Deeper Influencer Messaging For Linear's Old-School Ad Ecosystem?

• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, April 13, 2026

For years, influencers made a big difference for digital-first NewFront brands when it came to drawing in advertisers to newfangled content.

Much of their activity has also been uniquely tied to advertising, sponsorship and promotion. 

Can they do the same for the more traditional TV networks -- either via “content” or perhaps even squeezing more into TV's 30-second-focused advertising marketplace?

We are speaking of brand-centric, upper-funnel TV marketing with influencer-based creative.

Right now, social-media platforms have been that long-time channel for those advertising and sponsorship messages. 

Increasingly, we are seeing influencers in traditional TV spots -- those commercials that look like they were filmed on an iPhone in someone's backyard or kitchen.

But is this enough for longtime traditional TV brands to slow down major shifts in budgets to social media? 

Madison and Wall expresses the view that brand building and a focus on the upper funnel are still necessary in this rapidly changing marketplace -- and complement  "performance" media deal-making. But it no longer believes that old-school legacy, linear TV networks -- with those "corporate" direct ad pitches -- are the right way to go.

The premise is that consumers are tired of hearing direct, "corporate" sounding advertising. Increasingly, they prefer an "influencer" message that offers a more personal approach where there is a real -- or perceived -- "trust" that speaks directly to them.

For a long time, this has been key for young consumers and increasingly now for older crowds. 

In that regard, is there any room to reconfigure more of the live, linear TV 30-second commercial-based structure to more of an "influencer" format? Perhaps more interactive/QR code-based creatives are the way to go.

Brands are always looking for targeted and scaled audiences.

To an extent, addressable TV advertising has always been promised to offer that -- for example, send a pet food commercial to people who have pets, and target an audience that deals with a skin condition like psoriasis with drugs formulated specifically for that condition.

Influencer marketing has many iterations that go deeper than age and gender segments. But all have a similar media strategy -- as a "brand" marketing (upper-funnel) tool. This is intended to complement highly valuable lower funnel "performance" messaging.

Is there any way linear TV networks can get into this game in a bigger way -- hoping to slow the shift of brand budgets from moving to all things social media?

Reinventing the long-running advertising wheel of fortune for linear TV has a long way to go. Speak to me, really.