BOCA RATON, FLA. — In a space expressly designed for video podcast recordings and social media post creation, a gathering held Tuesday morning attended by content creators in the digital and social media spaces gathered keen insights from two twentysomethings associated with marketing agency Sunshine Socials.
For anyone with decades of experience in broadcast media, the session was a revelation — and an opportunity to share with Generation Alpha the power of broad-reach media at a time when marketers seek to hyperniche but may not be reaching the audience they seek.
Unfortunately, that message is getting lost with CMOs and brand managers, and Madison & Wall’s Brian Wieser on Wednesday painted a picture of the new reality for TV account executives: influencer marketing, at the heart of what Sunshine Socials focus on, is perhaps usurping the television industry as a default channel for brand building.
In a note to Madison & Wall clients, Wieser recalled how television offered mass reach, cultural relevance, and a way to shape perception at scale.
It still does, and Wieser acknowledges that brands still require reach, frequency and emotional connection.
What is changing is how that is delivered, Wieser reasons, “since TV no longer does this as effectively.”
That’s why many advertisers appear to be using influencer networks to do just that, Wieser concludes.
“Instead of a single campaign reaching a broad audience, brands can now reach desired audiences through networks of creators, each delivering reach within specific audiences, but which together add up to scale,” he shares.
As an example of one company that has demonstrably shifted its ad dollar allocation away from television, Wieser points to Coca-Cola. Quoting CMO Manolo Arroyo, who made the comments at the end of 2025, he notes that creative studios — a.k.a. social and digital media content hubs — allowed Coca-Cola to put 70% of all paid media on digital — particularly social and influencer-led marketing. “For us, it’s our new TV,” Arroyo said.
In 2019, Coca-Cola invested nearly 75% of its paid media on traditional television.
What does this mean for Wieser? “Brand building is under-invested today,” and it remains critical for long-term growth, he says. “At the same time, the structural forces that pushed budgets toward performance have not gone away. If anything, they are strengthening.”
For television, the reality to digest is that it is no longer the default home for brand building. Instead, Wieser concludes, legacy channels will play a supporting role.
