More E-Commerce Brands Are Turning to Television Ads. Is It Money Well Spent?

Not everyone thinks so

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Amazon, Apartments.com and online lender SoFi all announced their first Super Bowl ad buys last week, joining returning advertisers Esurance and website makers Wix and Squarespace. The moves shed light on an old industry debate: Is it smart to burn $5 million on a single TV spot instead of aggressively targeting Google and Bing users based on what they're searching for at that moment?

The question is "completely valid," acknowledged Chris Paul, Squarespace vp of media and acquisitions, before pointing to the ever-increasing use of tablets and smartphones during TV viewing.

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