Regional TV Testing: Prove It Works Before You Go National

The safest way to find out whether TV works for your business is to try it somewhere specific and compare the result with somewhere you didn’t. A regional test costs a fraction of a national campaign and, set up properly, gives an answer you can scale with confidence.

Why regions

ITV sells airtime in separate regions, and prices differ widely. On our 2026 data, a thousand adult impacts averages £27.25 in London weekend airtime and £8.32 in Ulster, against £14.58 nationally (regional prices). Sky AdSmart and broadcaster streaming can also be targeted by area, so the whole plan can stay inside the test region.

Pick a test region and a control region

Choose two regions that behave alike: similar sales per head, similar seasonality, similar distribution. Run TV in one and not the other. Granada and Yorkshire, for example, are similar in price at about £12.20 per thousand and are often comparable markets. Avoid London as a test region unless it is your core market: it costs nearly twice the national rate.

Without a control region, a regional test is just a regional campaign. The comparison is what makes it a test.

Set a baseline

Look at sales, web traffic or enquiries in both regions for at least four to eight weeks before the campaign. You need to know what normal looks like to see what TV changed.

Run long enough

Three to four weeks on air, with enough weight to be noticed, is a sensible minimum. A single week rarely shows a clear signal.

Measure the difference

Compare the change in the test region with the change in the control region over the same weeks. If the test region grew 15% and the control 3%, TV is the most likely explanation for much of the gap. Keep measuring for a few weeks after the campaign ends; some of the effect arrives late.

Then decide

• Clear uplift that pays back: add a second region, or go national in stages.
• Uplift that doesn’t pay back yet: change the creative, dayparts or offer, and test again.
• No uplift: stop. You have learned something important for a small amount of money.

The independent buyer’s view

We recommend a regional test to almost every first-time advertiser. It protects the budget and gives a real answer. See our regional TV guide or ask us to design one.