Connected TV Creative for the Living Room Screen

• Make TV ads in landscape, built to be heard.
• Fifteen and thirty seconds are the working lengths.
• Open with a reason to keep watching, not a scroll-stopper.
• Keep on-screen text large, short and away from the edges.
• Show the real work, people and place.
• End on a name and a place people can remember and search.

This guide covers creative made for the living room: length, the opening, sound, on-screen text, showing your real business, the ending, versions to rotate and production. Put plainly: make it wide, make it heard and make the name stick.

For targeting, cost and frequency, see connected TV advertising for local brands.

Vertical frames. A tall video on a wide screen leaves most of the screen empty.

Burned-in captions. Built for silent feeds, they crowd a picture that already has sound.

Fast cuts. Made to stop a scroll, they feel frantic to someone sitting back.

Silent-first design. The story was told without sound, so the sound adds little.

Fifteen or thirty seconds. Thirty seconds gives room for one clear story; fifteen lets the same budget buy more repeats. Many campaigns run both, the thirty to introduce the business and the fifteen to remind people of it.

One message. Whatever the length, the ad says one thing.

Cut both from one script. Plan the fifteen as a shorter edit of the thirty, not a new idea.

Give the viewer a reason not to reach for the phone. Nobody is scrolling, so the opening does not need a shock. It needs a clear subject: a problem the viewer knows, a place they recognize or a person speaking to them.

Name the problem early. A leaking roof, a toothache, a slow website.

Show the brand early too. Some viewers leave the room before the end.

Say the name. A voice saying the business name does more than text on screen.

Licensed music. Cleared for broadcast use, as covered in video rights and music licensing.

A clean mix. Clear speech over the music, at a steady level, so the ad does not jump out louder than the show.

Big enough to read from across a room, and short enough to read in a couple of seconds. Keep each line to a few words, use strong contrast and keep text and logos away from the edges of the frame, where some screens crop the picture.

Few words. A name, a place, a short web address.

Hold it. Leave text on screen long enough to read twice.

Say it as well. Phone numbers and web addresses are easier to remember when heard.

The actual work. The job being done, the result, the before and after.

The actual people. Owners and staff people may meet.

The actual place. Streets and landmarks your viewers know. Polish matters less than being recognized.

With the business name and where it is, said aloud and shown on screen, so the viewer can search for it later. Keep the ask simple: a name to search, a short web address or a QR code shown long enough to scan.

Same ending every time. Every version ends the same way, so the name builds up over repeats.

Ready to answer. Search ads and phones should be ready for the people the ad sends looking.

Two or three versions. Rotating them keeps a flight fresh for longer before people tire of it.

Change the story, keep the ending. New openings and scenes, the same name and close.

Test one change at a time, as covered in creative testing.

Plan for the wide frame first. Shoot landscape, then cut vertical versions for social from the same footage.

One shoot, many cuts. A single production day can supply TV, social and the website, as covered in business video from brief to broadcast.

Concept before camera. The idea decides the shoot, as covered in creative video concepts.

Write one script with a fifteen and a thirty in mind, plan the shoot for the wide frame and clear the music.

Cut two or three versions with the same ending, check the text from across a room and launch the flight.

Compare the versions, keep the strongest opening and plan the next round of creative.

Astra Results Marketing writes and produces landscape video for the television screen, with sound designed to be heard and an ending built around your name and area, rather than reusing social cuts.

Production runs through our video production team, and campaigns through our connected TV advertising team.

Related reading

• Connected TV Advertising for Local Brands, End to End
• Measuring Connected TV Advertising Without Clicks
• Business Video From Brief to Broadcast

Rarely as they are. Vertical, captioned clips made for silent feeds look wrong on a television. The footage can often be re-cut in landscape with sound.

Fifteen or thirty seconds. Many campaigns run both: the thirty to introduce the business and the fifteen to remind.

Not burned-in captions for a silent feed. Say the important words aloud and keep any on-screen text short and large.

The business name and where it is, said and shown, with one simple way to find you: a name to search, a short web address or a QR code.

Two or three, with the same ending, so they can rotate and keep the flight fresh for longer.

Less than people expect. Real work, real people and places viewers know matter more than polish.

Ready for TV creative made for the TV? Astra Results Marketing writes and produces connected TV ads built for the living room, then runs and measures the campaign. ▸ CALL (786) 321-2866 · ▸ REQUEST YOUR CONSULTATION