Experiential Media Networks Need Unified Buying to Scale, Says LiveRamp’s Stanichev
CANNES, France – The airport screen showing a tourism ad and the hotel room product sample from a CPG brand might feel like completely different advertising experiences. But, for the consumer walking through that journey, it’s one seamless moment of attention.
While platforms like Uber, DoorDash, and Connective have built substantial advertising businesses by bridging online and offline touchpoints, the traditional siloing of media budgets continues to hamper growth.
“The allocation of budget is what becomes challenging,” said Frederick Stanichev, VP of sales at LiveRamp, in a video interview with Beet.TV at Cannes Lions. Out-of-home screens in airports get purchased by out-of-home buyers, even when the entire connected experience is digital, he explained.
Brands should think in moments, not channels
The fragmentation extends beyond just buying structures. Experiential media networks span multiple verticals and formats – from ride-share apps to gaming platforms to hotel properties – creating complexity that doesn’t map neatly onto traditional agency structures.
Stanichev argued that brands need to reconceptualize their approach entirely. “When you think now about the engagement of the audiences, whether it’s actually an online or offline moment, both are actually converging into one single experience,” he said. “So there’s not necessarily a differentiation from a user standpoint.”
Rather than treating digital and physical touchpoints as separate line items, advertisers should view them as “a global moment of attention that they want to purchase,” Stanichev added. This shift in mindset could help unlock budgets currently trapped in channel-specific allocations.
Endemic advertisers paved the way
Despite the buying challenges, several experiential media networks have achieved meaningful scale by starting with partners already embedded in their ecosystems. Stanichev pointed to Uber and DoorDash as prime examples of platforms that built “amazing ad businesses” by first capitalizing on endemic advertisers.
“When we think about Uber or DoorDash, it’s all about the initial QSR retailers actually being leveraged through the delivery services,” he said. Similarly, Connective’s early growth came from tourism boards—advertisers with natural alignment to airport environments.
Gaming platforms like EA and Sony have followed a comparable playbook, nurturing relationships with endemic partners willing to invest for the long term. “I think this is the way to initiate the growth—really to capitalize on the endemic, initial corporation partners to invest and build for the long term together,” Stanichev said.
Data collaboration unlocks measurement
LiveRamp positions itself as a “neutral, interoperable platform” that helps clients connect data residing in different systems against a single customer ID. That unified view can then be activated across delivery platforms and measured through what Stanichev described as a “unified measurement framework.”
The company has been investing heavily in AI capabilities to automate campaign planning and optimization, and recently integrated NVIDIA infrastructure to accelerate model training within its clean room architecture.
But Stanichev emphasized that measurement in experiential media requires genuine partnership between networks and advertisers. “The transactional data does not necessarily sit with the media networks and will sit actually with the brand,” he explained.
You’re watching The Beet.TV Leadership Sessions at Cannes Lions 2026, presented by LiveRamp. For more videos from this series, please visit this page. You can find all of our coverage from Cannes Lions 2026 here.
CANNES, France – The airport screen showing a tourism ad and the hotel room product sample from a CPG brand might feel like completely different advertising experiences. But, for the consumer walking through that journey, it’s one seamless moment of attention.
While platforms like Uber, DoorDash, and Connective have built substantial advertising businesses by bridging online and offline touchpoints, the traditional siloing of media budgets continues to hamper growth.
“The allocation of budget is what becomes challenging,” said Frederick Stanichev, VP of sales at LiveRamp, in a video interview with Beet.TV at Cannes Lions. Out-of-home screens in airports get purchased by out-of-home buyers, even when the entire connected experience is digital, he explained.
Brands should think in moments, not channels
The fragmentation extends beyond just buying structures. Experiential media networks span multiple verticals and formats – from ride-share apps to gaming platforms to hotel properties – creating complexity that doesn’t map neatly onto traditional agency structures.
Stanichev argued that brands need to reconceptualize their approach entirely. “When you think now about the engagement of the audiences, whether it’s actually an online or offline moment, both are actually converging into one single experience,” he said. “So there’s not necessarily a differentiation from a user standpoint.”
Rather than treating digital and physical touchpoints as separate line items, advertisers should view them as “a global moment of attention that they want to purchase,” Stanichev added. This shift in mindset could help unlock budgets currently trapped in channel-specific allocations.
Endemic advertisers paved the way
Despite the buying challenges, several experiential media networks have achieved meaningful scale by starting with partners already embedded in their ecosystems. Stanichev pointed to Uber and DoorDash as prime examples of platforms that built “amazing ad businesses” by first capitalizing on endemic advertisers.
“When we think about Uber or DoorDash, it’s all about the initial QSR retailers actually being leveraged through the delivery services,” he said. Similarly, Connective’s early growth came from tourism boards—advertisers with natural alignment to airport environments.
Gaming platforms like EA and Sony have followed a comparable playbook, nurturing relationships with endemic partners willing to invest for the long term. “I think this is the way to initiate the growth—really to capitalize on the endemic, initial corporation partners to invest and build for the long term together,” Stanichev said.
Data collaboration unlocks measurement
LiveRamp positions itself as a “neutral, interoperable platform” that helps clients connect data residing in different systems against a single customer ID. That unified view can then be activated across delivery platforms and measured through what Stanichev described as a “unified measurement framework.”
The company has been investing heavily in AI capabilities to automate campaign planning and optimization, and recently integrated NVIDIA infrastructure to accelerate model training within its clean room architecture.
But Stanichev emphasized that measurement in experiential media requires genuine partnership between networks and advertisers. “The transactional data does not necessarily sit with the media networks and will sit actually with the brand,” he explained.
You’re watching The Beet.TV Leadership Sessions at Cannes Lions 2026, presented by LiveRamp. For more videos from this series, please visit this page. You can find all of our coverage from Cannes Lions 2026 here.
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