At Advertising Week New York 2026, one challenge came up across the board: how to build effective media strategies across a fragmented video landscape without sacrificing scale, quality, or accountability.
For national brands and agencies, the opportunity is coherence – integrating inventory, data, and outcome metrics together, not more platforms or targeting tools. That means investments that reach the right audiences, uphold brand suitability, and drive meaningful results.
At Spectrum Reach, we took these themes to the AWNY stage in three panels highlighted below, including a sponsored session on how MVPDs can help solve fragmentation.
Fragmentation demands coordinated investment
Viewers are moving freely across traditional linear, streaming, and online video. Planning channel-by-channel obscures how each dollar contributes to the whole. A coordinated strategy that weighs reach, quality, and performance together is the better approach, and MVPDs are well-positioned to deliver it.
Hear how coordinated investment works in practice. Watch our full sponsored session Fragmentation, Meet Strategy: The Evolving Role of MVPDs, with our SVP and Chief Revenue Officer, Dan Callahan; our Vice President of National Agency Partnerships, Monica Perschetz; and Head of Growth & Strategic Partnerships for Spectrum Intelligence Ventures, Gerry Bavaro.
AI adds nuance to brand suitability
Scene- and sentiment-level analysis is replacing broad category exclusions with context-aware placement decisions. For advertisers managing many products and risk tolerances, the best approach pairs AI with clear standards and human oversight. Automation should support governance, not replace it.
See how AI is making placement more precise and contextually relevant. Watch the full session Beyond the Stream: Reimagining the CTV Advertising Experience, featuring our Vice President of Data and Category Sales, Alex Belaidi.
For more information on how we combine AI-powered planning with human expertise, read In the Age of AI, Advertising Is Still a Relationship Business.
Audience intelligence shouldn’t force a choice between precision and scale
Deterministic and audience-driven data are converging across CTV and digital video, reflecting how audiences themselves consume content in real time. Audience intelligence works best alongside premium inventory, creative strategy, and privacy-conscious data practices, not as a standalone targeting tactic.
For more on this theme, watch the full session The Next Era of Audience Intelligence: A New Standard for Precision & Performance, featuring our Vice President of National Advanced TV Sales, Michael Kuntz.
The key takeaway from AWNY: In a fragmented video landscape, the answer isn't more platforms or tools. It's integration that connects every screen and impact that makes every dollar count.