DISH Media SVP Tom Fochetta on TV Ad Innovation

1. The TV landscape is experiencing more fragmentation than ever, presenting both challenges and opportunities in the industry. How is DISH Media simplifying that complexity and helping advertisers maximize unduplicated reach?

Today, TV advertisers are navigating a maze of platforms, each with different data policies, measurement standards, and audience behaviors. This complexity leads to duplicated reach, inconsistent reporting, and confusion around what’s actually driving results for advertisers.

At DISH Media, we’ve built an environment where advertisers can reach viewers across traditional and digital platforms in a way that’s seamless, scalable, and smarter. We combine addressable TV with programmatic buying options, providing privacy-conscious data strategies, and giving brands access to full funnel campaign insights.

Instead of treating linear and streaming as separate silos, we give buyers the ability to transact seamlessly across both with consistency and control. This approach is especially critical as marketers move toward outcome-based buying and demand more precision from their media partners. 

The ultimate goal is to simplify the buying process while enhancing the strategic value of every impression. We do that by making audience identity, campaign execution, and measurement work together—not in isolation.

2. Since stepping into your role as SVP of DISH Media, what leadership principles or priorities have guided your approach as you help the company grow amid rapid changes in the TV and adtech space?

One of the first things I recognized was the need to balance speed with intention. The media and adtech landscape is always evolving, and there’s constant pressure to innovate, to integrate, and to prove value. True leadership is making sure that innovation is solving actual business problems, not just keeping pace with what the rest of the industry is trying to achieve.

My guiding principle is for DISH Media to be a forward thinking partner—both in vision and execution. Too often, legacy platforms are seen as stuck in the past. We’re focused on what comes next, and how we can continue to drive value for advertisers as media becomes more dynamic and data-driven. We understand the digital landscape and bring scale, accountability, and addressability to TV. From expanding programmatic access to linear inventory, to growing our identity framework, or improving measurement, the goal is always the same: how do we make it easier for advertisers to access TV inventory and reach their intended audiences.

3. First-party data is becoming a cornerstone of effective advertising. What makes DISH Media’s data uniquely powerful, and how does your use of deterministic data lead to better targeting and campaign performance?

At DISH Media, deterministic data is the foundation. Unlike probabilistic models—which infer identity using signals like IP addresses, device IDs, or behavioral patterns—our data is based on verified subscribers. We know exactly who our customers are, where they are, and how they engage across DISH and Sling TV.

That gives us—and by extension, our advertising partners—a level of accuracy, persistence, and trust that probabilistic solutions simply can’t match. 

For advertisers looking to make every impression count, especially in high-consideration or regulated categories like auto, pharma, and travel, deterministic targeting isn’t a nice-to-have. It’s a requirement. DISH Media is one of the few platforms that can offer it at scale across both linear and streaming and it delivers results: +26% lift in auto sales, +51% in pharma brand scripts and +17% in travel bookings.

4. From Dish Connected™ to SSP partnerships, DISH Media has embraced programmatic. How are you making programmatic TV more effective, flexible, and transparent for buyers?

Programmatic TV is about automation, accessibility and agility. Historically, linear TV has operated in closed ecosystems, locked behind manual buys and fixed schedules. But that’s changed—and DISH Media was first to lead the charge.

When we launched DISH Connected™ in 2023, we enabled real-time, programmatic access to our live linear inventory, opening  up a new chapter for TV buying. 

What sets us apart is that we offer advertisers seamless access to converged, unduplicated audiences across DISH (linear) and Sling TV (CTV) via a single programmatic buy. Advertisers can plan, activate, and optimize across platforms within a single workflow.

We are agnostic across SSPs, DSPs, and measurement partners, continuing to invest in expanding relationships. And most importantly, we’re building trust with our advertisers, which means transparent reporting, consistent identity resolution, and supply path optimization that puts buyers’ goals first.

5. With robust measurement capabilities across the funnel, how is DISH Media empowering advertisers to gain effective insights and prove ROI across channels? What kinds of outcomes are you seeing?

We’ve made measurement a core pillar of our offering. Whether you’re looking to prove brand lift, drive web traffic or measure sales, we work with industry leading partners to validate outcomes in a transparent and flexible way.

With addressable campaigns, we’re seeing performance improvements across categories,including results powered by DISH Connected™, which brings real-time, programmatic access to DISH’s premium linear addressable inventory at scale.

Ultimately, measurement is a proof point, not just a vanity metric. When we can tie media exposure directly to business outcomes, that’s when media goes from being a cost center to a growth engine.

6. Innovations like Interactive and Pause Ads show how DISH Media balances creativity with results. How are these formats enhancing the viewer experience while driving brand engagement?

One of the most exciting shifts in our industry is the evolution of the ad experience itself. Consumers don’t dislike advertising, they dislike irrelevant, disruptive advertising. That’s where formats like Pause Ads and interactive experiences come in.

Pause Ads only appear when a viewer pauses content—offering a respectful, non-disruptive way to capture attention during natural breaks when viewers are already engaged. To help advertisers of all sizes access Pause Ads, we have partnered with Magnite to make them available programmatically..Interactive ads go a step further, allowing viewers to scan QR codes, play branded games, or find nearby locations all from the big screen. 

From a brand perspective, these experiences drive real action. And because they’re powered by deterministic data, they’re targeted, measurable, and fully customizable.

7. Viewer-centric innovation is a consistent theme at DISH Media. How does your focus on ad relevance, load management, and interactivity deliver better outcomes for advertisers and viewers alike?

Viewer-centric innovation starts with empathy. It’s asking not just how we can reach someone, but how we can make their experience additive. In a world of infinite content, relevance is what earns attention.

That starts with data. Our deterministic data allows us to deliver the right message to the right household not just based on demos, but on real behavior and interests. This facilitates smarter frequency capping, better creative sequencing, and avoidance of oversaturation.

We also actively manage ad load, ensuring that our viewers aren’t overwhelmed, and our advertisers aren’t drowned out. The result is a more engaged viewer and a more effective campaign.

We’re just scratching the surface of what interactivity can do. Whether it’s shoppable moments or fully dynamic ad creative, we’re giving viewers memorable interactions that bridge storytelling and conversion.

The future of advertising isn’t more volume, it’s more value. And that starts with putting the viewer at the center of every strategy.