Princeton, N.J.-based operator RCN has given responsibility for its local advertising sales to Comcast Spotlight (NASDAQ: CMCSA).
A rep for the New York-based Comcast ad sales arm told the Allentown, Penn., newspaper The Morning Call that the deal will begin Jan. 1. Comcast Spotlight will handle all of RCN's local advertising inventory, supplied by programmers as part of carriage agreements, in markets including Philadelphia; New York; Chicago; Washington, D.C. and Boston.
As part of the agreement with Comcast Spotlight, RCN will end an agreement with New York-based TV ad management company Viamedia. A spokesman for the company confirmed the loss of business to The Call.
Comcast Spotlight operates in nearly 80 markets, selling local, regional and national advertising through television and digital platforms. Its clients include AT&T U-verse, for which it sells local time allotted to AT&T via its affiliate agreements.
The division also handles advertising sales for cable portals managed by Senator.
Dynamic ad insertion through VOD has been another growth engine for the Comcast sales arm. According to Chris Pizzurro, business development chief for Canoe, his cable-industry consortium is now handling $300 million a year in national advertising sales through VOD DAI for programmers.
With Comcast Spotlight handling a big chunk of the local advertising sales for cable VOD DAI, Pizzurro said he doesn't have a precise estimate as to how much local revenue VOD DAI is generating for the division. However, given Comcast's ability to offer advertising clients set-top-based information that lets them target their CPMs (cost per impression), the number could be significant.
For more:
- read this Morning Call story
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