PHYND is taking its free, ad-supported cloud gaming pitch to Cannes Lions 2026, with founder and CEO André Swanston and Vice President of Global Business Development Melody Yazdanyar heading to Cannes for meetings around the festival. The company is scheduling meetings from June 21 to June 26, 2026, with a focus on gaming, connected TV, and interactive entertainment.
Cannes Lions brings that pitch into a larger advertising setting. The company wants free cloud gaming to sit inside connected TV and brand strategy discussions, not only inside gaming circles.
Cannes Lions Moves PHYND Into A Broader Advertising Crowd
PHYND’s Cannes Lions plans follow its recent BOMESI Summit 2026 appearance in Detroit. The two stops are different, but they point in the same direction. PHYND is putting cloud gaming into conversations where media buyers, marketers, and connected TV companies already think about screen time.
Cannes Lions reaches creative marketers and advertisers beyond the usual cloud gaming audience. That audience is exactly why Cannes Lions makes sense for a company trying to connect free cloud gaming with connected TV. PHYND needs advertisers and media companies to understand why a game can belong beside streaming video, live TV, and other living-room entertainment formats.
Swanston and Yazdanyar bring two sides of that pitch to Cannes. Swanston carries the founder and CEO view, and Yazdanyar brings the business development side, where partnerships and brand relationships turn the model into something more concrete.
Connected TV Turns Gaming Into A Brand Conversation
From the viewer side, free cloud gaming on TV is easy to understand. You choose a game and start playing without buying a console or paying a monthly fee. The harder part happens behind the scenes. PHYND needs enough advertiser interest and media support to fund that access and keep the experience visible.
Cannes Lions isn’t a gaming event in the usual sense, but it’s exactly where advertisers and entertainment companies talk about attention on screens. That makes the TV screen the centre of this story. PHYND is pitching Smart TV gaming as another way for brands to reach people inside the living room.
The bigger business case is about discovery. A free game service needs people to find games without treating the TV like a console menu. Brand-funded access only works if advertisers see interactive entertainment as part of the connected TV market. That same ad-supported access conversation is already showing up elsewhere in cloud gaming, including XBOX’s push for lower-cost access that could include ads.
Brands Are Part Of PHYND’s Free Cloud Gaming Pitch
The audience is clear here. This isn’t aimed at someone looking for a list of new games. It’s aimed at companies trying to understand how gaming fits into advertising, media planning, and connected TV strategy.
Free access is only one side of the equation. PHYND has to show why brands should support that access and what makes cloud gaming different from video ads on a TV screen. Watching an ad before a show is familiar. Interacting with a game through the TV creates a different kind of media moment.
Cannes Lions ties that 2026 strategy directly to the advertising market. PHYND is using the event to put free ad-supported cloud gaming in front of companies that already buy, sell, and shape screen-based media.
PHYND Is Taking Cloud Gaming To The Advertising Market
PHYND’s Cannes Lions plans continue its free ad-supported cloud gaming push beyond game-industry spaces. The company has already tied its message to Smart TVs, connected TV advertising, and media partnerships throughout 2026. Cannes Lions brings that same pitch to a larger creative marketing audience.
The company is taking cloud gaming to the people who help decide how brands show up on TV screens. PHYND is treating cloud gaming as a connected TV media opportunity, with advertisers and brand partners tied directly to the business case.
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