Comcast Advertising finds optimal ad balance between TV and streaming

Comcast Advertising released a new, cross-industry report titled “The Comcast Advertising Report 2022: Actionable Insights for the Modern TV Advertiser.” Relying on proprietary data, the report provides a unique view into the current landscape from the perspective of viewers, buyers and then sellers – culminating in a specific and fact-based recommendation for the optimal balance of TV and streaming advertising.

Comcast Advertising, the advertising division of Comcast Cable, is comprised of Effectv, its advertising sales division, and FreeWheel, its media and technology arm. Both parts of the business contributed to the extensive findings in the report, providing a broad perspective for readers.

“The TV advertising landscape is incredibly complex now, and there are more players in the space than ever,” said Marcien Jenckes, Managing Director, Comcast Advertising. “While most reports focus on a single view of this complexity, Comcast Advertising is in a unique position to see it from all angles – how viewers are viewing, buyers are buying, and sellers are selling. With this perspective, we are able to truly see what works and what doesn’t in today’s landscape, and provide fact-based insights and predictions about how advertisers can optimize their spend.”

Below are some of the key findings included in the report’s inaugural edition:

• Viewers prefer live content on both TV and streaming. In fact, 89% of traditional TV viewing is spent watching live TV and 54% of digital video viewing is live
• Viewers are exposed to more digital ads than ever before, as ad views on digital services increased by 45% from 2H20 to 2H21
• Audience targeted campaigns have increased by over 50% year-over-year, as advertisers turn to audience targeting to reach viewers, at scale, across viewing platforms
• Programmatic ad views have grown 80% year over year, as advertisers see programmatic buying as a way to reach specific audiences more efficiently. There was also an increase in programmatic campaigns bought on a guaranteed basis.
• As sellers move to programmatic models, they are working with an average of 13 different programmatic partners – and up to 30 in total

Following its focus on the latest trends for viewers, buyers and sellers, the report delves into an actionable “formula for success” for modern advertisers. Based on a study of more than 20,000 campaigns, Comcast Advertising recommends that advertisers allocate 20-30% of their TV budget towards streaming advertising, and the rest to traditional TV.

“For years, advertisers have been asking us how to best balance investments across traditional TV and streaming platforms in order to enhance campaign performance,” said James Rooke, General Manager, Effectv. “Advertisers shouldn’t be making a guess or ‘going with their gut’ on this; rather, they should focus on the data. By looking at tens of thousands of campaigns across verticals and across budget amounts, the data is quite clear – TV should still act as the foundation for most advertisers, but reach is highest when 20-30% of the budget is allocated to streaming.”

The report concludes with a look at predictions for the years ahead. Included among these predictions is what’s next for streaming, the importance of first-party data, the shift to audience-based buying, the scaling of addressable advertising and the growth of programmatic.

“This has been an incredible year for TV advertising’s progress and innovation, and this is clearly evident in the discussions we’ve having every day,” said Mark McKee, General Manager, FreeWheel. “From addressable, to programmatic, to first-party data – the opportunities are there for advertisers to do more with their budgets and connect better with sellers. It’s critical for them to look at the industry from all sides to understand where the opportunities lie, and this report can help them do that.” Digital TV News