Today, traditional TV still accounts for the lion’s share of video viewing, and will likely continue to do so for a good while, but online and mobile are where the growth is—30 percent growth in hours watched per month from fourth-quarter 2012 to fourth-quarter 2013.

Not surprisingly, advertisers believe the integration of campaigns across multiple screens is important and will become even more so, but the effectiveness of these campaigns in maximizing results has been mixed. Our analysis of 45 campaigns measured by Nielsen Cross-Platform Campaign Ratings found that the vast majority of advertisers’ “integrated” TV and online campaigns did not achieve better results than if the TV and online advertising had been planned separately.

This is a real missed opportunity. Nielsen research shows that marketers can generate an average of 8 percent greater reach, or reinforce key messaging across screens with significantly higher frequency, without spending more money or altering their mix of spend. When managed together, TV and digital hold the potential to drive real impact for advertisers.

This issue of What’s Next explores TV and online reach and the keys to successfully creating and implementing an integrated media campaign.