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Higher Ed Advertising is Broken. Let’s Fix It with CTV.

Adduro.io diploma-style graphic with tagline ‘A Degree in Smarter Growth,’ customized space for school name, and message about helping schools reach students through connected television.

Students aren’t watching cable. They’re streaming.

Adduro graphic with graduation caps and bold headline text: ‘Stop Recruiting Like It’s 2010.’ Subhead: ‘As of May 2025, streaming has surpassed broadcast and cable combined.’ Source: Nielsen’s The Gauge, May 2025.

So why are colleges still spending like it’s 2010?

If your recruitment dollars are still going to billboards, local TV, or generic digital campaigns, you’re missing the students who matter most. Connected TV (CTV) is where they live and if you’re not there, you’re invisible.

Colleges and universities face more competition than ever. Rising costs, shrinking budgets, and skeptical families mean every impression has to work harder. The old playbook doesn’t cut it anymore. It’s time for a smarter approach.

Stop Guessing Where Students Are

The modern student journey doesn’t start on campus tours. It starts on a streaming platform.

Students are bingeing Hulu, YouTube TV, Peacock, Prime Video, Disney+, and more. They’re not flipping through cable channels or checking newspaper ads. With CTV, your message shows up where they already spend their time—on the biggest screen in their home.

Why gamble on outdated channels when you can put your message directly in their living room?

No More Black-Box Reporting

Most vendors brag about “reach” and “impressions.” Great but, so what? Those numbers don’t fill classrooms.

At adduro, we cut the fluff and focus on what actually matters to higher ed marketers:

  • Applications submitted
  • Enrollment lift
  • Cost per acquisition (CPA)
  • Audience engagement trends

Every campaign is tracked against your real goals, not vanity metrics. And because our reporting is fully transparent, you’ll always know where every dollar went and what it delivered.

Spend Smarter, Not More

Streaming surpasses cable + broadcast 44.8% vs. 44.2%. Adduro highlights wasted ad spend. (Nielsen’s The Gauge, May 2025).

In higher education, budgets are tight. Your team is expected to do more with less… again and again and again. That’s why every dollar has to be strategic.

CTV gives you precision targeting by:

  • Geography (zip codes, DMAs, or custom regions)
  • Demographics (age, household income, education level)
  • Interests & behaviors (career-driven, transfer-ready, grad-school seekers)

No more wasted spend blanketing audiences who will never convert. Every impression is intentional. Every dollar is accountable.

Partners, Not Vendors

The last thing you need is another vendor pushing cookie-cutter media plans and disappearing after launch.

At adduro, you don’t get a salesperson, you get a strategist in your corner. We manage campaigns daily, optimize aggressively, and show up like an extension of your team.

And we back it with a simple promise:

  • No contracts.
  • No fine print.
  • Just performance.

We earn your trust through results, not paperwork.

Built for Enrollment Teams

Recruiting students is different from selling sneakers or streaming subscriptions. The stakes are higher, the cycle is longer, and the competition is fierce. That’s why higher ed marketers can’t afford generic solutions.

adduro campaigns are built specifically with enrollment teams in mind. From awareness to application to enrollment, we connect the dots between media spend and measurable impact.

Because at the end of the day, this isn’t about ads, it’s about shaping the future of your institution.

The Bottom Line

Stop grading your media buys on a curve. Higher ed marketing deserves better than outdated channels, vanity metrics, and vague reporting.

CTV done right delivers two things every university needs:

  • Clarity you can trust.
  • Performance you can measure.

Ready to reach tomorrow’s students with smarter advertising? Let’s talk.

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