Press Release

Dave Marcy and Greg Cummings discuss why the future of contractor marketing belongs to companies that understand the right homeowner, use audience-first streaming strategies, and build smarter campaigns around real customer behavior instead of outdated media buying habits...

Premium Audience Over Premium Inventory: How Dave Marcy And Awestruck Streaming Are Helping Contractors Rethink The Future Of Homeowner Targeting

Power100 - Awestruck Streaming

June 04, 2026 | 4 min Read

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In this Power100 PowerChat, Greg Cummings speaks with Dave Marcy, Entrepreneur and Co-Founder of Awestruck Streaming, about how OTT advertising, connected TV advertising, and audience-first streaming campaigns are helping contractors reach the right homeowners with more clarity, better targeting, and stronger trust.

Home improvement companies are facing a new kind of marketing challenge. For years, many contractors looked at the biggest TV stations, the most popular shows, or the media sellers who claimed they had the best ad space. But homeowner behavior has changed. People are no longer watching in one place. They are using smart TVs, streaming apps, connected TV, audio platforms, and other digital channels every day. That shift is changing how contractors must think about lead growth, brand reach, and customer targeting. In a featured PowerChat interview hosted by Greg Cummings, CEO of Power100, Dave Marcy, Entrepreneur and Co-Founder of Awestruck Streaming, shared why the next stage of contractor marketing is not about chasing the biggest audience. It is about finding the right audience.

Power100 brought this conversation forward because home improvement leaders need clearer ways to understand where the market is moving. Power100 is the only unbiased third-party platform that recognizes and elevates the top leaders and most impactful companies in the home improvement industry. 

Through PowerChat, Greg Cummings creates space for real talks with leaders, founders, partners, and experts who are helping contractors grow with better insight. Dave Marcy’s view is timely because he has seen the shift from traditional TV to digital media, OTT, and streaming. His message to contractors is simple and strong. The old media playbook is not enough. The brands that win will be the ones that understand who their best homeowner is, where that homeowner is watching, and how to reach them with better care, better data, and better timing.

Why The Smartest Contractors Are Shifting From Bigger Media Buys To Better Homeowner Targeting

The way homeowners watch, listen, search, and respond to brands has changed. That means the way home improvement companies advertise must change too. In the past, many contractors were told to buy media based on the size of a station, the power of a show, or the promise of premium inventory. But Dave Marcy believes that way of thinking misses the bigger point in today’s streaming world.

The Awestruck Team

During his PowerChat with Greg Cummings, Marcy explained that the strongest value in OTT and connected TV advertising is not found in chasing the biggest content source. It is found in knowing the person a company wants to reach. For contractors, that person may be a homeowner with an older roof, a family looking at replacement windows, or a household beginning to think about a bath, siding, or exterior remodeling project.

“When you’re talking about the OTT landscape, you have the ability to buy based off of an audience and follow that audience to wherever they’re consuming media,” said Dave Marcy, Entrepreneur and Co-Founder of Awestruck Streaming.

That one idea sits at the heart of this PowerChat. Homeowners are no longer tied to one channel, one screen, or one kind of media. They may be watching through Roku, using a sports app, streaming shows on a smart TV, listening to audio content, or moving between digital platforms during the day. For a contractor, that creates both a challenge and a chance. The challenge is that the old model is harder to trust. The chance is that a smarter model can help companies reach people based on who they are, not just where an ad slot is sold.

Marcy said the older sales language around ad buying often made him push back. Many vendors talked about premium inventory, but he believed the real question was much deeper.

“You got to tell me what you mean by premium inventory, because in my opinion, premium audience is what matters,” said Marcy.

That quote gives this conversation its strongest lesson. In the future of contractor marketing, the value is not just in being seen. The value is in being seen by the right homeowner, at the right time, in the right place, with a message that fits their real needs.

For Awestruck Streaming, that means building campaigns around audience-first streaming advertising, transparent targeting tools, and a more open process between agency and client. Marcy explained that his team wanted to move past old media habits and build a system that helps clients see how targeting works.

“What we need to build is a system that shows transparently our clients exactly the tools that we utilize to target,” said Marcy.

That level of clarity matters in the home improvement industry. Many contractors have spent money on ads without fully knowing who they reached, why the spend mattered, or how the campaign helped the business. Marcy’s approach gives contractors a new way to think about streaming ads for home improvement companies. It is not about a package. It is not about a vague promise. It is about working with the client, defining the audience, and following that audience across the places they already spend attention.

This is why the conversation between Greg Cummings and Dave Marcy carries weight for home improvement leaders. It shows that the next lead pool is not just another platform. It is a smarter way to understand the homeowner. It is a move from channel power to audience power. It is a shift from guessing to targeting. And for contractors who want to grow in a changing market, that shift may be one of the most important marketing lessons of the next era.

Dave Marcy Shows Why The Future Of Contractor Marketing Starts With The Right Homeowner

In his PowerChat with Greg Cummings, Dave Marcy brought a clear message to home improvement leaders. The way people watch media has changed, so the way contractors buy media must change too. For many years, companies were told to trust the biggest station, the biggest show, or the biggest media seller. But Marcy explained that streaming has changed the center of the story.

The new question is not just where an ad can appear. The better question is who the ad is reaching.

That is why this conversation matters for contractors, remodelers, and home service leaders who want better growth with less waste. Marcy’s view is rooted in years of working across traditional TV, digital media, OTT, and connected TV. He has seen the old model up close, and he has also seen why a smarter model is now needed.

The Old TV Buying Model No Longer Fits The Streaming Era

Marcy’s first major point was that the old TV buying model does not carry the same power in the streaming world. In traditional television, a company often bought media based on the strength of a station, a show, or a broad audience number. That made sense when people watched content in fewer places. But today, homeowners are moving across many screens, apps, and platforms.

A homeowner may watch a game on a sports app, stream a show through a smart TV, listen to audio content during the day, and search for a contractor from a mobile device later that night. That means a contractor cannot rely on one big media source to reach the right buyer. The homeowner is no longer sitting in one fixed place.

Marcy explained that this shift forced him to think beyond the old TV model. He saw that OTT was not just another version of television. It was a digital media channel that needed digital thinking. The power was not only in the screen. The power was in the ability to understand the audience behind the screen.

This is why his message is so important for companies looking for OTT advertising for contractors and remodelers. The goal is not just to show up where content is popular. The goal is to follow the people who matter most to the business.

For contractors, this is a mindset shift. It asks leaders to move away from buying attention in bulk and start thinking about how real homeowners make decisions. That means looking at where they live, what they may need, how they consume media, and how often they need to see a brand before they take action.

Premium Audience Matters More Than Premium Inventory

One of the strongest moments in the interview came when Marcy challenged one of the most common phrases in media sales. Many vendors talk about premium inventory. They often use that phrase to describe the content, platform, or ad space they believe is better than everything else. But Marcy made it clear that the phrase does not mean much unless it connects to the right audience.

“You got to tell me what you mean by premium inventory, because in my opinion, premium audience is what matters,” said Dave Marcy.

That statement gives this press release its main idea. In the old model, many companies cared about where the ad was placed. In the new model, contractors must care more about who is seeing it. A well-known platform does not help much if it misses the right homeowner. A big audience does not help much if the people watching have no need for roofing, windows, siding, baths, doors, or other home improvement services.

For a contractor, the real value comes from being seen by homeowners who match the best customer profile. That may include people living in older homes, people showing interest in home upgrades, families with the income to invest, or homeowners inside a service area where the contractor can serve well.

That is where an audience first streaming advertising agency can bring more value. The campaign is not built around the loudest channel. It is built around the people who are most likely to matter.

This point also brings more honesty into the marketing conversation. It helps contractors stop asking, “How big is the audience?” and start asking, “Is this the right audience for my business?” That simple change can help leaders make better choices with their ad spend.

Streaming Gives Contractors A Better Way To Follow The Homeowner

Marcy also explained why streaming gives contractors a new kind of advantage. In the OTT landscape, advertisers can buy based on the audience and follow that audience across the places they consume media. That means the message does not have to stay locked to one show, one channel, or one platform.

“When you’re talking about the OTT landscape, you have the ability to buy based off of an audience and follow that audience to wherever they’re consuming media,” said Marcy.

For a contractor, that is a major change. Instead of trying to guess which channel a homeowner might watch, the campaign can be built around the homeowner first. The ad can meet them across smart TVs, streaming apps, audio channels, and other digital spaces where they already spend time.

This matters because most homeowners do not make a home improvement decision in one moment. They may think about a roof for months. They may compare window companies for weeks. They may notice a bath ad today, talk with a spouse later, search online next week, and then fill out a form after seeing the brand again.

That kind of path is not simple. But streaming can help contractors stay present during more parts of that path. With household targeting for OTT advertising, companies can build stronger reach around real people, not broad guesses.

Marcy’s point was not that streaming alone solves every marketing problem. His point was that streaming gives contractors a smarter way to be where their best homeowners already are. It helps brands stay visible without forcing the message into old habits that may no longer match how people watch and respond.

Transparency Builds Trust Between Agency And Client

Another major theme in the conversation was trust. Greg Cummings spoke from the view of someone who understands how frustrating unclear marketing promises can be for contractors. Many business owners have had agencies tell them they will bring leads, only to leave the client unsure about who was targeted, what was done, and why the campaign did or did not work.

Marcy understood that concern. He shared that early OTT sales conversations were often confusing, even for someone with deep experience in television and digital media. There were too many vague claims, too much talk about inventory, and not enough clarity around the real targeting process.

That is why Marcy said his team wanted to build a system that made targeting easier for clients to see and understand.

“What we need to build is a system that shows transparently our clients exactly the tools that we utilize to target,” said Marcy.

That kind of approach matters because contractors need partners who explain the plan, not just sell the package. When a company invests in streaming ads for home improvement companies, it should know who the campaign is trying to reach, why that audience matters, and how the strategy connects to the business goal.

Marcy also described the process as one where the client plays an active role. The agency does not come in with a fixed answer before learning the market. Instead, the agency and client talk through the service area, the customer profile, the campaign goals, and the audience signals that matter.

That kind of open process builds trust. It helps contractors feel less like they are buying a mystery product and more like they are building a clear plan with a partner who wants them to understand the work.

To learn more about transparent streaming campaign strategy, visit Awestruck Streaming.

Custom Strategy Beats Generic Ad Packages

Marcy made it clear that there is no magic button in streaming advertising. A good campaign does not start with a fixed package and a price tag. It starts with the client’s market, service area, customer base, sales cycle, and goals.

That point is important because many business owners ask the same question first. How much do I need to spend? But Marcy explained that the better starting point is understanding what the market looks like and how much it will take to reach the right people enough times to create action.

In some areas, the audience may be smaller and more focused. In other areas, the service footprint may be larger and more competitive. A roofing company in one market may need a different plan than a bath company in another market. A replacement window campaign may need a different path than a siding campaign. Each one has its own audience, timing, and buying journey.

That is why a connected TV advertising agency for businesses should not treat every client the same. The right campaign must be shaped around the actual business, not a generic media plan.

Marcy described this as a slower start that helps the campaign move faster later. His team wants to understand the client’s system before the campaign begins. That includes the target audience, the service area, the sales process, the market size, and the key actions that show progress.

For contractors, that kind of care can make a big difference. It turns advertising from a spend decision into a growth plan. It helps leaders use data, customer knowledge, and clear goals before money goes into the market.

To discover more partner insights for contractors, visit Power100.

Audience Intelligence And Accountability Will Shape The Next Era

The final lesson from the conversation was that the future of contractor marketing is not just about reaching people. It is also about understanding what happens after they see the message.

Marcy explained that his team looks at how people move after being served an ad. That can include visits to a website, activity inside a household, key steps taken online, and how those steps may connect to leads and revenue later. This matters because contractors need more than impressions. They need to know whether marketing is helping create real business movement.

That is where CTV advertising with conversion tracking becomes important. A contractor may not win a customer the first time a homeowner sees an ad. But if the right household sees the message many times, visits the website, searches for the brand, and later books an appointment, that full path matters.

Marcy also talked about the need to be honest with attribution. He did not claim that one channel should take all the credit for a lead. In fact, he said marketing works across many touchpoints. A homeowner may see a truck, hear a radio ad, see a streaming ad, notice a sign, then search online before taking action.

That is a more mature way to view marketing. It helps contractors see the full picture instead of letting each channel fight for full credit. It also helps leaders make better choices because they can see which parts of the journey are helping move the homeowner closer to action.

For Marcy, that is where the industry is going. The future is not just buying ads. The future is knowing the audience, reaching that audience across the right places, tracking the journey with care, and being clear about what the data shows.

To learn how Awestruck Streaming helps brands build more accountable campaigns, visit Awestruck Streaming.

Why Awestruck Streaming’s Growth Story Is Turning Heads Across The Advertising Industry

The ideas Dave Marcy shared during the PowerChat are not just marketing opinions. They are backed by one of the fastest growth stories in the advertising world.

As many agencies continued following older media habits, Awestruck Streaming built a different path around audience intelligence, connected TV advertising, transparent targeting, and smarter campaign strategy. That approach helped the company experience extraordinary growth during its early expansion years.

Dave Marcy at the Inc. Magazine 5000 Conference and Gala

During its initial growth phase, Awestruck recorded a remarkable three year revenue growth rate of 11,247 percent. That momentum did not slow down after the first breakthrough. The company later followed with another three year growth rate of nearly 3,000 percent, showing sustained growth at a scale very few agencies achieve.

Those numbers helped Awestruck Streaming earn national attention across the business and advertising world. In 2023, the company reached the #25 overall ranking on the Inc. 5000 list of the fastest growing private companies in America. Even more impressive, the company secured the #2 spot nationwide in the highly competitive Advertising and Marketing category.

The recognition did not stop there. Awestruck also became a three time Inc. 5000 honoree, a distinction that reflects long term consistency instead of one short moment of success.

For contractors and home service leaders, these milestones matter because they validate the larger message behind Dave Marcy’s PowerChat conversation. The shift toward audience first streaming advertising is not just an industry trend. It is producing real business results.

The company’s success also reflects a larger change happening across contractor marketing. Businesses today want more than impressions and vague promises. They want clearer reporting, stronger targeting, smarter audience matching, and campaigns that connect with real homeowners in a measurable way. Awestruck’s growth shows how strongly the market is responding to those needs.

What makes the story even more important is that the company’s rise happened during a time when media behavior was rapidly changing. Homeowners moved away from traditional viewing patterns and into streaming platforms, smart TVs, mobile devices, and digital audio channels. Instead of resisting that shift, Awestruck leaned into it early.

That willingness to adapt is one of the strongest themes throughout Dave Marcy’s conversation with Greg Cummings. The companies that grow in changing markets are often the ones willing to rethink old systems before the rest of the industry catches up.

For many contractors, marketing still feels confusing, crowded, and difficult to measure. But Awestruck Streaming’s success story offers a different example. It shows what can happen when a company builds around audience behavior instead of media hype, around transparency instead of confusion, and around customer intelligence instead of outdated assumptions.

The company’s national recognition now stands as evidence that the future of contractor marketing may belong to brands that understand the homeowner more deeply than ever before.

The Contractors Who Win Next Will Know Their Audience Before They Chase The Channel

Dave Marcy’s PowerChat with Greg Cummings made one message clear. The future of contractor marketing is not about running after every new channel. It is about knowing when the market has changed and having the discipline to change with it.

For home improvement leaders, that lesson matters now more than ever. Homeowners are watching in new places. They are moving across more screens. They are taking longer paths before they make a decision. Because of that, the old habit of buying media based only on size, reach, or platform name is no longer enough.

Marcy’s point gives contractors a better way forward. Growth will not come from guessing where the biggest crowd is. It will come from knowing who the right homeowner is, where that homeowner spends time, and how to reach them with a message that feels clear, useful, and timely.

That is why this conversation goes beyond OTT, CTV, and streaming ads. It is really about leadership. The best companies do not wait until the market forces them to change. They pay attention early. They learn. They adjust. Then they build systems that help them serve better and grow with more control.

For contractors, the next era will reward brands that understand the full customer journey. That means knowing the audience, showing up in the right places, tracking the right signs, and being honest about what each part of marketing is helping create. The goal is not to take credit for every lead. The goal is to build a smarter path from first attention to real action.

Through this PowerChat, Power100 continued its mission of bringing useful voices and strong partners to the front of the home improvement industry. Dave Marcy’s insight gives contractors a practical look at what is changing and why the future belongs to companies that can reach the right homeowner with the right message in the right place.

In the end, premium audience over premium inventory is more than a marketing idea. It is a reminder that the strongest growth starts with understanding people first.

FAQ: What Contractors Should Know About Power100, Dave Marcy, And Awestruck Streaming

  1. Why should contractors trust a Power100 PowerChat as a useful source for home improvement marketing insight?

Power100 PowerChat conversations are built around real talks with leaders, founders, and partners who work inside or around the home improvement industry. This matters because contractors do not need surface level ideas. They need clear insight from people who understand sales, leads, culture, growth, and customer behavior. In this PowerChat, Greg Cummings spoke with Dave Marcy about a shift that affects many contractors right now: how to reach the right homeowner as media habits change.

  1. Does Power100 only cover rankings, or does it also help contractors understand market changes?

Power100 is known for ranking and spotlighting leaders in the home improvement industry, but its media work also helps contractors understand what is changing in the market. Through PowerChat, expert contributor articles, industry coverage, and partner stories, the platform brings forward ideas that can help contractors make better decisions. This PowerChat with Dave Marcy is a good example because it helps explain why audience first advertising is becoming more important for contractor growth.

  1. Is streaming advertising really useful for contractors, or is it just another trend?

Streaming advertising is useful when it is tied to the right audience and a clear plan. Dave Marcy’s point is not that contractors should chase every new channel. His point is that homeowner attention has moved across smart TVs, streaming apps, audio platforms, and digital spaces. That means contractors need a smarter way to reach the people who are most likely to need roofing, windows, siding, baths, doors, or other home improvement services.

  1. Why does Dave Marcy say premium audience matters more than premium inventory?

Dave Marcy says premium audience matters more because a popular platform does not always mean the right homeowner is watching. In the old TV model, many companies focused on the biggest station or show. In the OTT advertising world, the better goal is to define the best homeowner and follow that audience across the places they already watch and listen. For contractors, this can reduce wasted spend and make campaigns more focused.

  1. How can OTT advertising for contractors help reach homeowners more clearly?

OTT advertising for contractors can help companies target people by audience signals instead of only by broad media placement. This may include location, home profile, lifestyle, web activity, and other audience data. With the right setup, a contractor can reach homeowners across streaming video, connected TV, audio, and digital channels instead of hoping the right person sees a general ad.

  1. What makes Awestruck Streaming different from a basic media buying agency?

Awestruck Streaming positions itself as a full service programmatic advertising partner, not just a company that places ads. Its model includes OTT, connected TV, streaming audio, display, and digital out of home campaigns. The bigger difference is its audience first and content neutral approach. That means campaigns are guided by the real media choices of the target audience instead of being forced into fixed content deals.

  1. Can connected TV advertising with conversion tracking prove which leads came from streaming?

Connected TV advertising with conversion tracking can help show how exposed households moved through parts of the customer journey, such as website visits, retargeting actions, and other key signals. But Dave Marcy is clear that one channel should not claim full credit for every lead. Marketing works across many touchpoints. A homeowner may see a truck, hear about a company, watch a streaming ad, search online, and then book. The goal is to understand the journey, not oversimplify it.

  1. Why should a contractor care about audience first streaming advertising if they already run Google ads or social ads?

Google ads and social ads can still be valuable, but they often capture demand after a homeowner is already searching or engaging. Audience first streaming advertising helps a contractor build attention earlier in the journey. It can support brand memory, improve reach, and surround the right households before they take action. When used with search, social, and local marketing, it can help create a stronger path from first awareness to booked appointment. 

About Power100

Power100 is the only unbiased third-party platform that recognizes and elevates the top leaders and most impactful companies in the home improvement industry. Through national rankings, executive interviews, PowerChat conversations, industry events, and strategic partnerships, Power100 helps contractors, service providers, and industry leaders gain visibility, build stronger relationships, and stay connected to the ideas shaping the future of the home improvement space. Led by CEO Greg Cummings, the platform exists to give the industry’s best leaders a stronger voice while helping companies discover trusted partners, smarter growth strategies, and meaningful business insight.