What is Through the Line Marketing?
Through The Line Marketing
Key Takeaways
TTL is a cross channel system that unites mass reach and targeted response under one idea and one plan, rather than choosing one side of the line.
TTL is effective because audiences are fragmented and most advertising payback is sustained over time, so you need scale channels such as TV and BVOD working with activation channels like search and retail media.
TTL is built on evidence led balance: plan for reach and sensible frequency, use the roughly 60 40 brand and activation split as a starting point, and measure with cross media reach plus MMM to optimise the mix.
Through the line marketing brings above the line and below the line together into one plan, one idea and one set of outcomes. Think of it as a single campaign that spans broadcast and mass reach activity on the one hand and targeted, response led activity on the other. It is cross channel by design and it is the closest thing our industry has to a magic sauce because it reflects how people actually consume media today. They do not live in a single channel. They flow from TV to on demand video, to social, to search, to out of home, to podcasts, to retail media and back again. If your brand does not follow them across those touchpoints you lose both attention and memory.
This article explains what TTL is, why it matters now, how to build it in practice and how to measure it properly.
Why TTL matters now
Audiences are spread across more formats than ever. Ofcom’s Media Nations 2025 report shows people in the UK watched on average four hours thirty minutes of video a day in 2024, yet broadcast viewing fell to two hours twenty four minutes and weekly broadcast reach slipped to 73.8 percent. Put simply, the TV set still dominates in the home, but viewing is fragmented across broadcaster video on demand, subscription platforms and video sharing platforms such as YouTube. Brands that rely on a single channel will under reach and under deliver.
Effectiveness evidence also favours a balanced mix. The large scale Profit Ability 2 meta study across 141 brands and ten media channels confirms that all advertising channels can be profitable, and that a majority of advertising payback arrives over the long term rather than in the first weeks. It also shows that linear TV and broadcaster video on demand are heavy hitters for sustained effects, while other channels add incremental profit when combined in the right mix.
Finally, the most cited guidance on balancing brand building and activation from the IPA work of Binet and Field recommends roughly 60 percent brand building and 40 percent activation, with variation by context. TTL is the practical expression of that balance because it plans for scale and precision together.
What TTL actually is
Above the line covers mass reach channels such as TV, broadcaster video on demand, online video at scale, cinema and nationwide out of home.
Below the line covers targeted and direct response activity such as paid search, programmatic display, paid social, email, direct mail and retail media.
Through the line combines both under one creative platform and one set of objectives and measurement frameworks. The campaign uses the strengths of each channel and manages the overlap rather than leaving it to chance.
This is not a buzzword. TTL is a way to plan for compounding effects. TV or video builds mental availability, fame and price elasticity. Search, social and retail media harvest that demand, close the loop and feed fresh signals back to creative and media. In a TTL plan, each channel has a role but works harder because other channels are present alongside it.
The evidence for cross-channel compounding
Most payback is sustained, not instant. Profit Ability 2 finds around 60 percent of advertising payback arrives beyond the early weeks. Channels like linear TV and BVOD contribute a large share of that sustained effect. That is the case for having a scale engine inside your mix rather than only performance tactics.
TV and online work better together. Thinkbox’s work on the TV and search relationship shows that broadcast video increases search volumes and improves the efficiency of paid search. When planned together, the whole outperforms the parts.
Reach and frequency still matter for recall. Cross media studies repeatedly show that higher reach and sensible frequency drive higher ad recall. For example, a Nielsen study of poster campaigns found both reach above 50 percent and higher frequency levels were associated with materially stronger recall. The principle carries across channels.
Media choices should be optimised, not guessed. Profit Ability 2’s Media Mix Navigator shows the optimal share of channels often differs from where brands currently spend, with many advertisers underweighting linear TV plus BVOD and overweighting flexible but not always profitable formats. TTL planning forces a more evidence led mix.
Roles and rules inside a TTL plan
A TTL plan starts with the job to be done. Then assign roles to channels and set rules so each channel knows how to play.
Typical roles
Scale builders: linear TV, BVOD, premium online video, cinema and national out of home create reach fast and build memory structures.
Demand harvesters: paid search, shopping, affiliates and retail media convert hand raisers efficiently.
Context amplifiers: audio, podcasts, social video, digital out of home and influencers add recency, context and cultural currency around the core idea.
Proof and feedback: brand tracking, search query trends, social listening and retail signals tell you if the story is landing and where to adjust.
House rules
Keep a single creative platform with executable cut downs per channel.
Plan for reach first then layer frequency. In most cases, you want to cross the brand’s minimum effective frequency for a large proportion of your audience rather than over expose a small group.
Balance investment between brand building and activation using category reality and business objectives. The IPA guidance of around 60 40 is a strong starting point, but adjust for your sales cycle, market share and pricing power.
Use channel pairings that are proven to compound. For example, TV plus search, BVOD plus social video, out of home plus mobile retargeting, audio plus search.
A step-by-step TTL blueprint
1. Diagnose the market truth
Use Ofcom audience data and your category signals to understand where attention is. Confirm your current reach and the overlap between your key channels. Your aim is to design a plan that covers the real journey from broadcast to search to retail.
2. Define objectives and budget split
Set one commercial objective and a small set of marketing KPIs that ladder up. Decide your brand versus activation split, beginning around 60 40 if you need a benchmark, then adjust for context such as challenger status or seasonal retail peaks.
3. Build the creative platform
Craft a single organising idea that can live on large canvas media and also work in short, addressable formats. Stress test for sound off social, six second bumpers, thirty second AV and static out of home. Creative quality is still the single biggest driver of sales outcomes, so invest in it.
4. Design the channel architecture
Map channels to roles.
Scale phase: linear TV and BVOD to deliver rapid weekly reach, supported by high impact out of home or cinema if relevant. This primes memory and creates mental availability. Profit Ability 2 indicates these channels deliver strong sustained effects across many sectors.
Mid funnel phase: online video, social video and audio to deepen familiarity and deliver recency near key moments.
Harvest phase: search, shopping, retail media and conversion led social to capture hand raisers, informed by the peaks created by broadcast.
5. Set reach and frequency targets by flight
Plan weekly reach against your audience and manage frequency caps by channel. Use cross media tools to monitor duplication so the same people are not over exposed while others never see you. Increases in reach above fifty percent and appropriate frequency levels correlate with stronger recall so weight your plan accordingly.
6. Set measurement from day one
Brand effects: aided and unaided recall, consideration, preference and price sensitivity.
Behavioural effects: search query volume and quality, direct traffic, social engagement quality.
Business effects: incremental sales and profit via marketing mix modelling, supported by geo or audience experiments to validate causality. Profit Ability 2 is built on MMM and is a useful reference when discussing method and expectations with finance.
Cross media reach and frequency: use a cross platform solution to understand unduplicated reach and to cap sensibly. Nielsen and others now provide cross platform measurement focused on unified reach, with growing outcomes modules for sales and attention.
7. Operate a learn and adjust loop
Check weekly for delivery and duplication. Check fortnightly for brand and behaviour movement. Run quarterly econometric refreshes or lightweight Bayesian MMM where possible. The point is to budget for measurement as part of the campaign rather than as an afterthought.
A practical example
Imagine a national launch for a new beverage.
Creative platform: a simple promise and a distinctive brand asset that can live in a thirty second film, a six second bumper, a poster and a product image at point of sale.
Scale: three to four week burst on linear TV and BVOD to reach at least 70 percent of the audience two to three times in the opening fortnight, supported by national out of home for physical presence.
Context: online video in the same weeks to extend reach among lighter TV viewers, plus audio to catch morning and commute routines.
Harvest: pre planned search and shopping with tailored copy linked to the creative idea, using TV spot times and out of home locations to modulate bids rather than leaving search to run blind. Thinkbox shows this pairing improves search efficiency.
Retail media: branded placements in the week of the TV launch to meet demand you are creating.
Measurement: brand lift survey in week two, search query analysis daily, MMM and sales uplift by region versus control in month two.
The outcome you are designing for is not simply more clicks. It is reach, memory, preference and profit. That requires channels that make people care and channels that make it easy to buy. TTL gives you both.
Common pitfalls and how to avoid them
Over simplicity: just running TV and search without a unifying creative platform. Fix by building one idea that ties every execution together.
Over concentration: buying frequency in one channel rather than reach across the plan. Fix by setting reach first, then managing frequency.
Over reliance on last click: crediting lower funnel channels with all the value. Fix with MMM and incremental tests, and by agreeing success metrics with finance up front.
Over investment in flexibility: Profit Ability 2 notes that paid social is often over invested because it is easy to buy, not because it drives the best returns at the margin. Fix by using evidence to set shares by role, not habit.
The short version
Through the line works because it mirrors real behaviour. People move between mass reach and addressable environments every day. TTL organises your idea and your budget so you can build memory at scale and convert demand efficiently. The blend is the point. Get that blend right and you increase both sales today and profit tomorrow.
