Why CTV Will Be The Next Big Game Platform: A Conversation With Phynd's Andre Swanston

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Why CTV Will Be The Next Big Game Platform: A Conversation With Phynd's Andre Swanston

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Smart TVs are everywhere. Last year, 79% of U.S. homes had at least one smart TV, marking an increase of 13% over 2020.

This steady rise in smart TV ownership also coincides with the launch of more streaming services -- including Apple TV+, Disney+ and Peacock -- highlighting a new age in consumer viewing habits and the accessibility of technologically advanced hardware.

Over the past decade, advertisers have tapped into the proliferation of smart TVs, many with the help of Tru Optik -- a company that transformed the way advertisers target individual households through connected TV (CTV) via an integrated data management and marketing attribution system.

Tru Optik eventually encompassed over 80 million homes in the U.S. and in 2020 was acquired by TransUnion for $100 million. Its founder, André Swanston, is now applying his expertise to the gaming industry.

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Realizing that gaming on big screens generates just 7% of revenue from ads compared to about 50% in broader media -- and that over the past five years more than 500 million smart TVs capable of supporting a cloud gaming app have shipped globally -- Swanston started a company called Phynd.

Phyd, which is devoted to making gaming free, while providing advertisers with a new and simple way to reach gamers, recently secured $10 million in seed funding by Wellington Management.

According to Swanston, Phynd would effectively bring the ad-supported model consumers are accustomed to experiencing while streaming media on their devices to gaming, while also providing analytics and marketing tools to help studios and publishers better engage and retain their audiences.

MediaPost sat down with Swanston to discuss Phynd's vision, why gamers are the most sought-after audience for brands to target, how scaling high-quality gaming through connected TV has not been possible until now, the influence Swanston’s time at Tru Optik has had over this new venture and more.

This interview has been edited for clarity and concision.

MediaPost: How does Phynd want to change the gaming industry and why?

André Swanston: In its simplest form, Phynd is about making gaming accessible to a much broader set of people.

As popular as gaming is on consoles and gaming PCs, the overwhelming majority of potential players don't have either. What they do have are smart TVs.

MP: But there are already cloud-based gaming apps on smart TVs. How is Phynd's vision unique?

Swanston: Those applications are all subscription-based. Similar to how it has been with streaming media, we see the real growth opportunity existing in free, ad-supported, subscription-free cloud gaming. 

MP: When was your first inkling regarding the opportunity smart TVs could provide gamers?

Swanston: I've been talking about cloud gaming since 2017; at Tru Optik, we powered the back-end data for early ad targeting capabilities across gaming on the cloud and TVs.

The challenge back then was that the devices were not advanced enough for scaling high-quality gaming.

Even as recently as five years ago, people were concerned about having enough bandwidth to stream in HD on Netflix. So the concept of cloud gaming was far off.

MP: Then what has changed to make your business model seem possible?

Swanston: The proliferation of smart TVs everywhere. Now people have up to five of them in their house, as well as gigabyte lines in their residences.

And beyond an increase in devices and bandwidth, there are so many more subscription services now -- not just in gaming, but audio and all the video services.

So it's the perfect combination: more devices, better infrastructure and technology, and an ecosystem that has normalized subscription free access supported by ads.

MP: Why do you believe smart TV will be such a powerful medium for advertisers trying to reach gamers?

Swanston: It's the big-screen experience. It's the engagement -- it's the shared viewing experience.

It's not like watching a commercial in between an episode of your favorite show. Instead of running to the bathroom, or texting, you have the control in your hand -- your game is about to start. Your attention level is going to be as high as it possibly can be.

MP: And how would it benefit the entire “ecosystem” you mentioned before?

Swanston: Well, it's saving consumers money, since the games are free. Manufacturers can focus on making devices and technology because there is a way for them to monetize that.

Brands are able to reach and engage consumers in a new highly scalable way, and games will suddenly have a dramatically larger pool of potential players. I'm immensely bullish on it.

MP: That would be a huge upset in the gaming space. How has your work at Tru Optik influenced this new venture?

Swanston: For starters, we've brought on legacy Tru Optik folks who had already built a lot of the backbone of the smart TV advertising ecosystem in the U.S. over the last decade.

We were there for the beginning of being able to do targeted advertising across CTV -– there was no scale, geo targeting or contextual. Pretty much every major ad-tech platform built their initial capability of doing data-driven targeting on smart TVs and smart speakers off of Tru Optik.

MP: With Phynd, do you feel like you, yet again, find yourself at the beginning of another major advertising opportunity?

Swanston: Yes. Again, there is massive potential but it's kind of nascent; we want to be the ones to make it work and make it scalable for the ecosystem.

MP: How has your approach changed compared to when Tru Optik set out to revolutionize targeted advertising across connected TVs?

Swanston: Back then, we didn't have any relationships. We started from scratch, figuring out how to build credibility as we went. This time around, I can send text messages to C-level execs at some of the biggest media companies, ad-tech platforms and agencies.

With the credibility and connections we have gained from Tru Optik, I hope we can move even faster than we did last time.

MP: How will you supply games to users? Have you already partnered with major gaming publishers?

Swanston: We started having conversations over a year ago with publishers and studios. We just want to make sure that we can curate games that can satisfy a wide, diverse set of potential players.

Everything from the mega-casual that just want to play a trivia game with their remote control, to people that want to play a racing game or a slicer ninja game with their smartphone as the controller, to the more traditional gamer who wants the full-on game controller that is connected to the TV with bluetooth or wifi.

MP: What games are you most excited to host on your platform?

Swanston: We will make game partnership announcements in the next couple of months. What I can say is that I'm encouraged by some of the studios that are also looking at ways to work with us in terms of customizing games to work well on smart TVs.

MP: Do you think Phynd's business model will "kill the console?”

Swanston: No, but I think the console is dying already. Console manufacturers have already begun shifting their focus to cloud gaming experiences, but those are behind subscription walls or limited to certain devices.

MP: How do you plan to tailor and present ads on your platform?

Swanston: We will have pre-roll video opportunities, just like on a smart TV, so as not to interrupt the actual gameplay.

That is very easy for any TV advertiser to understand – you're buying an ad on a TV, but instead of watching passive content right after, they are having more engaged content because it is being played.

We have also looked at experiences, quests and challenges that can be sponsored by brands. And we have some other things up our sleeve that will come out later.

MP: Do you think this opportunity will inspire more people to become gamers?

Swanston: I think there are already gamers who will invest time in a new medium of gaming, but there are a lot of casual gamers who would never buy a console and will want to experience mobile games on a larger screen in a shared social environment.

There are also a lot of people who can't afford to spend $500 on a gaming device. Now, they can buy a controller for $30 at Walmart and play a bunch of games for free.

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March 6, 2025 at 02:37PM