Charter Communications, Comcast and Cox Communications are forming a new division within ad sales company NCC Media to design, deploy and sell advanced advertising across a national footprint.
The three co-owners of NCC Media will use the new unit, slated to launch later this year, to create and sell advanced advertising products on linear and video-on-demand platforms by leveraging non-personally identifiable data and targeting capabilities.
“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,” Pat Esser, president of Cox said in a statement.
Comcast Media 360, Comcast Spotlight’s former national ad sales team, will form the basis of the group, along with resources from NCC Media, Charter and Cox. The companies said the group will accelerate research, data and analytic capabilities to simplify how agencies manage campaigns and deliver mores consistency as to how the ad industry measures advertising effectiveness.
“This new group within NCC Media has the ability to make a major impact for all players within the advertising landscape,” Charter CEO Thomas Rutledge said. “It has the power to transform the way we measure advertising effectiveness across linear and VOD through best-in-class data and technology.”
CM360’s current VP Andrew Ward will lead the new group as general manager. Ward comes with more than 30 years of experience in commercializing ad solutions, and previously spent 15 years at NCC Media. He launched Comcast Spotlight’s addressable advertising platform and 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,” Ward said in a statement. “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.”
The initiative is spearheaded by NCC Media’s board of directors, led by David Kline, EVP and president of Media Sales at Charter; Billy Farina, SVP at Cox Media; and Marcien Jenckes, president of Advertising at Comcast Cable.
“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,” Comcast Cable CEO David Watson said.
