The Albany Gazette - Stagwell (STGW) Builds AI-Powered, Outcome-First TV Advertising Platform with FreeWheel

NEW YORK CITY, NY / ACCESS Newswire / April 27, 2026 / Stagwell (NASDAQ:STGW), the global challenger network transforming marketing through AI, today announced a unified technology infrastructure powered by FreeWheel, the leading global technology platform for the streaming advertising ecosystem, to give advertisers direct access to the core infrastructure of premium video and connected TV. The integration enables faster activation, greater transparency, and more predictable access to high‑value inventory at scale, setting a new standard for how premium TV advertising operates in today's converged market.

FreeWheel's Curation Hub and Buyer Cloud will integrate into Stagwell's media acquisition layer. Alongside other preferred partner integrations, FreeWheel will power Stagwell Curate - a centralized deal marketplace and bespoke inventory curation platform that consolidates preferred supply relationships across the Stagwell network into a single, always-on source of trusted supply.

Stagwell Curate connects Stagwell directly to FreeWheel's industry-leading supply-side technology, trusted by leading global premium TV publishers. Now, Stagwell agencies experience reduced friction in the buying process and closer collaboration with publishers to deliver a more direct and efficient path to high-quality inventory.

"As CTV performance increasingly depends on access to premium supply and proprietary data, FreeWheel gives us both," said Matt Adams, Global CEO of Stagwell Media Platform. "By working directly within premium streaming environments and activating our data through FreeWheel's tech stack, we deliver a more efficient path to inventory, stronger signal fidelity, and better outcomes for clients."

The integration delivers structural advantages embedded directly into Stagwell Media Platform, including:

• More working media for clients enabled by material reduction in adtech fees

• Improved auction win rates driven by ad‑server‑level proximity

• Enhanced data access and optimization capabilities

• Unified cross‑screen activation across streaming and linear TV

"Stagwell is redefining how agencies access and activate premium supply," said Kris Magel, VP, Head of Global Agency Partnerships at FreeWheel. "By leveraging FreeWheel's end‑to‑end solutions - sourcing directly from our publishing partners through Curation Hub and activating via Buyer Cloud - Stagwell is building a customized offering giving their clients full control of the programmatic supply chain, enabling custom supply creation, reducing unnecessary tech taxes, and ultimately delivering more working media and stronger returns for their advertisers."

With U.S. CTV ad spend projected to exceed $37 billion in 2026 and programmatic CTV growing more than 15% year‑over‑year, advertisers are increasingly focused on supply path optimization, transparency, and performance.^[1] Stagwell's integration with FreeWheel directly addresses these priorities by offering a more streamlined, accountable, and performance‑driven model for transacting premium TV advertising at scale.

About Stagwell

Stagwell is the global challenger network transforming marketing through AI. We deliver scaled creative performance for the world's most ambitious brands, connecting culture-moving creativity with leading-edge technology to harmonize the art and science of marketing. Led by entrepreneurs, our specialists in 45+ countries are unified under a single purpose: to drive effectiveness and improve business results for our clients. Join us at www.stagwellglobal.com.

About FreeWheel

FreeWheel empowers all segments of the streaming advertising ecosystem. We are structured to provide the full breadth of solutions the advertising industry needs to achieve their goals. We provide the technology, data enablement and convergent marketplaces required to ensure buyers and sellers can transact across all screens, across all data types, and all sales channels, in order to ensure the ultimate goal - results for marketers. With offices in New York, Chicago, London, Paris, and across the globe, FreeWheel, A Comcast Company, stands to advocate for the entire industry through the FreeWheel Council for Premium Video. For more information, please visit freewheel.com, and follow us on X and LinkedIn.

Stagwell Contact
Quinn Werner
[email protected]

FreeWheel Contact
Emily Miller
[email protected]

View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire

(A.Thompson--TAG)