Every agent in a competitive market is running the same playbook. Professional photography, drone footage, a Zillow listing, social media posts, maybe a targeted Facebook ad. The tools are good. The problem is that everyone has them. In high-value markets where a single listing can sit for months despite strong demand, the agents pulling ahead are the ones finding channels their competitors have not yet discovered.
One of those channels is connected television, and specifically, ads built for individual listings rather than general brokerage branding.
From Brand Ads to Listing Ads
For decades, the only real estate professionals who could afford television advertising were often major national brokerages running broad brand-awareness campaigns. The cost of producing a single commercial and purchasing airtime was prohibitive for anyone marketing an individual listing.
That calculus has changed. The rise of connected television, ad-supported streaming platforms, and smart TV apps that account for a growing share of total U.S. viewing time has created a fundamentally different buying model. Ad inventory can be purchased in small increments, targeted to precise geographic areas and audience segments, and launched within hours. An agent can now run a broadcast-quality television ad for a single listing, targeted to affluent households within a specific radius, on premium networks and streaming services.
Why It Works for High-Value Properties
The economics are particularly compelling at the higher end of the market. The buyer pool for a multi-million-dollar property is narrow and concentrated. Connected television allows campaigns to be targeted by household income, homeownership status, recent purchase behavior, and geographic radius. An agent marketing a waterfront property in Palm Beach does not need their ad in front of every viewer in South Florida, just high-net-worth households in the corridors where buyers actually live.
Advances in AI-generated content have also removed the production barrier. An agent can input a listing URL from Zillow, MLS, or their own site, and new tools will pull high-resolution imagery, understand the property’s key details, such as price, bedrooms, square footage, and generate a polished 30-second spot. Image-to-video technology now transforms static listing photos into dynamic panning shots, creating cinematic movement that makes property footage genuinely engaging on a television screen.
The result is that an agent can go from a listing agreement to a professional TV ad running in targeted ZIP codes on the same day, without a production budget.
A Competitive Differentiator at the Listing Table
In a market where sellers are increasingly selective about which agent earns their listing, television is becoming a genuine differentiator. Agents across the industry have reported that offering TV as part of their listing presentation has directly influenced their ability to win business. When a seller is choosing between two agents with comparable track records, the one who can show their property will appear on premium television channels, reaching qualified buyers in specific neighborhoods, and has a tangible advantage that mailers and social media posts do not replicate.
Television exposure also lifts the performance of other marketing channels. When a potential buyer sees a property on TV and then encounters the same listing on Zillow or in a social media ad, the recognition and trust built by the TV exposure make them significantly more likely to engage. For agents operating in competitive luxury markets, the question is becoming less about whether to add TV to the mix and more about how quickly they can move.
By David Martin, Co-Founder and COO of Adwave, a TV advertising platform built for small and mid-sized businesses, including real estate agents and brokers. Adwave helps local operators create and run targeted streaming TV campaigns without agency involvement or long-term commitments.
Disclosure: Individuals or companies mentioned may have a commercial relationship with KeyCrew.
