As media consumption fragments across connected TV (CTV) platforms, age brackets alone fail to capture consumer motivation.

For years, CTV advertising has operated on a foundational assumption: demographic cohorts such as age, gender, and income are the best proxy for consumer intent. That assumption still shapes buying today: nearly 30% of US marketers prioritize demographic targeting for CTV ads, almost three times more than contextual approaches, per a July 2025 Gracenote survey.

Today, the highest-performing CTV strategies center on passion rather than profiles. Fandoms surrounding gaming franchises, anime, sports, and cult entertainment deliver brand recall and purchase intent that traditional demographics cannot match.

Three forces are converging to redefine CTV audience targeting: premium intellectual property (IP), device-native streaming, and AI-powered programmatic infrastructure. Leaders from Sony Pictures Entertainment, PubMatic, and Acxiom unpacked that convergence at an Advertising Week New York panel this week, moderated by Axios media reporter Kerry Flynn.

Unlocking authenticated signals at scale

Technology that lets advertisers reach passionate communities programmatically at scale is driving the shift toward fandom targeting.

"I think this is the first time that we've really been able to target fans at scale programmatically," noted Nicole Scaglione, vice president of CTV/OTT & OLV at PubMatic. "Demographics tell us a lot about where a person is, but fandom tells us what they love. Taking that insight gives us a contextualized connection that we didn't have before."

That connection depends on device-native environments where users are authenticated and logged in. PlayStation is one such platform, sitting where entertainment, gaming, and media intersect.

"For us, fandom is the intersection of where users are, their passions are, where it hits media, and that's an incredible opportunity for advertisers," explained Jason White, vice president of Ads at Sony Pictures Entertainment. White highlighted how Sony maps IP across ecosystems while transitioning AAA franchises like "The Last of Us" from gaming IP to television, while hosting sports, anime, and gaming hubs on PlayStation.

"You're talking about 35 million people in the United States authenticating into a FAST service where you immediately know them. It's about taking that contextual passion and driving them down the purchase funnel," said White.

Identity rails and the "torso of intent"

While device authentication provides rich signals, converting raw data into actionable audience segments requires modern identity infrastructure. Unconnected signals risk creating noise rather than utility.

"There's more signals than ever before, but the signals are kind of meaningless if they're not connected, filtered, and really understood and tied back to a person," stated Sean Muzzy, president at Acxiom. Muzzy emphasized that identity solutions like Acxiom's RealID serve as the connective tissue between a brand's first-party data and publisher passion points.

Connected identity lets advertisers activate campaigns across the entire purchase journey.

"You're stuffing the top part of the funnel with sponsorship opportunities," Muzzy observed. "Then you get down into that torso of intent and consideration, pulling users further down to ultimate conversion. Emotional connection matters more than ever to stand out from the noise."

Panelists urged buyers and publishers to move past outdated, adversarial dynamics. "We need to get away from this "Grosse Pointe Blank" holding your guns and not trusting each other vibe," White said. "Publishers need to say, 'I'll work with you any way you want: PMP, preferred deals, open marketplace, just tell me what your objectives are.'"

AI now accelerates both audience intelligence and media optimization, and Scaglione was clear about who directs it.

"We are the overlords of the AI," Scaglione said. "We should tell it to find that signal for us so that when an ad is served, the viewer feels pleasantly disrupted."

How brands should approach fandom opportunities

To capture outsize ROI from fandom-driven CTV, advertisers should adopt a four-part playbook:

• Replace static demos with passion signals: Move beyond age and gender targets. Identify the specific IP, genre hubs, and community touchpoints where deep engagement occurs.
• Bridge first-party data with identity rails: Use identity frameworks such as RealID to map customer data against authenticated publisher ecosystems.
• Optimize across the "Torso of Intent": Align buying strategies to the full funnel by combining top-of-funnel sponsorships with performance-driven private marketplace (PMP) deals.
• Demand open, transparent collaboration: Partner with authenticated, device-native publishers willing to support flexible deal mechanics and transparent multi-touch measurement.

This was originally featured in the EMARKETER Daily newsletter. For more marketing insights, statistics, and trends, subscribe here.