FreeWheel Integrates Tunnl Audiences to Accelerate Political and Public Affairs Targeting Across CTV for 2026 Campaigns

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Key Terms

syndicated audiences technical

Syndicated audiences are the combined groups of readers, viewers or users reached when a publisher’s content is distributed through third-party partners and platforms rather than only on the publisher’s own site. For investors, these audiences matter because they expand reach and ad or subscription potential much like placing a product in many stores instead of one shop—broader distribution can boost revenue, brand recognition and the value of audience-based business metrics.

inventory technical

Inventory is the items a business keeps to sell or use in making products, including raw materials, partly finished goods and finished products ready for customers. For investors it shows how much cash is tied up and how well a company meets demand — like a household pantry where too much food wastes money and too little causes missed meals; shifts in inventory can reveal changes in sales, production efficiency or potential cash strain.

behavior-based audiences technical

Behavior-based audiences are groups of people put together based on what they do—online clicks, searches, purchases, app use, or repeated visits—rather than who they are demographically. For investors, this matters because companies that can identify and reach people showing real buying signals tend to spend marketing dollars more efficiently and convert more sales, which can improve revenue predictability and growth prospects much like a store focusing on regular shoppers instead of passersby.

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03/18/2026 - 08:00 AM

In adding latest data partner to its platform, FreeWheel cements position as a one-stop shop for political buyers targeting audiences with precision at scale and a streamlined process from strategy to activation.

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- FreeWheel, the leading global technology platform for the streaming advertising ecosystem, today announced a direct integration with Tunnl, giving political and issues-based advertisers streamlined access to Tunnl’s syndicated audiences within FreeWheel buying workflows across premium CTV.

“As campaigns and issues-focused organizations head toward the 2026 midterms, speed and flexibility are key,” said Michelle Eule, Executive Director, Data and Measurement Partnerships at FreeWheel. “Audience strategy can shift day to day and activation needs to keep pace. With Tunnl now available on-platform, our buyers can more quickly find and activate audiences built for political and adjacent use cases, spanning topics such as issues, advocacy, policy and reputation.”

With 2026 political ad spending projected to reach $10.8 billion overall, CTV is expected to hit $2.5 billion, becoming a must-buy channel for campaigns and advocacy organizations. At the same time, voters are increasingly issue-led: 65% say they vote based on issues, not party, and 75% prefer political ads focused on issues—raising the bar for accurate, relevant targeting and credible environments for messaging.ⁱ

By adding Tunnl’s political and issues-based voter segments to its growing roster of directly integrated political data partners, FreeWheel is giving political buyers a more centralized way to reach key voter audiences with speed and precision on CTV. Highlights of this integration include:

Issue-driven scale: Tunnl supplies 3,500+ syndicated, issue-driven segments designed to help reach swim voters, primary voters, and policy influencers.
Precision at platform scale: FreeWheel delivers a ~90% match rate against eligible FreeWheel CTV inventory to help reduce waste and improve addressability.ⁱⁱ

“Making Tunnl’s marketplace audiences available within FreeWheel’s buying workflows empowers political and public affairs teams to streamline the process for activation,” said Jeff Teng, SVP of Partnerships at Tunnl. “This is the type of direct workflow that allows teams to focus on message relevance and campaign strategy, not the mechanics for delivery. When every second counts in campaign season, this partnership turns time-consuming processes into rapid execution against behavior-based audiences.”

As campaigns brace for a competitive election cycle, political advertisers cannot afford wasted impressions, slow workflows or unreliable targeting. FreeWheel delivers the scale, accuracy and speed required to win on CTV—combining premium inventory access with advanced data, identity and activation tools built specifically for fast-moving political strategies. And with 49% of potential voters saying they take action after seeing a political ad, reaching the right audiences in trusted premium video environments is increasingly tied to measurable outcomes.

About FreeWheel

FreeWheel empowers all segments of the streaming advertising ecosystem. We are structured to provide the full breadth of solutions the advertising industry needs to achieve their goals. We provide the technology, data enablement and convergent marketplaces required to ensure buyers and sellers can transact across all screens, across all data types, and all sales channels, in order to ensure the ultimate goal – results for marketers. With offices in New York, Chicago, London, Paris, Beijing, and across the globe, FreeWheel, A Comcast Company, stands to advocate for the entire industry through the FreeWheel Council for Premium Video. For more information, please visit freewheel.com, and follow us on X and LinkedIn.

About Tunnl

Tunnl is erasing the boundaries between insights, audiences, and outcomes. Our AI-powered platform ensures every piece of research and every audience can be acted on. By combining the judgment of seasoned data experts with the power of artificial intelligence we help brands, agencies, and advocacy organizations find and connect with the people who matter most. From survey research and AI-powered modeling to audience activation and campaign measurement, the Tunnl Platform gives teams a single connected workflow built to eliminate the data silos that have long separated insight from action. Tunnl Marketplace Audiences extend that same research-driven intelligence into leading media buying environments for research-grade targeting with zero ramp-up. Learn more at tunnldata.com and follow us on LinkedIn.

ⁱ Comcast Advertising Consumer Survey, December 2025.

ⁱⁱ FreeWheel Internal Analysis, 2025.