Comcast’s universal ad platform aims to win over small advertisers | Wilnesh News

Comcast The company plans to launch a new advertising platform that will make it easier for small businesses to buy ad time, as the company hopes to lure some advertisers away from social media and digital channels and toward traditional TV streaming.

On Monday, Comcast announced the creation of Universal Ads, a new platform for advertisers to buy ad space for premium video content on traditional media companies’ streaming businesses. The announcement comes ahead of the annual CES technology conference in Las Vegas.

Comcast has signed partnerships with other media companies that allow advertisers to buy ad space on various channels. So far, Comcast-owned NBCUniversal and ad-supported streamers Xumo and A+E are part of the platform. AMC Networkslive tv, Fox Corporation., Paramount, YearTelevisaUnivision and Warner Bros. Discovery. Others are expected to join in the coming months.

“Universal Ads is designed to create new demand for advertisers who haven’t traditionally worked with us,” said Mark Marshall, chairman of global advertising and partnerships for CNBC parent company NBCUniversal. ) to begin with, but in future states this will also apply to linear and agents.”

Universal Ads will launch in Season 1 and is designed to create an easier experience for advertisers of all types and sizes to buy ad time, which can be a notoriously complicated process compared to buying ads for platforms such as this one. Yuan, Youtube said James Rooke, president of Comcast Advertising. It is designed to mimic the process of buying ads on social media content and technology platforms.

“What’s troubling is that there are a lot of advertisers who have built or are starting to build their businesses on the back of social video,” Rucker said. “Yet when you talk to these advertisers, they increasingly want to diversify away from a very limited number of big tech companies.”

The challenge, Rucker said, is that these big tech companies “make it super easy to transact on their platforms” in a way that traditional media or so-called premium content doesn’t.

Marshall said he and Rooker have spent the past few months discussing how to “create new demand opportunities” for non-traditional advertisers.

Comcast leveraged its ad tech company FreeWheel to build a free self-service platform. Many of the partners that have signed up are FreeWheel customers.

There are also plans to offer free, automated artificial intelligence tools to help create ads, which can be another pain point for smaller companies.

“Universal Ads has a huge opportunity to capture market share from competitors in a very unique, collaborative way that will fundamentally change the advertising landscape,” Marshall said.

But further masking this content is the amount of time spent on social media and technology platforms. YouTube continues to account for a large portion of TV viewing time Nelson. The younger generation is more inclined to social media such as TikTok.

Streaming service from Netflix NBCUniversal’s Peacock is increasingly emphasizing monetization through advertising. Streamers have captured a larger share of ad revenue in recent quarters, but that pales in comparison to the ad revenue generated by the tech giants.

Marshall noted that social media has “created tremendous scale” in terms of the number of advertisers that attract tech platforms.

“Take Meta, for example. They have over 10 million advertisers investing in search and social, and NBCUniversal only has a few thousand,” Marshall said.

GroupM, the media investment group under WPP, calls television “the most effective form of advertising.” recent reportsTotal global advertising revenue for this segment is expected to grow less than 2% by 2025, reaching $169.1 billion.

According to GroupM estimates, “pure digital” advertising revenue (excluding the streaming division of traditional media, but including platforms such as YouTube and TikTok) is expected to grow 10% by 2025, reaching $813.3 billion.

Data from eMarketer shows that in the United States, social media advertising spending is expected to reach US$90.35 billion by 2024, an increase of approximately 19% from the previous year, and is expected to increase by another 13.6% to US$102.66 billion by 2025.

While industry executives expect the advertising market for traditional media companies to stabilize in 2025, trends from previous years are expected to continue — meaning digital advertising budgets will continue to outpace traditional media.

“You can continue to compete in a shrinking market, or you can go on the offensive and pursue growth,” Rucker said. “We have to fish in ponds where there’s growth.”

When it comes to sports and live events, big advertisers and brands are still investing heavily in traditional media. Fox executives say the company’s February Super Bowl ads have sold out, It is said Each costs about $7 million. The college football season, especially with the expansion of the College Football Playoff format, also attracts significant advertising revenue.

Rucker said the key to a universal advertising platform would be to sign up other media companies to form a united front in trying to attract more advertising revenue from digital platforms.

“In recent years, individual ad platforms and walled gardens have created obstacles for small and mid-sized companies that lack the resources needed to effectively manage multiple platforms,” said Amy Leifer, chief ad sales officer at DirecTV.

Lever joins executives at NBCUniversal, Warner Bros. Discovery Channel and Fox, The importance of reaching out to SMEs as advertisers was emphasized.

“The concept of enabling small and medium-sized businesses to connect with audiences through premium content, especially on connected TV, is perfectly aligned with the need for flexibility in ad buying,” said Ryan Gould, executive vice president, Warner Bros. Discovery Channel. and the growing need for efficiency.

Media executives recently told CNBC that traditional linear TV remains an important channel for advertisers because it reaches a larger audience than social media. They also point out that linearity and flow are no longer considered in separate contexts and are grouped together in conversations.

Advertisers looking beyond social media are “looking for new products because they are seeing diminishing returns from existing channels,” Rucker said.

“They don’t have a new audience anymore,” he said.

Revealed: Comcast owns CNBC parent company NBCUniversal.