Paid Media Strategies for TV and Mobile: How to Design Multiscreen Campaigns That Convert

These aren’t two channels competing for budget; they’re two stages of the same purchasing journey that, when well connected, reinforce each other.

At Inprofit, we’ve been managing paid media for e-commerce, retail, and B2B services clients for years, and in 2025–2026, we’ve seen how CTV has gone from being a “nice-to-have” in the media mix to becoming a key driver of brand awareness, with measurement that’s nearly as granular as that of a social media ad campaign. This guide explains how to build a real TV + mobile paid media strategy, with up-to-date data on the Spanish market and the mistakes we see repeatedly in the account audits we conduct for our clients.

Why TV and Mobile Are No Longer Planned Separately

For years, paid TV media (commercials, sponsorships, linear TV) was managed under a separate budget from digital mobile campaigns, handled by different teams with no data sharing. That model has broken down for three reasons:

1. CTV is purchased just like other digital paid media: through programmatic auctions, with audience targeting, controlled frequency, and measurement of impressions—not estimated GRPs.
2. Content consumption has become fragmented across screens within the same entertainment session: viewers watch a series on their Smart TV while holding their cell phone in the other hand, checking the price of a product they just saw in an ad.
3. The DSPs (Demand-Side Platforms) that manage mobile campaigns—Display & Video 360, The Trade Desk, Xandr—are the same ones that manage CTV inventory, allowing advertisers to plan, bid on, and measure both channels from a single interface.

As a result, paid media on TV and mobile is now technically planned as a single programmatic channel with two distinct delivery environments.

Connected TV (CTV): The Channel Leading the Growth of Paid Media in Spain

Before designing any strategy, it’s important to understand the scale of this channel. According to the IAB Spain 2026 Digital Media Advertising Investment Study (prepared in collaboration with PwC), advertising investment in connected TV exceeded 174 million euros in Spain, a 48.4% increase over the previous year, positioning it as the most dynamic segment of the digital market, with cumulative growth since 2023 exceeding 120%.

The penetration data explains this investor appetite. The Study by Smart TV The 2026 report by IAB Spain, produced in collaboration with Elogia and sponsored by Publiespaña, estimates that CTV penetration stands at 95% among Spanish internet users aged 16 to 75, about 34.3 million people, with 86% of households already owning a smart TV. Viewing is concentrated during evening prime time, between 9:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m., and 75% of users consume content in the company of others, mainly with their partner or family—a key factor to consider when designing creative messages as something viewed socially, rather than alone as is the case with mobile devices.

For media planners, the same study confirms that connected TV now accounts for 25% of the campaign budget and that the challenge is no longer to justify its inclusion, but rather to resolve measurement issues: 48% of professionals cite improved measurement as a priority, followed by segmentation and data interoperability, at 38%.

Linear TV, CTV, and OTT: three distinct concepts that are often confused

• Linear TV: the traditional ad spot, purchased based on GRPs, with no individual segmentation or retargeting available.
• CTV (Connected TV): Content is consumed on a smart TV or connected device (Chromecast, Fire TV, Apple TV), but ads are served programmatically, with audience targeting and real-time impression measurement.
• OTT (Over-The-Top): the content itself (Netflix, HBO Max, AVOD/FAST platforms such as Pluto TV), regardless of the screen on which it is consumed. CTV is, in practice, the technical “wrapper” that delivers advertising within OTT content when it is viewed on a television.

Formats and Programmatic Buying on CTV

CTV buying is primarily done in the form of unskippable in-stream video (15–30 seconds), purchased through:

• PMP (Private Marketplace): a direct agreement with a publisher or platform (Atresmedia, Mediaset, Pluto TV, Samsung Ads) through a DSP.
• Programmatic Open Auction: real-time open bidding against other advertisers, with less control over inventory but greater scale.
• Guaranteed Direct: reserved direct purchase, common among major brands seeking category exclusivity during prime time.

In terms of its breakdown by contract type, direct advertising accounts for 64.5% of the CTV channel, while programmatic advertising accounts for 35.5%, confirming that, although we refer to “programmatic advertising” as a market concept, a significant portion of CTV investment is still finalized through direct agreements with platforms.

Paid media on mobile: from vertical video to measurable conversion

While CTV builds brand awareness, mobile is where that impact translates into action: a click, a visit, an “add to cart,” or a purchase. The main levers of mobile paid media that we work with at Inprofit are:

• In-app vertical video (Meta Ads, TikTok Ads, YouTube Shorts): same creative approach as CTV but cropped to a 9:16 aspect ratio and limited to the first 3 seconds—the moment when the user decides whether to scroll past it.
• Mobile retail media: shopping ads and sponsored products campaigns within the marketplaces themselves (Amazon Ads, Google Shopping), which capture the purchase intent that CTV generated just minutes earlier.
• In-app mobile programmatic: inventory within third-party apps, also managed via a DSP with targeting based on behavior, geolocation, or cross-referencing with CTV audiences from the same household.

The key to incorporating mobile into a multiscreen strategy is not to treat it as an isolated performance channel, but rather as the “response channel” for the impact generated by TV: same campaign name, same time period, same audience (when the DSP allows it via Household ID), in order to measure the combined effect.

How to Combine TV and Mobile in a Single Paid Media Strategy

1. Sequential messaging

Instead of repeating the same ad on both channels, a sequence is designed: the CTV spot builds brand awareness and introduces the product or offer; the mobile ad, served to the same audience (or a similar audience via lookalike targeting) in the following hours, already includes the conversion CTA, the price, or the discount code.

2. Cross-Channel Dayparting

Since CTV viewing is concentrated during prime time in the evening, it makes sense to increase investment in mobile advertising immediately after that time slot—when users, with their phones already in hand after watching the content, are searching for information—and again first thing the next morning, which is typically when purchasing decisions are made.

3. Cross-Device Measurement and Attribution

This is the greatest technical challenge and, according to IAB Spain’s own data, the main barrier identified by the industry. The options available in 2026 are:

• Media Mix Modeling (MMM) Models: These measure the aggregate effect of TV/CTV investment on mobile conversions without relying on cookies or individual IDs. Recommended for budgets exceeding €5,000–10,000 per month on CTV.
• Household ID matching: Some DSPs (The Trade Desk, Samsung Ads) allow you to link the household that viewed the ad on CTV to the mobile devices associated with that same household network.
• Brand lift surveys: These measure brand awareness, recall, and purchase intent before and after exposure to the CTV ad, regardless of direct mobile conversion.

A recent benchmark from Smartme Analytics, included in IAB Spain’s 2026 Connected TV Study on 71 cross-media campaigns, provides a good indication of what to expect: brand awareness +8.1 percentage points, ad recall +7.0 pp, consideration +6.7 pp, and purchase intent +5.7 pp when CTV is part of the media plan.

KPIs for measuring a TV + mobile paid media strategy

Case Study: How We Approach It at Inprofit

When we design a multi-screen paid media strategy for a client, we follow a three-phase process:

1. Learning phase (4–6 weeks): Budget allocationof 70% CTV / 30% mobile, with a focus on building the audience pool and validating which creatives generate the best VCR on CTV.
2. Optimization phase (weeks 6–12): Adjust the allocation based on observed brand lift and the volume of assisted conversions detected on mobile; it is common to shift budget toward mobile if the blended CPA improves.
3. Scaling phase: Once the message-CTV → message-mobile sequence has been validated, cross-dayparting is automated and incorporated into the client’s recurring media plan, alongside the other paid media channels (Search, Social Ads) that we already manage.

This phased approach is the same one we apply to any paid media campaign, adapted so that in this case, “learning” involves validating the synergy between two different delivery environments, not just optimizing a single channel.

Common Mistakes When Combining TV and Mobile Paid Media

• Using the same creative content without adapting the message: a 30-second ad designed to be watched on the couch doesn’t work the same way when cut down to 6 seconds for mobile; the copy and CTA must be redesigned for each environment.
• Failing to control frequency per household: Without an appropriate frequency cap, CTV can lead to ad fatigue much more quickly than mobile, because the available inventory per household is lower.
• Measure each channel in isolation: Attributing 100% of a conversion to the last click on mobile ignores the role that CTV has played in the decision and systematically undervalues investment in connected TV.
• Ignoring direct buying: Since direct advertising still accounts for 64.5% of CTV spending, relying solely on open programmatic bidding leaves out a significant portion of the available premium inventory.

Frequently Asked Questions About Paid Media on TV and Mobile

Conclusion

The most effective paid media strategy no longer separates “television” from “digital”: it combines them into a single programmatic plan where CTV builds brand awareness at the time of day when attention is highest, and mobile captures that intent the moment it arises. With investment in CTV growing by nearly 50% year-over-year in Spain and penetration nearing 100% of households with Smart TVs, sitting out this combination is no longer a conservative choice: it means leaving on the table the fastest-growing paid media channel in the market.

At Inprofit, we design and manage multiscreen paid media strategies—CTV, mobile, social, and search—using a single measurement plan. If you’d like an audit of your current paid media mix, talk to our team.

Miriam Agulló

Especialista en SEO y Paid Media | Google Ads, Meta Ads, LinkedIn Ads & Search Console en vena Optimizo visibilidad orgánica + escalo adquisición pagada con ROAS obsesivo y estrategias data-driven.

Especialista en Performance Digital, Core Web Vitals, E-E-A-T, algoritmos de subasta, attribution multi-touch y maximizar LTV/CAC.