Charter Communications (NASDAQ:CHTR), Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) and Cox Communications, owners of NCC Media, are creating a new division within NCC to design, deploy and sell unified advertising solutions across NCC's participants' national footprint. The group will use non-personally identifiable data and targeting capabilities to create video advertising products. It is scheduled to launch later this year.
Comcast Media 360 (CM360), Comcast Spotlight's former national advertising sales team, will form the foundation of the group together with resources from NCC Media, Charter and Cox. The group plans to build products that deliver targeted audiences across linear and video on demand (VOD) platforms. It is expected to drive research, data and analytic capabilities to provide consistency in how the advertising industry measures the effectiveness of an advertisement and simplify how agencies manage campaigns.
"This new group within NCC Media has the ability to make a major impact for all players within the advertising landscape," said Thomas M. Rutledge, chairman and CEO, Charter Communications. "It has the power to transform the way we measure advertising effectiveness across linear and VOD through best-in-class data and technology."
"Together with Charter, Comcast and NCC Media, we have the scale needed to provide even better value to our customers, and we are committed to defining clear standards around measurement that will help marketers better plan, buy and execute campaigns," said Pat Esser, president of Cox Communications.
"Today's announcement is a natural extension of the great work we are already doing with Charter, Cox and NCC Media in cable advertising. Together with our partners, we have new opportunities to build advanced advertising solutions that deliver scale, consistency and reliability," said David Watson, president and CEO, Comcast Cable.
Andrew Ward, vice president of CM360, will head the new group as general manager. Ward, who previously spent 15 years at NCC Media, has more than 30 years of experience bringing new advertising solutions to market. At Comcast Spotlight, he launched the company's addressable advertising platform as well as new data and analytic capabilities.
"In today's rapidly changing media marketplace, advertisers are looking for scale, reliability and proven results to reach audiences across devices and time," said Ward. "Charter, Comcast, Cox and NCC Media are uniquely positioned to lead this industry evolution with integrated advertising solutions driven by non-personal data, precise audience delivery and robust performance measurement."
NCC Media's board of directors is spearheading the initiative, and is led by David Kline, executive vice president and president of Media Sales at Charter Communications; Billy Farina, senior vice president at Cox Media; and Marcien Jenckes, president of advertising at Comcast Cable.