Spectrum Reach
AI local sales house: TV spot generation for SMB advertisers coupled with a media planning tool fed by the operator's first-party data
Clients of Spectrum Reach, the advertising sales house of Charter Communications, have created more than 15,000 TV ads on Waymark's generative AI platform since the early 2023 partnership, across 91 local markets and 6,737 completed projects, with ad budgets made possible by generated creative rising from $11.5 million in 2022 to $27 million in 2023, complemented since July 2025 by the Spectrum Reach Architect media planning tool.
Key points
- Spectrum Reach clients have created more than 15,000 spots with Waymark's AI platform since early 2023.
- The setup covers 91 local markets, with 6,737 completed projects and 138% year-over-year growth.
- Ad budgets carried by these AI creatives rose from $11.5 million in 2022 to $27 million in 2023.
- Spectrum Reach Architect, AI media planning, has been generally available since July 2025 after a trial with more than 2,000 advertisers.
Objective
Open TV advertising to local SMBs, kept away by the cost and complexity of producing a spot, then by the difficulty of building a media plan. For Charter, the point is monetizing local inventory that large advertisers do not fill: every SMB converted into a TV advertiser is a new budget, not a shifted one. Creative generation removes the first barrier, the planning tool the second.
The deployment
Charter monetizes its local ad inventory from the bottom of the market, attacking the two obstacles that keep SMBs away from TV. The first is creative: since a deal announced in early 2023, Spectrum Reach clients produce their spots on Waymark's generative AI platform. In October 2025, Spectrum Reach announced that its clients had created more than 15,000 ads this way. The case study published by Waymark gives the detail: 91 local markets covered, 6,737 completed projects, 138% year-over-year growth, and ad budgets made possible by generated creative rising from $11.5 million in 2022 to $27 million in 2023. The second obstacle is planning. On July 29, 2025, Spectrum Reach made its Spectrum Reach Architect tool generally available, after a six-month trial with more than 2,000 local advertisers. The tool recommends an allocation across TV, digital and streaming based on campaign history and the operator's first-party data, including data from the Spectrum TV App. That data foundation is what Charter claims cannot be reproduced: its direct connections to more than 30 million U.S. households. Worth noting for anyone comparing with the Comcast Universal Ads case already indexed: the creative partner is the same (Waymark), but the setup differs. Comcast built a cross-publisher self-serve buying platform; Charter grafts AI onto an existing local sales house, with salespeople who walk the advertiser through it.
Results Proof B
Three concordant sources of different kinds. The volume of more than 15,000 ads created is announced by Spectrum Reach and reported by TV Technology, established trade press. The dollar figures ($11.5 million in 2022, $27 million in 2023), markets (91) and projects (6,737) come from the case study published by the vendor Waymark, an official but interested source. General availability of Spectrum Reach Architect after a trial with more than 2,000 advertisers is established by Charter's announcement. Level B rather than A: Charter publishes no AI-attributable ad revenue in its financial documents, and the dollar figures come from the vendor.
How it works
Inferred typical approachThe internal detail is not public. Here is a proven approach that leads to the same result, to adapt to your stack.
The stack in detail
- outil Waymark AI ad creation platform used by Spectrum Reach clients to produce their TV spots. Partnership announced in early 2023.
- plateforme Spectrum Reach Architect Proprietary media planning tool, generally available on July 29, 2025 after a six-month trial with more than 2,000 local advertisers. It produces TV, digital and streaming recommendations from campaign history and the operator's first-party data.
How it runs, concretely
For ops teams-
1Sales outreach agency
The local salesperson approaches an SMB that has never run TV and shows that a spot can be produced without a shoot.
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2Spot generation AI
The spot is created on the Waymark platform from the advertiser's assets.
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3Advertiser sign-off client
The SMB approves or adjusts the creative before airing.
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4Building the media plan AI
Spectrum Reach Architect recommends the split across TV, digital and streaming from campaign history and first-party data.
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5Delivery on local inventory data team
The campaign runs on the operator's inventory in the relevant market.
Campaign performance history and the operator's first-party data, including from the Spectrum TV App, feed the media plan recommendations. Without owned audience data, the planning tool loses what distinguishes it from a simple budget simulator.
How your customers perceive this type of use
Sourced studiesUn ecart net separe les annonceurs des consommateurs : 77% des annonceurs voient l'IA positivement contre 38% des consommateurs (Yahoo/Publicis, 2024). Les mesures implicites confirment le rejet declare : en EEG, les pubs generees par IA produisent une activation memorielle plus faible que les pubs traditionnelles et sont decrites comme agacantes, ennuyeuses et confuses (NIQ, 2024). La disclosure a un effet ambivalent : elle augmente fortement la confiance quand elle est remarquee (Yahoo/Publicis), mais 27% des jeunes consommateurs disent faire moins confiance a une entreprise dont la pub est creee par IA (IAB, 2024).
Acceptance conditions
- Une disclosure visible : quand la mention IA est remarquee, la confiance globale envers l'entreprise augmente de 96% (Yahoo/Publicis 2024)
- Une qualite visuelle suffisante : les visuels IA de basse qualite augmentent l'effort cognitif et distraient du message (NIQ 2024)
Red lines
- Le contenu IA non declare puis identifie : 72% des consommateurs disent que l'IA rend l'authenticite difficile a etablir (Yahoo/Publicis 2024) et les marques utilisant des pubs IA sont plus souvent jugees inauthentiques ou non ethiques par les consommateurs que par les dirigeants (IAB 2024)
- Les mannequins et personnes generes par IA : 46% des consommateurs n'en veulent pas dans la publicite, l'inquietude premiere etant les standards de beaute irrealistes (Attest 2025)
Sources: Yahoo / Publicis Media (terrain Ebco) 2024 · IAB (avec Attest) 2024 · NIQ (NielsenIQ) 2024 · Attest 2025
How to replicate
Inference, not sourcedData prerequisites
- First-party audience data from distribution (set-top box, TV app, streaming) attachable to a local market
- A local campaign history usable to feed media plan recommendations
- The advertiser's brand assets (website, visuals, logo) as raw material for creative generation
Org prerequisites
- A local sales house with salespeople in contact with SMBs: they are what converts, the tool does not sell itself
- A partnership with an AI video creation platform, or an internal equivalent
- Under-monetized local ad inventory to fill
- In Europe, a compliance framework on TV consumption data and on transparency for generated creatives
Possible stack
- Video spot generation platform connected to the advertiser's assets
- Media planning tool fed by campaign history and owned audience data
- Existing TV, digital and streaming delivery chain
- Tracking of budget captured per newly converted advertiser
The plan, step by step
- Step 1Identify under-sold pockets of local inventory and the advertiser type absent from TV for lack of creative.Deliverable: Map of available inventory and target advertiser segment.
- Step 2Connect a spot generation platform to the advertiser's brand assets, with human sign-off before airing.Deliverable: Creative production chain with no shoot, operable by a salesperson.
- Step 3Equip the local sales force to lead with the spot as the entry argument, not as an option.Deliverable: Sales pitch built on an already produced creative.
- Step 4Build the planning tool on campaign history and owned audience data.Deliverable: TV, digital and streaming split recommendation per advertiser.
- Step 5Track new spending and shifted spending separately, market by market.Deliverable: Incremental monetization measurement and geographic coverage.
First step: Take a single local market and a segment of SMBs that have never advertised on TV, produce them a spot with no shoot, and measure the budget committed by those who would never have bought otherwise. That number, the new spending, is the only one that says whether the setup creates monetization or moves an existing budget.
The same pattern, proven in other industries
Comcast
AI ad sales operation: generative AI production of TV spots coupled with a self-serve buying platform, to open premium inventory to small advertisers.
Dollar General
In-store audio retail media network, with AI-generated and localized audio ads
Duolingo
Conversational genAI tutor inside a premium subscription
Sources
- S1 Spectrum Reach Has Deployed More Than 15,000 AI-Powered Ad Campaigns Established press archive pending
- S2 Bringing TV to the SMB Market (etude de cas Spectrum Reach) Interested party archive pending
- S3 INTRODUCING SPECTRUM REACH ARCHITECT: AI-POWERED INSIGHTS FOR ADVERTISERS Primary archive pending
An error, newer info, a source?
This page lives on its accuracy. If a figure has moved, if the deployment has changed, or if you have a higher-quality source, tell us. Every sourced correction is verified before publication.