New York, NY, August 7, 2025 – Nearly half of all US adults say TV is the most acceptable place for advertising – a feeling that is consistent across all generations - and the platform where they tend to pay attention to ads the most.

The data, conducted by Tenetic in conjunction with CivicScience, from July 8 through July 11, 2025 among 10,000 responses found that among adults 18+, TV is the best medium at making people feel connected to their local communities - 2X better than streaming content, nearly 2X better than digital video and nearly 3X better than other types of video content.

But the research also showed that 37% of US adults said they believe TV advertisers don’t know anything about them, with 59% saying they rarely or never remember the sponsor or advertiser of a show they watched.

“Clearly there is an untapped opportunity in the television advertising market,” says Chris Wilson, CEO, Tenetic. “Viewers are accepting of ads on TV, but they are not finding enough ads to be relevant to their interests or needs. We can better realize the impact of TV advertising, especially as a driver to local purchase, with a more accurate, real-time understanding of the consumer.”

Additional findings from the study include:

The best place for advertisers

• 43% of U.S. adults feel that TV is the most acceptable place for ads.

• Only 28% of U.S. adults feel that the internetis the most acceptable place for ads, and 29% that social media is best.

Viewing Habits

• More than half of US adults (52%) say they watch broadcast or cable TV daily

• Across generations, Baby Boomers differ the most from other generations

  • 82% of Baby Boomers say they watch broadcast or cable TV daily and only 57% for Gen X.

• Daily viewing drops sharply among Gen Z (26%) & those earning under $50k (47%), highlighting a generational and income-based divide.

Advanced Advertising: Control and Connection

• 47% of U.S. adults would prefer to choose the ads they see over letting AI decide.

  • Men (49%) are more likely than women (45%) to prefer choosing their own ads.

• Those earning over $100K (52%) are the most likely to want control, compared to 45% of those earning $50K–$100K and 42% of those earning under $50K.

• Gen Z, however, stands apart: 42% prefer to let AI choose their ads.

TV Ads lead on influence, but mostly for older audiences:

• 43% of U.S. adults say TV ads are most likely to influence them to try a new brand.

  • This is most notable among Gen X (51%) and Baby Boomers (55%)

• Meanwhile, Gen Z is more influenced by social media ads (38%)

Tenetic provides real-time, actionable intelligence for local and national markets, enabling clients to maximize the value of their inventory and media spend while delivering measurable results to their advertisers.

The platform integrates consumer data including 15MM+ online shopping occasions each month with reporting data on more than 3500 brands, as well as 80MM unique mobile devices, to 1MM+ venues, capturing 450MM+ venue visits each month. It provides always-on predictive insights through 300M+ new responses yearly and 1M+ new responses daily, backed by 5B+ historical data points, 10K+ always-on attributes and more than 10 years of historical data trends. Tenetic offers integration with syndicated and commercially available media assets and exclusive proprietary media datasets collected directly from respondents.

CivicScience conducts extensive, Census-representative surveys of U.S. teens and adults through polling applications embedded in the content of a vast, demographically and geographically diverse network of partner websites. Respondents answer voluntarily and receive no rewards or compensation, mitigating the psychographic biases that plague prevailing survey panel methods. Sophisticated rules and randomization of question delivery eliminate selection bias and respondent fatigue. All respondent interactions meet or exceed current data privacy standards, ensuring complete anonymity and security of respondents.

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