What Streaming TV Advertising Costs a Small Business in 2026

For most local businesses, "TV advertising" used to mean one thing: expensive. Production crews, media agencies and minimum buys put it out of reach. Streaming TV changed the math. You can now run a commercial on the apps people watch on their televisions, only in the ZIP codes you serve, with a budget closer to what you already spend on social media.

Here's how streaming TV pricing works and what your budget actually buys.

How streaming TV is priced: CPM

Streaming TV ads are sold by the CPM — the cost per thousand impressions. An impression is one play of your commercial on one screen.

Impressions = budget ÷ CPM × 1,000

So a $1,000 budget at a $25 CPM buys 40,000 impressions. At a $40 CPM, the same budget buys 25,000.

Local streaming campaigns commonly land somewhere between about $10 and $40 CPM. What moves the price:

• Which apps and channels. Premium entertainment and live sports cost more than broad, free streaming inventory.
• How narrow the targeting is. A few ZIP codes and a specific audience cost more per impression than a whole metro area.
• Time of day. Evening viewing is in higher demand.
• Frequency controls. Capping how often one home sees your ad spreads the budget across more homes.

What a monthly budget buys

Impressions alone don't tell you how many homes you reach. For local businesses, a common planning assumption is that each home sees the ad about four times a month.

Homes reached ≈ impressions ÷ 4

At about $33 CPM:

To put that in context, a typical ZIP code has several thousand to 15,000+ homes. A few ZIP codes around a single location fit comfortably in a $999–$2,499 plan.

Self-serve vs. managed

There are two ways to buy:

• Self-serve. You set a daily budget (often starting around $30 a day), build or upload the ad, choose your area and launch. You pay only for media and ad creation. Best if you already manage your own Facebook or Google ads.
• Managed. A team builds the commercial, plans your ZIP codes, runs the campaign and reports back. You pay one monthly price. Best if you'd rather run your business than an ad dashboard.

Our managed plans start at $999 a month (about 30,000 impressions), with a one-time setup that covers your first commercial, ZIP plan, tracked phone number and landing page.

What about the commercial?

Production used to be the biggest cost. Today:

• Your social video can become your TV spot. A Facebook, Instagram or TikTok video can be reframed, resized, captioned and loudness-corrected for television.
• AI can build one from your website. Paste your site and get a 15- or 30-second spot with voiceover and music, plus social and display versions.
• Keep it simple. Your name, what you do, where you are, and one reason to call. End with a line people can repeat.

How to plan your first campaign

1. Pick your area. The ZIP codes your customers actually come from — not the whole metro.
2. Set a monthly budget. Use the table above to match budget to the number of homes.
3. Choose one goal. Calls, website visits, bookings or foot traffic.
4. Set up tracking before launch. A tracked phone number, a dedicated landing page and a site tag.
5. Commit to 60–90 days. TV builds recognition over time; judge it on a full season, not a week.

How to tell if it's working

• Calls to the number that only appears in the ad
• Visits to the landing page only the ad points to
• Website visits from homes that saw the ad
• Customers repeating the line from the end of your commercial
• Sales in the ZIP codes where the ad ran, compared with similar ZIP codes where it didn't

The bottom line

Streaming TV is no longer a big-brand purchase. With CPM pricing, ZIP-code targeting and commercials built from what you already have, a local business can be on TV for about what it spends on social media — and reach customers on the biggest screen in the house.

Common questions