Launching a new CTV app, an ad-supported tier, a new content vertical, or a new ad format means running two launches at once – a consumer launch and, if there's ad inventory involved, an advertiser-facing sales launch – on a timeline set by Roku, Fire TV, and Samsung certification queues and the upfront calendar, not by your team. Winston Francois builds the go-to-market plan that sequences catalog seeding, app store submission, and sales enablement so all three land on the date you actually need them to.
Why CTV Launches Slip Past Their Window
App store certification timelines get discovered too late
Roku, Fire TV, Samsung, LG, and Vizio each run their own submission and certification process, and none of them move on your marketing calendar. Teams that treat certification as a final QA step rather than a go-to-market input routinely find out three weeks before a planned launch that Roku's queue alone needs two to four weeks, and that's before a single rejection for a UI or metadata issue sends the app back to the end of the line.
The consumer launch and the advertiser launch run on different clocks and different owners
If the launch includes an ad-supported tier, there are effectively two go-to-market motions happening at once: a consumer-facing launch (app store listing, PR, content marketing) run by the brand and product team, and an advertiser-facing launch (media kit, upfront or NewFronts pitch, programmatic and direct sales enablement) run by revenue.
Catalog looks thin on day one because content licensing windows don't align with launch dates
A new content vertical or a new app needs enough catalog depth on launch day to survive a user's first three sessions, but content licensing negotiations and delivery windows rarely finish exactly when marketing wants to announce. Launching with a thin catalog to hit a date, rather than sequencing the announcement to when catalog depth actually clears a usability bar, trades a clean PR date for a bad first-session experience that shows up in churn before the second content wave arrives.
Positioning gets written against a market that already has entrenched incumbents
A new CTV entrant is not launching into a blank category. FAST channels like Tubi, Pluto, and The Roku Channel already have distribution and discovery advantages on the exact platforms you're certifying against, and SVOD incumbents already own the subscription habit for the content types closest to yours.
How We Help
We start with an assessment of the actual launch dependencies, not the marketing calendar. That means mapping your target platform list (Roku, Fire TV, Samsung, LG, Vizio, and any others in scope), pulling current certification and submission timelines for each, and identifying which platform's process is the true critical path.
From that assessment we build a single go-to-market timeline that works backward from your target launch window – typically an upfront or NewFronts date if there's an ad-supported component, or a specific content season if not – and sequences app store submission, content delivery, PR, and sales launch against it with real buffer for certification rejections, because a first-submission rejection on any platform is common enough to plan for rather than hope around.
Execution is where the fractional model earns its keep – we coordinate the product team's builds, the content team's licensing clearances, and the revenue team's advertiser pitch against one shared calendar instead of leaving three teams to run their own workstreams in isolation.
Positioning gets built specifically against the incumbents you're actually launching next to on that platform's home screen – not generic streaming category language.
Measurement gets built in before launch, not bolted on after, so week one is spent acting on data instead of debating which number counts.
What makes this different from a traditional agency or an internal PM stretched across the launch: we embed as operators who've run this exact sequence before, we work fractional so you get senior go-to-market leadership without a full-time hire, and we stay accountable to the launch date, not to a set of deliverables that technically shipped but didn't actually get the app live.
What we deliver
- Platform-by-platform certification timeline and submission plan (Roku, Fire TV, Samsung, LG, Vizio) with buffer for rejection cycles
- Consumer and advertiser launch calendar, sequenced against your target upfront or NewFronts window if an ad tier is involved
- Catalog readiness assessment and minimum-viable-depth plan tied to content licensing delivery windows
- Competitive positioning against named FAST channel and SVOD incumbents on your target platforms
- Advertiser-facing media kit and sales enablement package for ad-supported launches
- Launch measurement framework defining success metrics before day one, built for CTV's cookie-less attribution reality
The launch date on your marketing calendar is a wish until you've confirmed the slowest app store's certification queue can actually hit it – plan the go-to-market backward from Roku's queue, not forward from your press release.
Our Methodology
Winston Francois runs CTV go-to-market engagements as a 90-day sprint structured around the actual launch dependencies rather than a generic marketing timeline. The first 30 days are entirely assessment and planning: certification timelines pulled per platform, catalog depth checked against licensing delivery dates, and – if there's an ad-supported component – a hard look at where advertiser sales enablement stands. This phase ends with one shared launch calendar that product, content, and revenue teams are all working against, which is usually the first time those three workstreams have been on the same document.
Days 30 to 60 are build and coordination: app store submissions go in with buffer built for at least one rejection cycle, the advertiser media kit and pitch materials get built and tested against real agency or brand objections, and positioning gets finalized against the specific incumbents on each target platform. We stay in the room for the submission process itself, because a certification rejection on day 45 needs a same-day response, not a status update at the next weekly sync.
Days 60 to 90 are launch and stabilization: consumer and advertiser launches go live on the coordinated calendar, and we track the measurement framework defined in phase one against actual performance, adjusting messaging or catalog sequencing in near real time if early session data or ad fill numbers come in off-target. The sprint closes with a clear handoff of what's working and what needs a second wave, not a deck that assumes the job ends at launch day.
How We Work
The engagement runs 90 days with weekly working sessions across product, content, and revenue stakeholders – not a monthly check-in that leaves three teams drifting between meetings. In the first 30 days, expect daily or near-daily contact while certification timelines and catalog dependencies get mapped, since that's the phase where a missed dependency costs the most time later.
The team structure is intentionally small and senior: a fractional go-to-market lead who has run platform launches before, working directly with your product owner (for certification and app builds), your content or programming lead (for catalog sequencing), and your revenue lead (for advertiser enablement, if applicable). We don't staff a large team that needs managing – we plug into the roles you already have and fill the coordination gap between them.
Clients should expect to bring their own platform relationships (Roku, Amazon, Samsung developer accounts) and licensing contacts; we don't originate those relationships, we sequence the work around them and flag when a dependency is at risk. Cadence shifts from daily in the build phase to twice-weekly during launch week itself, when certification status or early performance data can change the plan on short notice.
After the 90-day sprint, most clients move to a lighter monthly cadence for post-launch iteration – adjusting catalog waves, refining advertiser pitch based on first-quarter renewal conversations, or preparing the next content vertical launch using the same playbook.
- Certification timeline risk identified and mitigated before it threatens the launch date
- Consumer and advertiser launch motions running on one coordinated calendar instead of two disconnected ones
- Positioning that names and differentiates against the specific incumbents on your launch platforms
- Advertiser sales materials ready in time for the actual upfront or NewFronts pitch window
- A measurement framework in place before launch, so week one is spent acting on data instead of arguing about which metric counts
If your ctv / connected tv company needs go-to-market leadership, we should talk.
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Frequently asked questions
What does a CTV go-to-market engagement with Winston Francois cost?
Engagements are scoped to the 90-day sprint and typically run $15K-$35K per month depending on how many platforms are in scope and whether there's an advertiser-facing launch alongside the consumer one. A single-platform consumer-only launch sits at the lower end; a multi-platform launch with an ad-supported tier and full sales enablement sits at the higher end.
How long does the go-to-market process take from kickoff to launch?
The core engagement is a 90-day sprint, but your actual launch date depends on where you start. If app store certification hasn't begun and catalog licensing isn't finalized, the realistic runway from kickoff to a live app across Roku, Fire TV, and Samsung is closer to 4-6 months once certification queues and content delivery windows are factored in.
What does the team structure look like on our side and yours?
On our side, a single fractional go-to-market lead runs point, backed by Winston Francois' broader team for specific workstreams like advertiser media kit design or positioning research. On your side, we need a named owner from product (for app builds and certification), content or programming (for catalog), and revenue (if there's an ad-supported component) – we coordinate across those roles rather than replacing them.
How is this different from hiring a marketing agency or a launch consultant?
Most agencies own a single workstream – PR, or paid media, or creative – and hand off the coordination problem to you. We're built fractional and embedded specifically to own the coordination seam between product certification, content licensing, and advertiser sales, which is where CTV launches actually slip.
How do you measure whether the go-to-market plan actually worked?
We define the success metrics before launch, not after, because CTV attribution is harder to reconstruct after the fact than mobile or web. Typical metrics include app store category rank in the first two weeks, session depth and return-visit rate against your catalog's minimum-viable-depth bar, and, for ad-supported launches, fill rate and advertiser commitments closed against the upfront or NewFronts pitch.
What kind of company is the right fit for this engagement?
This fits Series A/B and growth-stage CTV or streaming companies, roughly $5M-$100M ARR, launching a new app, a new ad-supported tier, a new content vertical, or a new ad format against a real deadline – an upfront window, a content season, or a platform partnership date. It's not the right fit for a pre-launch company still deciding whether to build a CTV app at all; that's an earlier-stage strategy conversation, not a go-to-market sprint.
