FreeWheel unifies CTV product ecosystem with new suite names

FreeWheel has unveiled new suite and solution names aimed at unifying its connected TV (CTV) offerings. The announcement, made just four days ago on April 29, 2025, represents a strategic move to create a more intuitive approach to the company's end-to-end capabilities while reinforcing its commitment to modernizing TV advertising.

According to David Dworin, Chief Product Officer at FreeWheel, the company has introduced a more cohesive product architecture organized into clearly defined suites. "This is about more than just names—it's about creating a clear and consistent experience for our customers," Dworin stated in the company's blog post announcing the changes.

The restructuring comes at a time when the TV advertising landscape has grown increasingly complex. The new suite structure introduces more descriptive names that aim to better reflect the real-world needs of FreeWheel's clients and make it easier to understand how the company's solutions work together.

The revamped product lineup is organized into two main categories: FreeWheel Publisher Suite and FreeWheel Advertiser Suite. The Publisher Suite includes two main components: FreeWheel Streaming Hub and FreeWheel SSP. The Streaming Hub, formerly known as "MRM" or "TV Platform," is a full-stack supply-side solution designed to simplify video ad management and monetization through intelligent ad decisioning and an integrated SSP.

FreeWheel SSP, which builds on the company's acquisition of StickyAds and the evolution of SFX, is positioned as the world's largest premium CTV marketplace. The platform drives programmatic revenue through an expansive demand ecosystem for high-quality, brand-safe inventory across top TV shows and feature films.

On the buy side, the FreeWheel Advertiser Suite offers media buyers greater transparency, control, and flexibility over their CTV buying activities. This suite includes three components: FreeWheel Curation Hub, FreeWheel DSP, and FreeWheel Buyer Cloud.

The Curation Hub is a new buy-side innovation that provides agencies with tools to unify and efficiently manage their CTV supply portfolios, curate and activate their own deals, and track commitments with greater insight and flexibility. FreeWheel DSP, formerly known as the Beeswax DSP, focuses on turnkey, performance-focused programmatic buying, providing access to premium TV inventory with built-in optimization and advanced identity capabilities for precise audience targeting.

FreeWheel Buyer Cloud, previously known as Beeswax's Bidder-as-a-Service or "BaaS," offers cloud-based, modular infrastructure that empowers agencies to integrate CTV into their media management systems. This provides full transparency and control over data activation, decisioning, optimization, and measurement to support tailored buying strategies and custom agency solutions.

The company's flagship cross-channel media planning and buying platform, Strata, will continue under its current name and with the same capabilities. FreeWheel emphasized that while the names are changing, the core functionality and value delivered remain the same.

Concurrent with the rebranding announcement, FreeWheel also introduced new capabilities to its Streaming Hub on April 29, 2025. These enhancements include advanced platform customizations, improved data signals, and optimized bidding aimed at strengthening the connection between buyers and sellers to improve the ad-supported TV experience.

Mark McKee, General Manager at FreeWheel, explained the company's focus: "At FreeWheel, our goal is singular: how can we deliver positive business outcomes for our partners across the streaming ecosystem. It's why we integrated our programmatic and direct capabilities more than half a decade ago, and why today we are sharing we have further streamlined and enhanced our offerings so more advertisers can connect with more premium publishers to deliver a thoughtful brand and viewing experience."

The enhanced capabilities are designed to grow the premium streaming marketplace and make it a more effective platform for connecting advertisers and publishers. One notable upgrade is dynamic floor price, which provides additional flexibility to match advertisers with publishers while maintaining enhanced control and ensuring efficiency, transparency, and precise targeting for advertisers.

Several major media companies have already integrated with FreeWheel's enhanced platform, including A+E, DIRECTV, Locality, Roku, Spectrum Reach, and Warner Bros. Discovery. These partnerships reflect the industry's move toward more streamlined and efficient advertising solutions in the streaming space.

Miles Fisher, Senior Director of Strategic Advertising Partnerships at Roku, highlighted the importance of the partnership: "Roku offers the premium content that is crucial for advertisers. We strive to meet buyers where they want to transact and our partnership with FreeWheel makes it even easier for them to work with us."

Rob Klippel, Senior Vice President of Product, Technology and Operations at Spectrum Reach, emphasized how the integration benefits programmatic buyers: "Spectrum Reach's integration with FreeWheel makes it even easier for programmatic buyers to access our premium inventory at scale within their preferred demand-side platform. Powered by our privacy-focused, addressable data and unmatched household reach, advertisers can effectively connect with potential customers and drive real results."

The company is also focusing on enhancing the advertising experience during live events, which have become increasingly important in the streaming ecosystem. These enhancements include adjusted campaign pacing, viewership surge anticipation, and expanded advertiser diversity. According to FreeWheel, these features ensure that publishers and brands can both be confident they are enhancing the viewing experience with their advertising offerings.

Keith Kazerman, President of Streaming at Locality, underscored the significance of live sports in streaming: "Live sports continue to be one of the most powerful draws in streaming, due to audience loyalty and high engagement rates. With FreeWheel, we're creating new pathways for local advertisers to access premium, addressable live sports inventory that has traditionally been out of reach."

FreeWheel's platform adjustments address a critical challenge in the CTV advertising space: standardization. While data-driven insights have become essential for TV advertising, discrepancies in quality have posed challenges for both buyers and sellers. By implementing standard signals across all content sources, FreeWheel aims to make it easier for advertisers to find audiences at scale across platforms.

The platform is also leveraging Comcast data through the FreeWheel Identity Network, which integrates leading identity solutions with first-party identity data to enable efficient audience targeting that delivers more demand back to publishers.

Matt Van Houten, SVP of Product, Operations, and Business Development at DIRECTV Advertising, praised these enhancements: "FreeWheel's enhanced capabilities within their Streaming Hub allow us to deliver more precise audience targeting while maximizing efficiencies across DIRECTV's premium inventory. We're particularly excited about how these improvements will help us continue to connect advertisers to engaged viewers across our platform, creating a more seamless advertising experience for viewers and marketers alike."

Tyler DeNicola, Vice President of Programmatic Revenue and Partnerships at A+E Networks, highlighted how the partnership expands their capabilities: "Through A+E Global's partnership with FreeWheel, we're expanding our addressable inventory capabilities, enabling advertisers to deliver smarter, data-driven targeted placements across our entire content portfolio. This precision targeting not only enhances our monetization potential but, most importantly, creates a more relevant and engaging audience experience."

These developments reflect broader industry trends toward consolidation and simplification in the fragmented CTV advertising landscape. As streaming continues to grow and capture more advertising dollars, technology platforms like FreeWheel are focusing on creating more unified, transparent, and efficient ecosystems that connect buyers and sellers more effectively.

For marketing professionals, FreeWheel's product restructuring and enhanced capabilities signify several important developments. First, the standardization of signals across content sources addresses one of the persistent challenges in CTV advertising: finding and reaching audiences consistently across different platforms. This standardization could potentially reduce the complexity and resource requirements for executing CTV campaigns.

Second, the integration of programmatic and direct capabilities within a unified platform reflects the industry's move toward more flexible and efficient buying models. As traditional upfront buying evolves to accommodate the more dynamic nature of streaming, tools that enable both traditional and programmatic approaches within a single ecosystem become increasingly valuable.

Third, the enhanced capabilities for live events acknowledge the growing importance of streaming for sports and other live content. As more live programming moves to streaming platforms, having tools specifically designed to handle the unique challenges of live advertising becomes essential for both buyers and sellers.

The moves also illustrate how the line between traditional TV and digital advertising continues to blur. By creating a more cohesive ecosystem that incorporates elements from both worlds, FreeWheel is positioning itself at the intersection of these converging paths.

Timeline of FreeWheel's product evolution:

• Pre-2025: Operated with separate product names including MRM, TV Platform, Beeswax DSP, and Bidder-as-a-Service (BaaS)
• Pre-2025: Acquired StickyAds and evolved it into SFX
• Pre-2025: Integrated programmatic and direct capabilities
• April 29, 2025: Announced new unified product ecosystem with Publisher Suite and Advertiser Suite
• April 29, 2025: Introduced enhanced capabilities to Streaming Hub including advanced platform customizations, improved data signals, and optimized bidding
• April 29, 2025: Announced partnerships with A+E, DIRECTV, Locality, Roku, Spectrum Reach, and Warner Bros. Discovery
• Moving forward: Continued focus on simplifying media buying to connect more advertisers with premium publishers across streaming platforms