Wurl and TVision unveil report linking Emotion Alignment to higher ad attention on streaming TV

Wurl, a streaming TV technology provider, in partnership with TVision, a viewer engagement measurement company, unveiled "The Impact of Emotion Alignment on Ad Attention in Streaming TV," a first-of-its-kind analysis spanning over 50 advertiser campaigns. The report finds that when advertisements match the emotional tone of surrounding on-screen content, viewer attention to 30-second ads increases from as low as 27% up to 66%, translating to a roughly 2.4× uplift in sustained focus.

Emotional alignment proved equally effective for shorter ad formats: viewers paid similar levels of attention to both 15- and 30-second ads when emotional context was maintained. Streaming TV ad impressions have surged 18% year-on-year, underscoring the need for more sophisticated strategies to cut through media saturation.

Dave Bernath, General Manager of Americas at Wurl, framed the findings as a shift in media buying philosophy: “In TV media buying today, audience targeting is table stakes. The new edge comes from emotional alignment – tapping into the story your viewers are already experiencing. When your ad feels like part of the moment – not a break from it – it earns more attention, sparks deeper engagement, and drives stronger results all the way down the funnel.” Yan Liu, CEO of TVision, echoed the strategic value of context: “Aligning an ad’s emotional tone with the programming it runs in can significantly improve attention, as this study shows.”

Industry voices emphasize the evolving measurement paradigm. Anant Veeravalli, Global Chief Analytics Officer at Acxiom and IPG MediaBrands, said, “Marketers need to break out of their comfort zones. Playing it safe won’t unlock what’s next. It’s time to elevate measurement and start thinking of attention as a viable currency – and emotion as the signal that drives it.”

Wurl and TVision’s research demonstrates that emotion-aligned ads consistently capture more of the viewer’s focus, reinforcing attention as both a strategic metric and growth lever in today’s fragmented streaming landscape. As connected TV continues its rapid expansion, advertisers integrating emotional resonance into creative alignment and placement strategies stand to benefit from deeper engagement and optimized performance—especially as streaming platforms wrestle with rising digital ad load and competition for viewer attention.