The news: New Comcast research positions linear TV as a multiplier for every other channel, not a standalone silo.

• When TV pairs with search, ad recall jumps 8.7 times. When it pairs with social, the likelihood of a site visit more than doubles, increasing by 110%. 
• The biggest lift comes when TV supports audio streaming, driving a 207% higher likelihood that consumers will seek more information.

Zooming out: Audience and platform fragmentation is the defining reality of the streaming era. 

We forecast that time spent with connected TV (CTV) will surpass linear by more than 30 minutes per day this year, widening to nearly an hour by 2027. Yet, audiences still anchor around linear TV for tentpoles like live sports and events. That duality makes TV a complicated-but-essential buy.

Why it’s worth watching: AI-powered search summaries introduce a new friction point. Brand recall in these AI overview environments is 23% lower than in traditional search, because AI compresses, filters, and effectively repackages answers—reducing repeat brand exposure. 

Linear TV counteracts this by building durable brand memory upfront, so digital touchpoints like search, social, and audio can do more lower-funnel work.

That memory foundation makes downstream channels more effective, turning passive awareness into measurable actions such as site visits and real-world discussion. TV builds the cognitive credibility that increasingly automated, intermediated channels lack.

Implications for brands: Treat linear TV as your brand’s memory anchor, helping convert awareness into concrete outcomes like visits, searches, and conversations. The strongest media plans now use linear TV as the recall engine that amplifies performance across the rest of the mix.