Comcast Advertising has been busy this year, to say the least. From FreeWheel to Universal Ads, the company has been rolling out announcements, updates, and new offerings at a steady clip. Cannes is no exception. The company used the event to spotlight new performance and measurement solutions—what advertisers care about most right now—across its portfolio.
On the Comcast Advertising side, the company announced a partnership with Mastercard to incorporate what appears to be spending data into campaign analysis for Comcast Media Solutions (though, to be fair, the release could be clearer on what exactly is being integrated).
Over at Universal Ads, the company announced a partnership with Marpipe to bring dynamic product ads (DPAs) to CTV. This seems to be the first time this type of ad unit has been made available in streaming. DPAs are well-known drivers of performance and commerce, so seeing them on the big screen—on a CTV device—could be a game-changer. According to the press release, the partnership will allow Universal Ads brands to “automatically generate personalized, shoppable ads for streaming from live product catalogs.” That’s big—especially in a living room environment.
Finally, FreeWheel is getting an upgrade to its attribution capabilities through a partnership with PlaceIQ, the location data and ad tech firm. The integration will make it possible to connect foot traffic data to campaign targeting and attribution—essentially helping close the loop between ad exposure and real-world visits.
Why This Matters:
Day one of Cannes had a clear theme: CTV expansion. That includes expanding access to CTV inventory programmatically (see: Yahoo and Netflix) and expanding access to more households (see: Roku and Amazon). Performance was also a consistent undercurrent—but we may see even more attribution and measurement rollouts as the week continues. Those capabilities may not be as flashy as a headline CTV deal, but they’re crucial—especially in today’s economy.
According to a study by Ebiquity and WFA, 42% of advertisers are focused on investing more in performance this year given the state of the market.
Experts React:
This quote about the Cannes announcements from James Rooke, President of Comcast Advertising, is quite good:
“The truth is, TV is a results engine that connects top and bottom funnel in a way that no other medium can. Endless studies have shown this. However, we don’t make TV advertising as easy or seamless as social media platforms do. Our goal across Comcast Advertising is two-fold: make it easy and prove it works.”
Our Take:
Comcast is crushing it this year. While it’s still unclear how many advertisers are actively using Universal Ads, for example, it’s hard to find another company making as much noise around CTV access—particularly for SMBs. Today’s performance-focused news fits squarely within that push.
We’ll be watching to see what else the company rolls out in the second half of the year—across Universal Ads, Comcast Advertising, and FreeWheel.
