Partner content
For years, TV planning around major sporting moments has started with the same question: what are people watching? As Pauline Yoo, UK agency lead at Samsung Ads, put it at Cannes, that’s no longer enough. “Audiences don’t simply switch on the TV and arrive at a broadcaster in the way they used to,” she noted. “Instead, they immediately enter an environment where they’re choosing between streaming services, broadcaster apps, gaming platforms and free TV.”
In that environment, the Home Screen has quietly become television’s new front door – and now, the new gateway to the game.
Richard Mashiter, business director at PHD, sees it as the moment where the smartest brands are starting to win. “The home screen has effectively become television’s front door,” he said. “It’s where people decide what they want to watch, and increasingly it’s where brands have an opportunity to become part of that journey before content has even begun.”
That’s particularly powerful around live sport, where timing matters as much as placement. “If you think about major live sporting events such as the World Cup, the instinct has traditionally been to buy the match itself,” Richard explained. “But depending on the brand, that isn’t always the smartest moment.”
Uber Eats during England games is a case in point. Rather than fighting for attention in and around the live broadcast, PHD used the Samsung Ads Home Screen to reach fans in the build‑up to kick‑off. “We used Samsung’s home screen around England matches,” Richard said. “Rather than competing during the game itself, we owned the anticipation beforehand. We wanted to be present while people were getting ready for the match, deciding what they were doing and placing their orders. And so the advertising became part of the experience rather than interrupting it.”
It’s a blueprint for brands that want to tap into the energy of live sport without paying for official sponsorship. By turning the Home Screen into a pre‑game stage, advertisers can:
- Reach fans as they’re deciding how to watch and what to do for the match
- Insert themselves into match‑day rituals, like ordering food or planning gatherings
- Align their messaging with anticipation, not distraction
As Pauline summed up, Connected TV is “the convergence of television and digital,” where brand building and smarter targeting now work hand in hand. Richard believes that means planning needs to evolve too: “Every brand has a different role to play,” he said. “The important thing is understanding where your brand naturally fits within the consumer journey rather than assuming the biggest audience is automatically the best opportunity.”
In that context, the Home Screen is emerging as a core format in modern CTV strategy: the place where attention begins, where fans first arrive on match day, and where brands can now win the game before viewers ever press play.
