The headlines have said it for years: TV is about to change. It will become more targeted. So I don’t blame you if you are a bit skeptical.

But yesterday I presented data from the ANA/Forrester State of TV and Online Video Survey that strongly demonstrates that we are finally at the point where rapid adoption of these new ways of using TV advertising will happen.

The key data point supporting my assertion is to the left: it shows 15% of the ANA members who responded to the survey are including addressable TV in their plans today, while another 35% are experimenting.

These numbers align perfectly with the classic innovation adoption model. If you’ve ever used the terms early adopter, mainstream, or laggard, you are referring to this model. This first 15% of users are the innovators and early adopters, and growth is slow during this stage. But as the early mainstream – the next 34% of the market – begins to use the innovation, growth accelerates.

Addressable TV will never be 100% of TV spending. Right now, there are technology and business model factors that limit the amount of TV ads that can be addressable. But this acceleration in demand will convince TV networks and MVPDs that the investments they need to make will pay off. And some products – especially CPG – have broad audiences and low price points that will make it difficult to justify the premium that addressable TV commands.

As this inflection point draws more advertisers in categories like auto, travel, and financial services into using addressable ads, the long-expected change in the TV ad industry will come to be. TV planners and buyers will need to develop new data skills and new frameworks for building TV campaigns to take full advantage of the potential.

If you’d like to hear the full story and explore the next few years of change in the television ad industry, join me on an ANA webinar at 1:00 ET on March 7.