Charter and Cox Join “On Addressability” Initiative to Enable Scalable TV Addressability
Encourages All TV Distributors to “Turn On” Addressable Capabilities as First Step in Enabling Addressability Across All TV Inventory Sources
CANNES, France — Comcast Advertising, the advertising arm of Comcast Cable, a division of Comcast Corporation (Nasdaq: CMCSA), announced the launch of a new initiative called On Addressability. The broad goal of this initiative is to help the industry deliver a sound, scalable and sustainable addressable solution to marketers that maximizes the impact and value of television as a marketing platform. Charter Communications and Cox Media, Cox Communications’ ad division, have joined Comcast Advertising in this effort.
“Our industry needs to find a way to fully participate in, and lead, the data-driven future of advertising as only TV can. We’re fully committed to making this happen. That’s the impetus behind the On Addressability initiative.”
“TV is a tremendous, resilient medium with unparalleled reach and engagement, but data has changed the way that marketers use media. Historically, TV has lagged digital in this area, and this must change,” said Marcien Jenckes, President, Advertising, Comcast Cable. “Our industry needs to find a way to fully participate in, and lead, the data-driven future of advertising as only TV can. We’re fully committed to making this happen. That’s the impetus behind the On Addressability initiative.”
Enabling full addressability will involve the entire advertising ecosystem, from marketers and content owners, to measurement companies and tech providers. Comcast Advertising is spearheading this initiative, along with Charter and Cox, because addressability begins with the content distributors.
“It’s the distributors who bring the ads into viewers’ households each day. It is therefore incumbent upon us to lay the groundwork and set up the infrastructure to truly ‘turn on’ addressability for the industry in a way that is secure, scalable and effective,” added Jenckes.
The importance of bringing increased addressability to television advertising is supported by a recent Advertiser Perceptions survey, commissioned by Comcast Advertising, showing that 92% of advertisers agree that enabling greater addressability is very important to the future of TV advertising. (Advertiser Perceptions, May 2019, 290 advertisers and agencies)
“Advertisers want to use television as a full-funnel solution that marries the best of traditional television, with increased data-driven capabilities for targeting and measurement,” said David Kline, Executive Vice President, Charter Communications and President, Spectrum Reach. “We look forward to working with Comcast, and the rest of the industry, to establish best-in-class practices that learn from digital media, yet maintain the security and brand safety that have long been at the core of television advertising.”
While the initial focus of On Addressability will be to help distributors with the “how to” of enabling addressability based on the collective learnings of Comcast, its European affiliate, Sky Media, and the other distributors participating in the initiative, other areas of focus are also planned. These include: working with the industry around definitions and standards; educating advertisers on the use cases and value that they can achieve in a fully-activated addressable world; and finally, for inventory and content owners, identifying best practices and business standards for transacting on addressable campaigns.
The focus of the initiative was guided, in part, by input from advertisers and clients. The Advertiser Perceptions research commissioned by Comcast Advertising showed that advertisers would be more willing to buy more addressable TV advertising if several key challenges were addressed, including:
- Better measurement solutions (53%)
- Proof of ROI (51%)
- Easier to buy at scale (48%)
- More addressable inventory availability (34%)
- Agreed upon standards across the industry (34%)
- Better ways to ensure consumer privacy (32%)
- More secure ways to share data (31%)
- Better understanding of appropriate use cases (29%)(Source: Advertiser Perceptions, May 2019, 290 advertisers and agencies. % of respondents who said selected factor might influence them to buy more addressable TV.)
“Clients face a common set of challenges to increase addressability to their TV advertising strategies. As an industry, we must find a common set of solutions to these challenges in order to offer the scale, security and ease of buying that today’s advertisers demand,” said Louis Gump, senior vice president, Cox Media. “We look forward to working with Comcast, Charter and a growing list of other partners to make this happen.”
“NCC is speaking to national advertisers who are eager to put addressable TV to work for their brands. NCC is committed to working with MVPDs and the broader On Addressability initiative to address and solve for the roadblocks that have stunted addressability to date,” said Nicolle Pangis, Chief Executive Officer at NCC Media, which is owned by Charter, Comcast and Cox.
For more information and to receive updates on the On Addressability initiative, please visit www.comcastadvertising.com/onaddressability.
About Comcast Advertising
Comcast Advertising, the advertising arm of Comcast Cable, is dedicated to bringing industry-leading television and video solutions to marketers. It is comprised of two primary businesses: Comcast Spotlight and FreeWheel. Comcast Spotlight, www.comcastspotlight.com, is the advertising sales division that helps put the power of cable to use for local, regional and national advertisers. FreeWheel, www.freewheel.com, offers advertising management solutions for “The New TV” ecosystem and beyond, enabling its diverse client base — comprised of some of the largest agency, media and entertainment companies — to manage and maximize value from their TV and premium video media. Comcast Cable, along with NBCUniversal and Sky, is part of the Comcast Corporation (Nasdaq:CMCSA). Visit www.comcastadvertising.com to learn more.
