Understanding the difference between Streaming TV campaign objectives on Skybeam helps you choose the best approach for achieving your specific business goals.
Quick Comparison
Objective | Awareness | Retargeting | Performance |
Target Audience | New customers | Previous website visitors | New or existing customers |
Optimization Type | Manual control | Manual control | Fully automated |
Budget Type | Daily or Lifetime | Lifetime only | Daily only |
Minimum Budget | $50/day | $100/campaign | $100/day |
Minimum Duration | 3 days | 30 days | 30 days |
Pixel Required | Optional | Yes | Yes |
Read this article to learn more about pixel
Awareness Campaign Objective
Awareness campaigns help you reach a wide audience. They're ideal for expanding your customer base and increasing brand visibility.
Best for:
Launching new products or services
Entering new markets
Building brand recognition
What it optimizes: Discovers which audiences or inventory deliver the highest ROAS (return on ad spend) and lowest CPM (cost per thousand impressions).
Budget flexibility:
Daily budget: $50 minimum
Lifetime budget: $150 minimum
Can run for any duration (3 days minimum)
Control level: Full manual control over inventory selection, day parts, audience, and location targeting.
Delivery forecasting tool: This tool estimates campaign delivery based on your targeting selections. Once you've entered your parameters, the forecast provides:
General Audience Size | The total number of people who match your targeting criteria |
Deliverability Score | A measure of how feasible your campaign is given your targeting and budget. |
Forecasted Impressions | The estimated number of times your ads will be displayed |
Households | The projected number of households your campaign will reach |
Watch the numbers change as you adjust location, audiences, age/gender filters, apps, and budget.
💡 Pro tip: Use these forecasts to create multiple targeting groups for A/B testing (you can read more about it: Learn A/B testing best practices)
Choose Awareness if: You're new to TV advertising and want to build brand presence with full control over your campaign settings.
Retargeting Campaign Objective
Retargeting campaigns re-engage users who have already visited your website or seen your ads. They focus on converting warm audiences who are familiar with your brand.
Best for:
Recovering abandoned shopping carts
Re-engaging past visitors
Nurturing interested prospects
Boosting conversion rates from warm leads
What it optimizes: Identifies which inventory your existing audience responds to best, improving conversion efficiency among familiar viewers.
Requirements:
Lifetime budget only (total budget for entire campaign)
Minimum lifetime budget: $100
Campaign starts 24 hours after submission
Pixel tracking required
Control level: Full manual control over location targeting and day parts
Choose Retargeting if: You have existing website traffic and want to maximize conversions from users already familiar with your brand.
Performance Campaign Objective
Performance campaigns use Automated Performance Optimization (APO) to drive measurable actions like website visits, sign-ups, or purchases. The system continuously learns and automatically adjusts budget allocation to deliver better results over time.
Best for:
Driving website traffic
Generating leads and conversions
Maximizing return on ad spend
Businesses wanting hands-off optimization
What it optimizes: Automatically allocates your budget across 7 day parts and available inventory, shifting spend toward combinations that drive the most conversions.
Requirements:
Minimum daily budget: $100
Minimum campaign duration: 30 days
Total minimum investment: $3,000
Daily budget only (no lifetime option)
Pixel properly configured
How it works: The system analyzes performance data hourly, automatically reallocating budget to the best-performing inventory and day parts combinations. Performance improves over time as more data is collected.
Important: Performance campaigns require higher investment and use machine learning for optimization.
Choose Performance if: You have adequate budget ($100+/day), want automated optimization, and prioritize conversions over manual control.
Choosing the Right Objective
If you want to... | Choose... | Minimum Investment |
Build brand awareness with control | Awareness | $50/day |
Convert website visitors | Retargeting | $100 total |
Maximize conversions automatically | Performance | $100/day for 30 days |
Limited budget? → Start with Awareness ($50/day)
Want best performance with adequate budget? → Choose Performance ($100/day)
Have website traffic to convert? → Add Retargeting
Important Notes
Campaign objectives cannot be changed after creation. Choose carefully based on your current goals and budget.
💡Pro tip: Many successful advertisers run multiple campaigns with different objectives simultaneously — Awareness to fill the funnel, Performance to drive conversions automatically, and Retargeting to maximize efficiency with warm audiences.