Charter and Comcast have tapped advertising executive Marcien Jenckes to head up the partners’ recently announced streaming platform joint venture.
As president of the JV, Jenckes will be spearheading the effort, leading the team and developing business and monetization models for the platform, which was announced in April. Jenckes comes from Comcast Cable where he’s been president of Advertising since 2017. Before that he was in charge of Comcast’s residential lines, including video and internet.
“Marcien has been an outstanding leader within our company for over a decade,” said Dave Watson, CEO of Comcast Cable, in a statement. “His blend of experience as an entrepreneur, as an expert in improving customers’ entertainment experience, and an innovator in the rapidly changing advertising environment, makes him uniquely qualified to helm this partnership with Charter.”
Jenckes has experience helping Charter as a partner, including taking the lead in 2019 for On Addressable, which was designed to bring added scale and momentum to addressable TV advertising and involved Charter and Comcast. He also spearheaded video and TV advertising technology company Blockgraph, which was first part of Comcast’s FreeWheel before being spun out as a joint venture between Comcast, Charter and Paramount.
Before Comcast, Jenckes was involved in digital advertising and media syndication startups such as Grab Networks and Voxant. He previously held leadership roles at AOL, and launched AOL’s free web services.
“Marcien has emerged as a leading voice within the media industry,” said Tom Rutledge, Charter chairman and CEO. “He has a future-focused view of the landscape, understands the importance of this partnership and is a great choice to lead the joint venture.”
The 50/50 joint venture expects to offer a next-gen streaming platform on branded 4K streaming devices and smart TVs. Comcast is licensing its aggregated streaming platform Flex along with hardware, and is contributing the XClass smart TV retail business which includes distribution at Walmart. Xumo, the ad-supported streaming service Comcast acquired in 2020, will also be incorporated to the platform. Xumo boasts more than 200 free channels and will still be a free streaming service through other third-party devices. The partners aim to provide a great user experience and navigation, with top streaming apps incorporated, including Comcast’s direct-to-consumer streaming service Peacock.
Charter is initially contributing $900 million to the venture over multiple years. It’s targeting 2023 to offer 4K streaming devices and voice remote.
Together cable giants Charter and Comcast have reach in major markets across the country, although customers for the new platform won’t need to be broadband subscribers of either company.
The partners have said this reach will be an opportunity for app developers, streamers, retailers, operators and hardware manufacturers who want to reach more customers. Comcast and Charter also hope to grow partnerships with retailers and hardware OEMs to ensure the platform has as broad distribution as possible.
As Jenckes is teed up to develop monetization models, Charter’s Rutledge previously pointed to ad revenue and transaction revenue on the product as main money drivers.
“That requires having a full set of content opportunities and using your IP and your marketing skills in a digital space to drive consumer activity and viewing,” Rutledge said during Charter’s second quarter earnings call.