Partner post – this article is from our partners at Samsung Ads.
With Christmas around the corner, the CTV home screen is poised to deliver brand messages to families across Europe, writes Alex Hole, VP and General Manager at Samsung Europe and MENA, providing uplift in purchase intent and brand sentiment among festive viewers.
The festive season is rolling in, and streaming choices are piling high. Families across Europe are settling onto sofas and scrolling through endless festive films, streaming specials, and year-end box sets. And amid this seasonal surge in viewing, one part of the TV experience shines bright: the home screen.
Once merely a starting point, the home screen has become the modern fireplace – where every viewing journey begins, and where European households pass through multiple times a day. In fact, our data shows that European viewers return to their Samsung CTV home screen more than five times per session, searching for something to watch. It’s the front door to the entire TV experience, and increasingly, the most valuable moment for brands looking to capture attention in a world of ever-increasing viewing options.
The home screen has become one of the most coveted pieces of advertising real estate in recent years. Home screen ads are already delivering a 10 percent uplift in purchase intent, as well as improving brand perception. This is no longer a passive menu. It’s a recommendation engine, a discovery hub, and for advertisers, a rare moment of unity in an otherwise fragmented CTV landscape.
Fragmentation without the frustration
CTV has been one of the brightest spots on the European media outlook for years – and ad spend is projected to rise sharply. UK spend alone is expected to hit £2.94 billion by 2028, according to IAB UK, up from £1.62 billion in 2023. Viewers are streaming more than ever; in the UK, 54 percent of all time in front of the smart TV is now spent streaming.
But with this growth comes complexity. Gone are the days when brands could reliably find entire nations gathered around the same linear broadcast at the same time. Now, even within one household, viewers scatter across apps like tinsel blown about by a strong draft – free services here, FAST channels there, and subscription services everywhere in between.
Yet before the audience disperses, they all start at the home screen, making it a rare antidote to fragmentation; a moment where audiences are concentrated, attentive, and already in discovery mode. And brands that meet viewers here can speak to them before they disappear into the maze of streaming options.
At Samsung Ads, we know that 37 percent of viewers want ads tailored to their interests, and 45 percent discover new brands, products, or services through the TV. The home screen, with its combination of native placements and streaming ad integrations, is perfectly positioned to deliver on these expectations.
Creating a 360-degree TV experience
Building on our insights, we recently partnered with MTM Research Consultancy to see what happens when brands combine home screen formats with traditional streaming ads to create a seamless, full-funnel CTV experience. Meeting audiences through home screen advertising alone already drives a 10 percent uplift in purchase intent, as well as increased brand perception for one in three viewers.
But when combined with streaming ads (tested using Samsung’s own TV Plus service), the impact becomes even more pronounced:
- 16 percent uplift in spontaneous brand awareness
- 30 percent increase in positive brand sentiment
- 13 percent rise in first-mention brand consideration
The perception of the media environment also carries across. Viewers exposed to both channels were:
- 22 percent more likely to see the advertiser as “high quality”
- 20 percent more likely to see the advertiser as “leading”
In other words, the home screen isn’t just a launchpad. It’s the foundation of a harmonised, 360-degree CTV strategy – one that guides viewers from discovery to consideration to action, just as seamlessly as they glide between apps.
Where promise meets performance
Audiences may be fragmented, but one ritual never changes: everyone turns on the TV. And in that timeless moment, when the festive lights glow, the cocoa warms, and the home screen appears, advertisers have the opportunity to reach viewers in a place that feels both familiar and full of possibility. The home screen drives attention, brand uplift and performance. And when paired with streaming formats, it drives results across the entire consumer journey.
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