you left out

Give it at least 60 to 90 days before deciding.

The bottom line

Farming on streaming TV is the same discipline as farming by mail — pick a neighborhood, show up consistently, and make it easy for people to remember you. The difference is where they see you: full-screen, in their own living room.

Common questions