The advertising arm of Comcast Cable has launched an addressable advertising initiative and has been joined by Charter Charter and Cox. The On Addressability initiative encourages all television distributors to turn on addressable capabilities, saying it is incumbent on them to establish an infrastructure for the industry that is secure, scalable and effective.
“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, the president of advertising at 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.”
Despite its resiliency as an advertising medium, television must embrace data, targeting, measurement and attribution as fundamental capabilities in order to ensure its continued growth and relevancy to marketers.
A survey commissioned by Comcast showed that 92% of advertisers and agencies agree that enabling greater addressability is very important to the future of television advertising.
1 out of 10 advertisers surveyed were very likely to use addressable television over the next 12 months but 8 out of 10 said they would be interested.
It found that advertisers would be willing to buy more addressable television advertising if there were better measurement, proof of return on investment and it were easier to buy at scale.
Enabling full addressability will involve the entire advertising ecosystem, from marketers and content owners, to measurement companies and tech providers.
“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, the executive vice president of Charter Communications and the president of Spectrum Reach.
“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 at Cox Media.
The Comcast Advertising arm of Comcast Cable includes the sales division Comcast Spotlight and advertising management company FreeWheel. Comcast Cable is part of the Comcast group, which includes NBCUniversal and Sky.