The Platform Acceleration Year​

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Time on the Home Screen Is a Failure: Drew Groner's truth: scrolling on the home screen means you're not engaged with content or brands. Premium content at scale isn't the same as premium ad-supported content at scale, and that distinction changes how advertisers think about engagement ⚡ 

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20 Years, Four Companies, One Journey: Drew's been at DIRECTV ADVERTISING for 20 years through M&A madness: DIRECTV to AT&T to Warner Media back to DIRECTV. The journey built a diversified team, and now 2026 is the acceleration year where the platform they've been building finally launches 🚀 

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Following You Everywhere: DIRECTV broke out of the home and into planes, hotels, bars, and restaurants—following consumers wherever they watch. Brands can follow that journey too, programmatically or managed service, reaching people beyond just residential households ✈️ 

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$11 Billion Election Year: 2026 is one of the most expensive election cycles ever, with 80% of the $11B going to video and CTV, which is growing fastest. DIRECTV launched two solutions: D2 for household addressable and DIRECTV Elect for reaching voters beyond DIRECTV households at scale 🗳️ 

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UFC and the Apple Tether: Drew's guilty pleasure just moved to Paramount+ every Saturday night. When it comes to brand loyalty, Apple wins—once you're in their ecosystem, you're locked in for life. The tether is real 🥊