On 21 November, World Television Day – as designated by the United Nations – was celebrated around the globe for the 26th time. On this occasion, broadcasters and TV associations put the spotlight on the medium’s resilience and its attention-grabbing power. In this week’s egtabite we revisit some of the initiatives carried out on the occasion of 2022 World Television Day.
The TV spot – Today’s TV captivates, fascinates and holds audiences’ attention
At the initiative of egta, The Global TV Group, EBU and ACT, a 30-second video was produced with a focus on attention. More so: how today’s TV captivates, fascinates and holds audiences’ attention.
Brands have also started to place more importance on attention as they realise the value of this metric: the more attention an advertisement receives, the better the business outcomes. TV is a medium with unmatched effectiveness because it provides one of the highest and most reliable levels of attention to both its content and advertising.
The clip also highlighted that today TV is always available, at home and on the go, across all screens, live or streamed, and no medium grabs audiences’ attention better.
As in previous years, the spot was translated and adapted by many local broadcasters, including in French, Italian, German, Czech and Bulgarian, to name a few. The adapted versions can be viewed here.
Coverage and initiatives – demonstrating the power of television
Many media companies expanded their coverage beyond airing the spot and social media activities.
Visitors to the offices of France Télévisions Publicité, for example, were welcomed in the lobby by an extensive array of World TV Day displays, showing the clip.
In Slovakia, the Markíza network aired extensive coverage about the impact of TV, both historically when covering significant events and in today’s multi-screen, multi-touchpoint world, where TV with its premium content and trusted news plays a vital societal role. The World Television Day coverage on Markíza and an interview with Matthias Settele, Markíza’s General Director, can be watched here below with English subtitles.
In Canada, CBC Media Solutions neatly visualised the 10 reasons why TV is more relevant than ever, tackling one-by-one the many myths and false narratives about the state of TV and stating the facts about the medium’s strengths for brands.
To celebrate the creatives, Thinkbox UK called on industry colleagues to put together a gallery of the best TV adverts in 2022. Contributions came from Tenk TV (Norway), TAM (Ireland), Thinktv (Canada), TVN Media (Poland) and DStv (South Africa), gathering some of this year’s best TV ads.
Attention is the new black
Meanwhile, egta put its focus on attention as a metric, as Katty Roberfroid, Director General at egta, underlined in the press release for World Television Day:
“The TV industry continues to build a more sophisticated understanding of ad attention. As content providers and brands compete for consumers’ attention, this metric will help demonstrate that TV delivers the short and long-term results both programmers and advertisers require. On World TV Day, we shine a light on the attention economy and celebrate Total TV’s role in it.”
Contributing to the conversation, egta released a series of interviews with four industry experts discussing ad attention, measurement and more. The interviews with Pooja Midha (EVP, General Manager, Effectv), Joe Marchese (General and Build Partner, Human Ventures), Andy Brown (CEO, The Attention Council) and Nicolas Grand (SVP Transformation, Global Investment, OMG) are available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Google Podcasts, as well as on Vimeo (links above).
OTHER CASE STUDIES
GLOBO CREATES HOME SCREEN PROMINENCE FOR FREE-TO-AIR TV ON SMART TVS
26. 2. 2026Globo, Brazil’s largest commercial TV group, is rolling out DTV+, a next-generation free-to-air TV standard designed for connected TVs. It brings broadcast channels into the TV operating system, with app-like navigation, login and interactive layers placed directly on top of live programming. The move fits Brazil’s viewing reality. Linear TV accounts for 57.9% of total… Continue reading EGTABITE 408: CELEBRATING WORLD TV DAY AROUND THE GLOBE
THE VISUAL TRANSFER EFFECT: HOW SOUND BUILDS BRANDS
24. 2. 2026In collaboration with neuro-marketing agency Unravel, Talpa Media has produced the scientific proof that audio does not just complement TV. It actively reactivates it, reconstructing visual brand memories in the consumer’s mind through sound. The findings carry significant implications for how audio is planned, sold, and valued within the wider media mix. Context Talpa Media… Continue reading EGTABITE 408: CELEBRATING WORLD TV DAY AROUND THE GLOBE
RMB TURNS QR CODE VOTING INTO A SHARED VIEWING MOMENT THAT STRENGTHS BRAND IMAGE FOR SPRITE AND DELI CHOC
24. 2. 2026Campaign objectives The chocolate snack Deli Choc and soft drink Sprite brands worked with RMB to reach younger audiences by becoming part of Belgian hip-hop show “PLAYGROUND”, supporting new rap talent through a live QR vote and cross-platform content. This helps the brands appear as enablers of the format rather than separate ads. For RMB… Continue reading EGTABITE 408: CELEBRATING WORLD TV DAY AROUND THE GLOBE
CANADIAN SUPERSTAR ANDREW PHUNG HELPS VIA RAIL CHALLENGE CAR CONVENIENCE ASSUMPTIONS WITH LONG-FORM STORYTELLING ACROSS CBC’S TV ECOSYSTEM
24. 2. 2026Campaign objectives VIA Rail, the company operating Canada’s national passenger rail service, combined a new product launch with brand building, using long-form content to tackle misconceptions that tend to block conversion in travel: comfort, ease, and whether rail feels like a realistic alternative to driving for intercity trips. The objectives behind this campaign were to… Continue reading EGTABITE 408: CELEBRATING WORLD TV DAY AROUND THE GLOBE
HOW L’ORÉAL PARIS AND RTL MADE STREET HARASSMENT HARD TO IGNORE
24. 2. 2026Context Sexual harassment in public spaces is one of the most common forms of gender-based violence in the world. Two figures frame the issue: 80% of women have experienced street harassment, but 85% of people say they lack training on how to intervene. Ad Alliance and L’Oréal created a campaign to respond to this problem… Continue reading EGTABITE 408: CELEBRATING WORLD TV DAY AROUND THE GLOBE
HOW AD ALLIANCE USED VIRTUAL SET GRAPHICS TO RESKIN THE LET’S DANCE STAGE FOR UNIVERSAL PICTURES
24. 2. 2026Context This campaign promotes a film by changing the look of a well-known TV studio during the ad break, so the show setting becomes part of the idea. Universal Pictures International Germany supported the live-action version (made with real actors) of How to Train Your Dragon, based on a well-known animated franchise. The ad special… Continue reading EGTABITE 408: CELEBRATING WORLD TV DAY AROUND THE GLOBE
CHANNEL 4 SHOWS HOW PUTTING ACCESSIBILITY FIRST BENEFITS BOTH CUSTOMERS AND COMMERCIAL WITH CURRYS’
24. 2. 2026Context Channel 4’s Diversity in Advertising Award 2025 set its brief under the theme “Inclusive by Design”. It asked brands to embed inclusive practices into the creative, rather than at the end of production. The initiative linked that ambition to airtime: £1m of advertising space across Channel 4’s portfolio sat behind the winning campaign. The… Continue reading EGTABITE 408: CELEBRATING WORLD TV DAY AROUND THE GLOBE
HOW BMW USED A COUNTDOWN TO HOLD ATTENTION FOR TWO MINUTES
24. 2. 2026The iX3 launch in Belgium used prime time to make a first impression quickly. The plan did not rely on many repeated 30-second ads. Instead, it opened with a two-minute film that ran without interruption. In this campaign, this timeframe was used as a clear countdown linked to the car’s driving range. The number on… Continue reading EGTABITE 408: CELEBRATING WORLD TV DAY AROUND THE GLOBE
TURNING PEAK TV SHOW ATTENTION INTO TRUSTED CONTEXTUAL SPOTS AND FAN FOLLOW UP CONTENT
24. 2. 2026Context A plot cue inside a flagship soap can set the terms of the next ad break, because viewers stay anchored in the same scene and characters. Emmerdale’s familiarity, plus its own show social channels, gave the message a recognisable voice on TV and somewhere to continue after broadcast. In this case, the ITV campaign… Continue reading EGTABITE 408: CELEBRATING WORLD TV DAY AROUND THE GLOBE
USING ELECTION NIGHT VIEWING HABITS TO MAKE A RETAIL MESSAGE FEEL LIKE ENTERTAINMENT
24. 2. 2026This campaign connected Bauhaus’s retail messaging to a major national television event. In Finland, municipal and regional elections feature hours-long results TV programmes that track vote counting as results come in. Bauhaus (a major home improvement retailer) partnered with the biggest national broadcaster, Sanoma, to create branded entertainment within this format, using “price” as the… Continue reading EGTABITE 408: CELEBRATING WORLD TV DAY AROUND THE GLOBE
WHEN DISNEY CAME TO DANCING: A LIVE SHOW BECOMES A FAIRYTALE
24. 2. 2026Inspired by Disneyland Paris’s Disney Music Festival, where performances by Disney-movie characters fill the park with dance and live music, DPG Media’s creative team proactively conceived an unprecedented brand integration: a dedicated Disney-themed episode of Dancing With The Stars. The concept was not driven by a client brief. Knowing the client’s wishes and dreams, and… Continue reading EGTABITE 408: CELEBRATING WORLD TV DAY AROUND THE GLOBE
WHEN A CROSS-FORMAT APPROACH MULTIPLIES IMPACT: BOL × HUIS GEMAAKT ACROSS CONTENT & CONTEXT
23. 2. 2026Description Bol is Belgium’s largest e-commerce platform, a household name for buying books, electronics, and everyday items online. But furniture and home décor? That was not what consumers associated with the brand. DPG Media set out to change this perception through a multi-format partnership with Huis Gemaakt (“Home Made”), a popular Flemish TV show where… Continue reading EGTABITE 408: CELEBRATING WORLD TV DAY AROUND THE GLOBE