Comcast’s Universal Ads platform is a bid to win smaller advertisers | Global News Avenue

Comcast There are plans to launch a new advertising platform that will make it easier for small businesses to buy ad time, and 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 the traditional media company’s streaming business. The announcement comes ahead of the annual CES technology conference in Las Vegas.

Comcast has signed partnerships with other media companies to enable 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 NBCUniversal. “While we’re growing from streaming and (Small and medium-sized businesses) to start with, but in the future state, this applies to linear and agencies as well.”

Universal Ads will launch in the first quarter 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 technology 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 AI 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 services from Netflix NBCUniversal’s Peacock, increasingly Emphasize that advertising should achieve Profitability. The ribbon is Nabin Advertising has accounted for a larger share of revenue in recent quarters, but it pales in comparison to the ad revenue generated by the tech giants.

Marshall noted that social media has “generated tremendous scale” in terms of the number of advertisers attracted to 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.

“Pure digital” advertising revenue (which excludes the streaming arm of traditional media but includes platforms such as YouTube and TikTok) is expected to grow 10% by 2025 to $813.3 billion, according to GroupM estimates.

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

Although industry executives Anticipate The advertising market for traditional media companies will stabilize in 2025, and 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.”

Big advertisers and brands still invest heavily in traditional media Live sports and events. Fox executives say the company’s Super Bowl ads in February 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 attracted Huge advertising costs.

Rooker said the key to a universal advertising platform would be to sign up other media companies in order to present 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 from 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 connected TV, is perfectly aligned with the need for ad buying flexibility and efficiency,” said Ryan Gould, executive vice president, Warner Bros. Discovery Channels Growing Demand.” President, Streaming, Digital and Advanced Ad Sales.

media executives recently told CNBC said 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 seeking platforms beyond social media are “looking for new products as they see diminishing returns from existing channels,” Rook said.

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

Disclosure: Comcast owns CNBC parent NBCUniversal.