How Much Does a TV Commercial Cost in 2026? Streaming vs. Cable

A local TV commercial costs about $200 to $1,500 each time it airs on a small-market broadcast station, plus $1,000 to $10,000 to make the ad. The same 30-second ad on streaming TV (Hulu, YouTube, Amazon) costs about $15 to $35 for every 1,000 times it plays, and you can start with as little as $500. For most local businesses, streaming is the cheaper way to get on TV, because you only pay for the households you pick.

What a commercial costs on local broadcast and cable

Traditional TV is sold by the spot. You pay for one airing of your 30-second ad, at a set time, on one channel.

On a local broadcast station (your ABC, NBC, CBS or FOX affiliate), a 30-second spot in a small market runs about $200 to $1,500. A mid-sized market runs about $500 to $3,000. Prime time and local news cost the most, and daytime and overnight cost the least. Orlando is one of the larger TV markets in the country, so expect the higher end here.

Local cable is cheaper per airing. One 2026 pricing guide puts a mid-sized market cable spot at $50 to $300.

The spot price is not the real number, though. One airing does nothing. You need the ad to run many times a week for weeks, and many stations want a commitment of $2,000 to $10,000 a month before they'll take the order.

The bigger problem is who you pay to reach. A broadcast spot goes to the whole market. If you're a roofer in DeLand, you're paying for viewers in Kissimmee and Melbourne who will never call you.

What a commercial costs on streaming TV

Streaming TV is sold by the view, not by the spot. The price is quoted per 1,000 times your ad plays, which the industry calls CPM.

In 2026, local streaming TV ads cost about $15 to $35 per 1,000 plays, with the average around $26. Live sports and premium shows cost more.

Two things make this different from buying a spot:

You choose who sees it. By city, zip code or neighborhood, and by age, income and household. You don't pay for the rest of the market.
There's no big minimum. Hulu's self-serve ad tool has a $500 minimum per campaign. Compare that with a station that wants thousands a month.

It's also where people are watching now. Nielsen reported that streaming made up 49.6% of all TV viewing in August 2026, a record, with YouTube alone at 15.8%.

A low minimum doesn't mean a low budget will work. $500 gets you about 19,000 plays at the average rate. That's enough to test an ad, not enough to make a town remember your name.

What it costs to make the ad

Whichever route you pick, you need the commercial itself. That's a separate cost from airtime.

A simple local 30-second ad typically costs $1,000 to $10,000 to produce, depending on whether it needs a crew, actors, a location and editing. A polished ad with a full shoot goes well past that.

AI-assisted production has pulled the low end down. For the right kind of ad, a clean spot built from your photos, footage, voiceover and graphics now costs a fraction of a traditional shoot.

One ad can run on every streaming platform, so you make it once.

The costs side by side

	Local broadcast	Local cable	Streaming TV
How it's priced	Per airing	Per airing	Per 1,000 plays
Typical price	$200–$3,000 per 30-second spot	$50–$300 per 30-second spot	$15–$35 per 1,000 plays
Typical minimum	$2,000–$10,000 a month	Varies by provider	From $500 a campaign
Who sees it	The whole market	Your cable zone	Only the households you choose
Proof it ran	Station affidavit	Station affidavit	Plays, completed views, site visits
Making the ad	$1,000–$10,000+	$1,000–$10,000+	$1,000–$10,000+, less with AI-assisted production

What $3,000 a month buys on streaming

I recommend at least $3,000 a month in ad budget for streaming TV. Here's the math behind that number.

At the average rate of $26 per 1,000 plays, $3,000 buys about 115,000 plays of your ad in a month. If you target 20,000 households around your business, each one sees your ad about six times that month.

That repetition is the point. People don't call a business the first time they see its ad. They call the name they recognize when the AC quits or the tax deadline is close. Spread $500 across the same 20,000 households and each one sees you about once, which is the same as not advertising.

So the budget depends on the size of the area. A smaller area needs less. A whole county needs more.

Can a small business afford it?

Some can, and some shouldn't yet.

Streaming TV builds recognition. It makes people know your name before they need you. It works best when the rest is already in place: a website that turns visitors into leads, and a way to show up when someone searches for you after seeing the ad.

If your total marketing budget is under about $3,000 a month, I'd put it into your website, search and Google Ads first. Those reach people who are already looking for what you sell. TV comes after that. If streaming isn't in your budget yet, I'll tell you so, and tell you what will work better for now.

How you know it worked

A TV station gives you a list of the times your ad aired. A streaming campaign gives you numbers:

How many times the ad played
How many people watched it to the end
How many of those households later visited your website
Where it can be tracked, how many became leads

It's still TV. Most people who see the ad won't click anything, because you can't click a TV. The honest way to judge it is to watch whether more people search for your business by name and whether your leads rise in the areas where the ad runs.

What I charge

My prices are published. Managing streaming TV and audio ads is part of monthly marketing, which starts at $1,500 a month. Your ad budget is separate, you set it, and I recommend $3,000 a month or more for streaming. If you need your ad created, I can recommend a very reputable video production company or I can create a high quality ad for you with AI. This can be discussed during our meeting.

If you want to know whether streaming TV makes sense for your business, tell me about it. If it doesn't, I'll say so.