Direct TV advertising is the sending of promotional messages to specific television viewers. Direct TV advertising may be possible by renting lists from trade shows or magazines, providing these lists to TV broadcasters (the list may not be seen by the advertising company), and letting the TV broadcasters insert TV ads into programs that match the advertisers profile requirements. The TV broadcasters can match up the names or email addresses on the provided list with the names or email addresses of their viewers. This process is already done today for other types of media channels such as direct mail and email marketing.

Direct TV ad insertions might generate 50 cents to $1 per insertion ($50 to $100 CPM) which can be 25 to 50 times higher revenue than the typical revenue generated by prime time TV ads. For example, if there was a seminar of 500 attendees on a topic that appealed to medial billing executives, the show host may provide the list to a mailing house that works with the TV broadcasters. The advertiser may be willing to pay $10 per ad impression to the people who attended the medical billing seminar during the Superbowl!