Guides
May 20, 2025
I Have $100 and 1 Hour: Here's My TV Advertising Strategy
Table of Contents
A hundred dollars. One hour. A TV commercial on NBC, Hulu, and ESPN.
If that sounds impossible, I get it. Traditional TV advertising requires production budgets starting at $5,000, media buys in the tens of thousands, and weeks of lead time. Most small business owners don't even consider it.
But here's the thing: cheap TV advertising is actually possible now. Not "cheap for TV" meaning $10,000 instead of $50,000. Actually cheap. The kind of budget you'd spend testing a new Facebook ad set.
This guide is the ultra-practical playbook for time and budget-strapped business owners who want to test TV advertising without betting the farm. Let's break down exactly where your $100 goes and how to launch in under an hour.
The $100 Strategy: Where Your Money Actually Goes
First, let's do the math on what $100 gets you in TV advertising.
Understanding CPM:
TV advertising is priced by CPM (cost per thousand impressions). On streaming platforms through services like Adwave, expect CPMs between $15-35, averaging around $25 for small business campaigns.
At a $25 CPM, your $100 budget delivers:
$100 ÷ $25 CPM × 1,000 = 4,000 impressions
That's 4,000 times your ad appears on a TV screen in someone's living room. Not scrolled past on a phone. Watched, full-screen, sound-on, non-skippable.
What 4,000 impressions means:
Approximately 1,000-1,500 unique households reached
Average frequency of 3-4 times per household
Viewers in your target geography seeing your brand on premium channels
Is this enough?
For a test? Absolutely. You're not trying to dominate your market with $100. You're trying to answer the question: "Does TV advertising make sense for my business?" Getting 1,000+ local households to see your brand on their TV during primetime is meaningful data.
Compare that to $100 on Facebook, where you might get 2,000 impressions but with 90% scroll-past rates and no sound. On TV, nearly everyone who gets served your ad actually watches it.
The 1-Hour Plan: Minute by Minute Breakdown
Here's how to go from zero to live TV campaign in 60 minutes or less. This isn't theoretical. This is the actual process.
Time allocation:
Let's walk through each step.
Minutes 1-15: Create Your Ad with AI
The biggest barrier to TV advertising has always been production. Traditional commercials cost $5,000-50,000 to produce. That's before you spend a dollar on airtime.
AI creative tools have eliminated this barrier. Here's how it works:
Step 1: Provide your website URL (2 minutes)
Adwave's AI scrapes your website to understand your business. It pulls images, extracts your messaging, and identifies your brand style. You can also add your social media or Yelp page for more content.
Step 2: AI generates your commercial (3-5 minutes)
The system creates a 30-second, broadcast-quality TV ad. This isn't a slideshow. It's a real commercial with:
Professional transitions and motion
Licensed background music
AI-generated voice-over
Your images and branding
Clear call to action
Step 3: Review and tweak (5-8 minutes)
Preview your ad. If something's not right, use the chat-based editor to:
Swap images (drag and drop your own)
Change the music
Adjust text overlays
Modify the voice-over
Reorder scenes
Most businesses find the first generation works well. Quick tweaks take 1-2 minutes each to process.
End of 15 minutes: You have a TV-ready commercial. No production crew. No weeks of editing. No $10,000 invoice.
Minutes 16-30: Set Up Your Campaign
With your ad ready, it's time to configure where and when it runs.
Step 4: Choose your targeting (5 minutes)
For local businesses, this is simple:
Address: Enter your business location
Radius: Set how far you want to reach (10-25 miles typical)
That's it. Your ad will serve to households within that radius when they're watching streaming TV.
For e-commerce or national businesses, you can target by:
Specific cities or states
Entire country
Don't overthink targeting on a $100 test. Geographic targeting alone is sufficient. Demographic optimization happens automatically behind the scenes.
Step 5: Set your budget (2 minutes)
Enter $100 (or start with $50 if you want an even smaller test). The platform paces your spend automatically. You'll never exceed your budget.
Step 6: Set your schedule (3 minutes)
Default is a 2-week run starting the next day. For a $100 test, this is ideal. It spreads your impressions across enough days to see patterns without stretching so thin that no single day has meaningful delivery.
End of 30 minutes: Your campaign is configured and ready to launch.
Minutes 31-45: Launch and Verify
Time to go live.
Step 7: Review and launch (5 minutes)
Confirm your settings:
Ad creative looks right
Targeting matches your intent
Budget is set correctly
Schedule makes sense
Add your payment method and launch. Your campaign will be live within 24 hours.
Step 8: Verify your campaign is running (10 minutes)
Check back after 24 hours (or the next day) to confirm:
Campaign status shows "Active"
Impressions are being delivered
Spend is accumulating as expected
If something looks off, campaign issues usually stem from:
Payment processing (check your card)
Geographic targeting too narrow (expand your radius)
Creative rejection (rare, but check for policy issues)
End of 45 minutes: Your TV ad is live or scheduled to go live within 24 hours.
Minutes 46-60: Set Up Basic Tracking
Your campaign is live. Now set up measurement so you know if it's working.
Simple tracking methods (no technical setup required):
Google your business name daily: Are searches for "[Your Business Name]" increasing during the campaign?
Ask new customers: Add "How did you hear about us?" to your intake process. Track TV mentions.
Watch foot traffic/calls: Note your baseline before the campaign starts, then track daily during.
Monitor website traffic: Check Google Analytics for increases in direct traffic (people typing your URL).
Slightly more advanced (if you have 10 extra minutes):
Use a unique phone number or URL in your ad to track direct response
Set up Google Alerts for your business name
Screenshot your Google Analytics dashboard before launch for easy comparison
The goal isn't sophisticated attribution. It's answering: "Did anything change when my TV ad was running?"
For more detailed measurement approaches, see our guide on advertising effectiveness.
What to Expect from a $100 Test
Let's set realistic expectations. What does success look like for a $100 TV test?
You're NOT expecting:
A flood of new customers overnight
Measurable ROI from $100 in spend
Statistical significance on conversions
You ARE expecting:
Proof that your ad can run on real TV channels
Initial data on viewer response
Validation (or invalidation) that TV makes sense for your business
Something to show your team, investors, or yourself
What good looks like:
3,000-5,000 impressions delivered
Ad ran on multiple premium channels
At least one "I saw you on TV!" mention from a customer
Slight uptick in branded search or direct traffic
What bad looks like:
Less than 2,000 impressions delivered (targeting may be too narrow)
Zero engagement signals (creative may need work)
Technical issues preventing delivery (contact support)
This is a test campaign. You're buying information about whether TV advertising deserves more investment, not trying to generate immediate ROI.
Scaling Up: What $500 and $1,000 Get You
If your $100 test shows promise, here's what scaling looks like:
$500/month:
~20,000 impressions
5,000+ unique households
Enough frequency to build recognition
Meaningful local presence
At this level, you can expect customers to mention seeing your ad. Branded search should show measurable lift. This is where TV starts becoming a real marketing channel, not just a test.
$1,000/month:
~40,000 impressions
10,000+ unique households
Strong local awareness
Consistent presence across premium channels
This is what small business TV advertising typically looks like. You're reaching a significant portion of your local market multiple times per month. Brand recognition compounds over time.
Start Your $100 TV Test Today
TV advertising doesn't require a massive budget or months of planning anymore. With $100 and one hour, you can have a professional commercial running on NBC, Hulu, ESPN, and 100+ premium channels by tomorrow.
Is $100 going to transform your business? No. But it will answer the question every curious business owner has: "What if my business was on TV?"
Create your ad for free with Adwave. You only pay when you're ready to launch. Generate your commercial in minutes, see exactly what it looks like, and decide if you want to put it in front of your local audience.
Your competitors are probably on streaming TV already. For $100 and an hour of your time, you can be too.