How to Navigate the Scatter Market This Summer

The 2025 summer TV advertising season is shaping up to be one of the most dynamic in recent years. With the upfront market locked in and content strategies evolving across both linear and streaming platforms, media buyers and marketers are turning their attention to the scatter market to fill in gaps, optimize reach, and capture emerging opportunities.

But navigating the scatter market in the summer requires precision, agility, and a deep understanding of both historical patterns and current platform capabilities. This season, three core dynamics are shaping buyer strategies:

1. Combining historical trends with real-time buying platforms is essential to win.
2. Tightening linear inventory is increasing demand volatility.
3. CTV is acting as a pressure release valve for late-stage buys.

Let’s break down what each of these means and how marketers can build a summer strategy to stay ahead of the curve.

Combining Historical Trends with Real-time Buying Platforms is Essential to Win

The scatter TV marketplace hasn't changed much in terms of its core function: brands and agencies either hold back dollars from Upfronts or bring in new money to buy inventory directly from networks. Historically, marketers have understood seasonal patterns that have helped them anticipate spikes and avoid overpaying for media.

But here's the difference today: while the basic mechanics of scatter haven't changed, the emergence of data and technology has significantly influenced the way scatter is bought and used. Modern buying platforms like Simulmedia's TV + can now provide real-time access to inventory, pricing, and performance data, enabling marketers to:

• Allocate budgets across linear and CTV
• Automate forecasting of reach and frequency across different audience segments
• Buy transparent, performance-driven opportunities that reduce reliance on legacy deals or relationships

Marketers no longer need to "set it and forget it" or rely solely on remnant or direct response inventory. Instead, scatter can now be treated as a strategic, flexible asset that supports both brand and performance goals. The ability to leverage real-time data and optimize scatter buys dynamically becomes a significant advantage and is especially critical in times of economic and political uncertainty.

Tightening Linear Inventory Means Increased Demand Volatility

The scatter market offers flexibility, but that flexibility comes at a cost, especially when linear inventory tightens. Networks typically reserve 15–35% of their ad inventory for the scatter market, often at a premium. As more advertisers shift budgets to the scatter market to respond to real-time market conditions or product launches, the available inventory shrinks, and prices become more volatile.

Data-driven linear TV offers a powerful solution for advertisers facing tightening linear inventory by enabling more precise targeting, efficient reach, and measurable outcomes. Unlike traditional linear buys that rely on broad demographics and fixed schedules, data-driven approaches leverage granular audience insights such as viewing habits and purchase behaviors to optimize ad placements and ensure that every impression counts. This precision allows advertisers to maximize the value of limited inventory by reaching the right viewers at the right times, reducing wasted impressions and increasing campaign effectiveness.

As linear inventory becomes more constrained, these data-driven strategies transform traditional TV buying into a dynamic, results-focused channel that helps brands maintain scale and impact despite market pressures.

CTV Offers a Pressure Release Valve for Late Buys

As linear TV inventory tightens and becomes harder to secure, advertisers are increasingly turning to Connected TV as an alternative. CTV inventory is abundant, highly targeted, and can be purchased programmatically in real-time or near real-time, making it ideal for advertisers who need to place ads quickly and efficiently

CTV provides flexibility and advanced targeting capabilities and allows brands to reach specific audiences with precision. Buying CTV helps relieve pressure on the scatter market by providing a scalable, data-driven channel for late buys and opportunistic campaign adjustments.

Simulmedia’s TV+ platform offers integrated buying across linear and CTV, maximizing audience reach and frequency while optimizing spend. It integrates over 250 linear and CTV networks, enabling advertisers to seamlessly shift budgets between channels to capture the best available audiences and pricing. This cross-channel agility is especially valuable when linear scatter inventory is scarce or prohibitively expensive.

In Conclusion

The scatter market this summer will reward advertisers who are nimble, data-driven, and ready to pivot between linear and CTV. By understanding the drivers of volatility, embracing cross-channel buying, and leveraging both historical and real-time insights, brands can secure the reach they need without getting caught in the squeeze.