Tuned In: How Frndly TV Curates Audiences Around Tentpole Moments

When it comes to streaming, not every platform is built the same. Through a lineup of “feel-good” channels, Frndly TV, recently acquired by Roku, has cultivated a unique and highly engaged community of viewers. We sat down with Frndly’s Vice President and Head of Advertising, Steve Sklar, to learn more about their audience, how they approach advertising, and how their partnership with Magnite is helping them deliver value to brands.

How would you describe your core audience today — and what makes them valuable to advertisers?

Frndly attracts cord-cutters who are passionate about feel-good entertainment from networks like Hallmark, History Channel, Lifetime, and MeTV. Our customers value being entertained at a fair price and are especially enthusiastic about movies, holiday programming, westerns, sitcoms, and classic films. Demographically, our audience skews slightly female: 39% are ages 18–44, 44% are 55+, and 67% are homeowners.

On average, viewers spend more than 20 hours per week with Frndly, and over 90% say we’re the only live TV service they subscribe to. Geographically, while we have a presence in all major DMAs, our audience tends to skew toward the Southeast, Midwest, and Southwest, offering advertisers a different reach than coastal-focused platforms.

As our audience and content have grown, so has our ad supply. With exclusive inventory across our platform — and the fact that the majority of Frndly customers consider us their go-to and often only live TV service — we can demonstrate to advertisers the unique value of our authenticated, highly engaged viewers.

How has your growth shaped your advertising strategy and approach to scale?

We’ve expanded our ad strategy to include a dedicated offering for direct-response advertisers, using obfuscated content metadata to enable more targeted campaigns. Increasingly, our content partners and programmers recognize the benefits of full addressability and opt to have us sell all their inventory rather than relying on their national feed. The large amount of exclusive inventory Frndly has to offer, combined with our unique audiences not found elsewhere, makes it a compelling reason to buy Frndly.

Different buyers want different things, though. For national CPG brands seeking broad reach, we recommend one-to-one PMPs through Frndly Run of Network. For agencies or brands working with DSPs like The Trade Desk, Yahoo DSP, or DV360, we enable precise targeting using the EIDs we expose through Magnite SpringServe. While scale can be a challenge as a younger company, our partnership with Magnite has allowed us to punch above our weight by tapping into their demand facilitation capabilities.

How do you build programming and advertising opportunities around tentpole events?

Holidays are huge for us. Thanks to our partnerships with Hallmark, GAC, Lifetime, and UPtv, we’re a top destination for holiday content. During these seasonal moments, we offer holiday packages that let advertisers reach viewers engaged with festive programming, including holiday movies and a dedicated holiday music channel. Beyond traditional spots, we also leverage hero image carousels on our home screen, featured placements in our program guide, and even pop-up channels for specific advertiser campaigns.

How do you package inventory for advertisers?

Our core inventory is the Frndly Run of Network, which includes more than 50 linear TV channels such as Hallmark, A&E, GAC Family, Game Show Network, INSP, MeTV, and The Weather Channel. We provide content metadata like genre, rating, network name, and duration, along with identity solutions such as UID2, RampID, PairID, CoreID, and ConnectID to enable precise targeting.

Additionally, we offer Frndly Extra Inventory, designed for performance advertisers. This package includes exclusive control of ad inventory across more than 20 networks. It is available through SpringServe’s Direct Response Marketplace, ensuring marketers can reach our audiences efficiently.

What are your top priorities for 2025 and beyond, and what should advertisers know about Frndly?

In the past six months, we’ve prioritized rolling out EIDs and enhancing audience targeting solutions while also evaluating contextual opportunities to align creative with our audience’s mindset. Thanks to SpringServe’s integration with LiveRamp, we’ve already activated four EIDs, and we’re excited about the upcoming ability to manage their availability more effectively. Pause Ads are on our radar now that Magnite has gone live with this format. Also, with Roku now our parent company, we’re eager to leverage its expansive capabilities to continue scaling our advertising offerings.

By doubling down on feel-good content, creating sponsorship opportunities around cultural moments, and partnering with Magnite to bring scale and precision to advertisers, Frndly has carved out a distinctive space in the CTV landscape. Whether it’s holiday movies, classic sitcoms, or trusted family-friendly networks, Frndly’s focus on community and connection is resonating with viewers and creating powerful opportunities for brands to reach them.