Podcast Summary: AdTechGod Pod – Ep. 101 “The Reach Effect: Inside the Business of Smarter TV”

Host: AdTechGod, The AdTech God
Guests: Dan Callahan (SVP & Chief Revenue Officer, Spectrum Reach), Alex Grossman (VP, Product Development, Spectrum Reach)
Release Date: October 7, 2025
Main Theme:
A deep dive into the evolution and future of TV advertising, with a focus on Spectrum Reach’s strategy for smarter, data-driven television. The conversation explores innovations in streaming and linear TV, the role of AI and clean rooms, industry partnerships, the fragmentation of TV audiences, the importance of quality content, and the value of networking in adtech.

Episode Overview

The AdTechGod welcomes Dan Callahan and Alex Grossman of Spectrum Reach for an in-depth conversation about how television is evolving into a “smarter” medium for both marketers and viewers. The guests share perspectives from product and revenue leadership, specifically covering:

• Growth of streaming vs. linear TV
• Innovations in data-driven advertising
• The impact and practical use of AI and clean rooms
• Quality over quantity in FAST (Free Ad-supported Streaming TV)
• Unlocking local, regional, and national advertising outcomes
• The importance of relationships and networking in adtech

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Guest Backgrounds and Collaboration at Spectrum Reach

• Alex Grossman details his experience in ad product development (Freewheel, Pubmatic, startups) and his current focus on innovating media products at Spectrum Reach, for both local and national marketers.
  Quote:

  “A lot of our technology is coming from outside commercial partners and we help evaluate, vet, explore and innovate.” (02:42)

• Dan Callahan discusses his transition from Fox’s advanced ad sales and programmatic teams to Spectrum Reach, recently moving up to CRO.
  Quote:

  “Almost closing in on two years here at Spectrum... Moved into the CRO position about 45 days ago, so overseeing all aspects of local national advertising sales.” (04:02)

• On working together: Both leaders stress a close, complementary partnership between product and revenue teams, emphasizing a collaborative approach to understanding market needs and delivering solutions.
  Quote (Dan):

  “Sales and product are a compliment here... Alex is extremely knowledgeable, plugged in, brings ideas to us, is innovating all the time. So it's an amazing partnership.” (05:08)

2. TV Advertising: From Linear to Streaming, and Beyond

• The State of Streaming:
  Spectrum has seen exponential growth in streaming, but traditional TV remains significant.
  Quote (Host):

  “Streaming continues to grow not only with new streaming solutions in market, but also with a little bit more of a traditional world of Spectrum...” (02:04)

• AI & Machine Learning:
  Alex describes the acceleration of AI adoption across adtech, citing partnerships (e.g., TVBeat for forecasting/optimization, Beachfront for programmatic linear) and the quest to make campaign buying and measuring seamless.
  Quote (Alex):

  “Now, when you look at almost every single business, there is an AI lens and element that everyone's evaluating. How can we stay ahead, how can we innovate...” (06:16)

• Sales Approach to Local, Regional, & National:
  Dan highlights the strength in Spectrum’s first-party household data, local seller network (600 AEs across the US), and tailored approaches for clients of different sizes and geographies.
  Quote:

  “Advertising at its core… is meant to drive an action. And selling campaigns at the local, regional, national, and addressable levels, all are doing the same thing for different businesses at different scales.” (09:04–10:30)

3. Audience Targeting: Linear vs. Connected TV (CTV)

• Holistic Reach:
  Methodologically, Spectrum tracks “only linear,” “only streaming,” and “both” consumers to show the market how connected TV complements linear, providing incremental reach and better targeting.
  Quote (Dan):

  “Streaming continues to be a compliment to linear, whether that be additional view time, incremental reach and now with the ability to target... additional eyeballs, additional viewers, oftentimes additional homes.” (10:56–12:37)

• Innovation in Linear TV:
  Ongoing efforts to make linear TV inventory more dynamic, addressable, and impression-based as demand for modernized buying grows.
  Quote (Dan):

  “TV Beat and our linear footprint is still sizable. We are innovating like crazy to try to make that inventory more dynamic, more addressable, more impression based...” (11:51–12:37)

4. FAST: Quality Over Quantity

• Overhype in FAST:
  Alex argues that while the growth in the number of FAST channels is “overhyped,” true value is found in premium content with strong audience data (and there’s a glut of low-quality, long-tail channels). Quote (Alex):

  “There's an overhyped abundance of fast supply and advertisers really should take the opportunity to focus their attention and investment on high quality content… media dollars are starting to get pulled back there.” (13:10–14:49)

• Host’s Perspective:
  ATG agrees, noting the difference between top-tier FAST channels and poor-quality inventory that should be “remnant.” Quote (ATG):

  “For me, I'm kind of with you. There's fast and fast quality tier 1. There's fast and there's fast quality tier 78... Those should be looked at as remnant low quality inventory.” (14:49–15:48)

5. Hot Topics: AI, Clean Rooms, Retail Media Networks

• AI in Planning & Execution:
  Spectrum Reach already leverages AI for faster plan building, presentations, and real-time creative via partners like Waymark. Quote (Dan):

  “There was some press around our planning platform Architect using solutions like that that allow us to build plans more effectively faster... building presentations with AI and plans with AI live in a client pitch is super helpful.” (16:50)

• Clean Rooms:
  Alex provides a nuanced view: clean rooms are powerful but often overkill for SMBs; direct matching (with privacy best practices) suffices for many use cases. Quote (Alex):

  “Clean rooms were broadly designed for large sophisticated participants... Not every piece of data needs to be protected by a clean room or functionally matched with a clean room...” (18:15–19:46)

6. What Advertisers Overlook

• Spectrum’s Scale and Technology:
  Dan points to Spectrum’s oft-underappreciated reach (over 30M consumers, major footprint via Spectrum TV app) and premium inventory (including live sports programmatic insertion) as key differentiators. Quote (Dan):

  “We’ve got the scale, we’ve got the capabilities... It's the distributor position with where we insert ads. I like to say we're selling an audience. They're picking the programming... and we get to bring together the collective scale of that consumption.” (20:07)

7. The Importance of Relationships and Networking

• Personal Reflections:
  Both guests stress that trust and personal connections made throughout their careers are foundational to success and innovation. Quote (Alex):

  “A lot of [my partnerships] are based on trust and relationships... I think if I didn't invest as much in building the relationships and partnerships along the way, it definitely wouldn't have allowed me to be as successful as I have been.” (21:56)

  Quote (Dan):

  “As much as we talk about technology and AI... this still comes down to the people. It still comes down to the connections, the trust and those relationships.” (23:06–24:53)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Dan Callahan:

  “Our differentiator is our first party data. The subscriber information we have at household level stands up nationally.” (09:04)

• Alex Grossman:

  “Independent stats will show that we're the number one most viewed streaming service in the US on an hours per household basis. I think that's a pretty significant kind of milestone...” (13:10)

• AdTechGod (on FAST):

  “For me, I'm kind of with you. There's fast and fast quality tier 1... and tier 78 which sits there and it's basically extremely poor quality content...” (14:49)

• Dan Callahan (on AI-powered creative):

  “We use AI from a creative standpoint with a company called Waymark... We can build creative to take to a meeting, build creative with a client in the room...” (16:50)

• Alex Grossman (on clean rooms):

  “It's not always the right tool to solve the problem that we're trying to solve... First party onboarding data is very effective as long as being matched against a good quality data source.” (18:15)

• Dan Callahan (on the people):

  “This still comes down to the people. It still comes down to the connections, the trust and those relationships.” (24:53)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• [02:42] – Alex Grossman’s background & Spectrum Reach’s tech approach
• [04:02] – Dan Callahan’s journey from Fox to Spectrum, sales philosophy
• [05:08] – The product/revenue partnership in practice
• [06:16] – Evolution of TV/Adtech in the past 18 months: AI, programmatic
• [09:04] – Spectrum’s first-party data & sales approach at all levels
• [10:56] – How streaming and linear TV complement each other
• [13:10] – FAST explosion, hype vs. reality, content quality
• [16:50] – AI solutions in sales, planning, and creative
• [18:15] – Practical use (and limitations) of clean rooms, SMB focus
• [20:07] – What advertisers are missing about Spectrum’s platform
• [21:56] – Building relationships and networks in adtech

Episode Takeaway

Spectrum Reach positions itself at the intersection of TV’s linear tradition and streaming future, leveraging data, AI, and close collaboration between sales and product teams to deliver results for advertisers—from SMBs to national brands. Both guests emphasize the value of quality (over inflated low-quality supply), measured innovation (adoption of AI and clean rooms when it truly helps), and the enduring ROI of personal industry relationships.

Closing Thought:
“In an AI-powered, data-driven ad world, the ‘smarter TV’ is only as good as the people and relationships behind it.”