Comcast Spotlight Take Five

We hope you had a chance to attend our Take Five for Your Future webcast, “Putting Fragmented Audiences Back Together Again: A Look at Video’s Audience-Based Future,” on October 26. Our panel of media and advertising experts shared their thoughts on how technology and analytics can assemble audience groups that have splintered to create campaigns that are more targeted, efficient and effective than ever. If you couldn’t join us, or want to review some of the information again, this is the full webcast recording. Keith Camoosa, Senior Vice President of Consumer Intelligence at Warner Brothers, kicked off the panel discussion by exploring audience-based buying and how it differs from the current TV-buying model. He also discussed how to determine budget allocation between audience-based and content-based tactics. Next, Jim Nail, Principal Analyst at Forrester Research, explained the relationship between programmatic and audience-based buying—including how they differ—and shared his insights into how buying will work differently for TV than it has for digital media. Justin Evans, Comcast Spotlight’s Vice President, Principal Data and Research Strategist, shared how advertisers can use audience fragmentation to their advantage. Justin also explained how audience-based buying can find new value in the TV marketplace. Andrew Feigenson, Senior Vice President of Ad Platforms and Networks at Nielsen, talked about the best ways to measure multi-screen, audience-based campaigns, and shared what type of consumer data is available for these audience-based buys and what the future will look like for measurement. Our panel also addressed “hot topics,” including how audience-based buying will change the skills needed by buyers and planners at agencies, how it can generate more impressions at the same level of investment and how this transition will shape up. To hear what our panel of industry experts had to say on these topics and questions, watch the full webcast . You’ll also hear their answers to questions that came in from our attendees asked during the live Q&A portion of the webcast. To download the slides from this or other educational videos and webcasts, please visit: http://www.comcastspotlight.com/takefive

We hope you had a chance to attend our Take Five for Your Future webcast, “Awareness to Action: The Critical Role Video Plays in Driving Web Traffic and Social Engagement,” on May 25. If you couldn’t join us, or want to review some of the information again, you can view the complete webcast now. A panel of media and advertising experts shared their thoughts on the power of video to drive engagement with brands and their digital assets and we reviewed the results of two studies that reveal the important role TV and online video plays in moving consumers down the purchase funnel from awareness to action. Sean Cunningham, President & CEO of the Video Advertising Bureau, kicked off the discussion by reviewing the results of the VAB report, “Ignition Point: The TV-Traffic Correlation for Call-to-Action Brands.” This report took a look at 125 brands, of all sizes, across six categories (restaurants, retail, travel, telecommunications/location-based mobile apps, financial, insurance) that represented more than $30 billion in TV advertising. Next, Natasha Hritzuk, Vice President of Client Insights and Content Partnerships Research at Turner, shared the results of a recent study they conducted in partnership with 4C to better understand and quantify the impact of television advertising on social media brand engagement. Lastly, Andrew Capone, Senior Vice President, Marketing and Business Development at NCC Media, talked about the role of TV advertising in each stage of the purchase funnel and how it has changed with the evolution of video consumption. To hear the results of the VAB and Turner studies and what our panel of advertising and media professionals had to say on these topics and questions, listen to the full webcast. To download the slides from this or other educational videos and webcasts, please visit: http://www.comcastspotlight.com/takefive

Your TV and digital video advertising may be doing a lot more than you’re giving it credit for. The ability of video to generate brand awareness has long been recognized, but recent studies also point to the critical role it plays in generating social conversation and increasing web visits and transactions. Watch this brief video to learn about the important role TV and digital video plays in moving consumers down the purchase funnel from awareness to action.

We hope you had a chance to attend our Take Five for Your Future webcast, “16 Questions Facing Media Pros,” on March 16. If you couldn’t join us, or want to review some of the information again, you can watch the complete webcast here. A panel of media and advertising experts shared their thoughts on the most pressing issues facing the industry this year. We reviewed the results of an industry survey that we conducted earlier this year, asked the panelists weigh in on the topics covered in the survey, and invited the webcast audience to take part in live polls about them. In addition, we compared these results to a similar survey we conducted three years ago to see how our industry is evolving. Carol Chung, SVP Media Technology at DigitasLBi, kicked off the discussion by sharing her thoughts on how media buying across screens will change at agencies as video consumption across multiple screens continues to increase. Next, Amy Garfinkel, SVP, Director of Investment and Activation at Mediavest, gave her thoughts on which buy-side stakeholders are best positioned to deploy media campaigns that leverage addressable TV, video on demand, interactive TV and multi-screen integration. Our Senior Director Corporate Research & Media Insights, Brad Adgate, weighed in on the shift in media currency from cost-per-point and GRPs to cost-per-thousand and impressions as cross-platform buys continue to increase. Later in the webcast, he also discussed the importance of measurement for these buys for the industry. Next, both Jeff Jones, Director of Media Services at McCulloch+Company and Mary Meder, President at Harmelin Media addressed the hot topic of programmatic, and when they thought it will play a bigger role in TV buying. The panel also addressed some of the biggest topics online advertising is currently facing – including ad blocking and ad fraud – and more importantly, how to combat them. To download the slides from this or other educational videos and webcasts, please visit: http://www.comcastspotlight.com/takefive

In January 2016, we asked advertising and marketing professionals from across the U.S. to share their thoughts on some of the most pressing questions they’ll face over the next year. From addressability to ad fraud, and measurement to media currency, learn what your peers and experts have to say as they look into the media crystal ball for the remainder of 2016 and beyond in this brief video.

We hope you had a chance to attend our Take Five for Your Future webcast, “Automating and Optimizing Local TV Planning” on November 4. If you couldn’t join us, or want to review some of the information again, you can watch the complete webcast now. A panel of media and advertising experts discussed how advertisers could more effectively use data automation to plan and execute their local cable schedules, similar to how they buy digital. Joy Baer, President at STRATA, kicked off the informative discussion by talking about how data-driven, audience-based buying improved the digital buying and planning process. She also talked about the importance of new automation tools integrating with the industry's legacy inventory management systems. Next, Ken Nippes, SVP, Media Director at Cramer-Krasselt, discussed how data-driven buying can work for the local TV buying and planning process and how automation tools can better reach specific audience segments. Andrew Capone, SVP, Marketing and Business Development at NCC Media, discussed how “bundled” impressions across networks can work for local spot TV media buys, effectively reaching fragmented audiences. Karen Agresti, EVP Director of Local Investments at Trilia/Hill Holliday discussed how automation delivers efficiency to benefit both buyers and sellers and shared her “wish-list” for an audience-based buying platform for local TV. Rounding out our panel was Mark Altschuler, VP, National Advertising Sales at Comcast Spotlight, who explained that local and regional spot TV advertisers can benefit from audience-based automation in the buying and planning process and how such tools can improve their return on their investment. Andrew and Mark also discussed how NCC Media, in partnership with Comcast Spotlight, are bringing automated targeting to the local spot cable marketplace with a solution called “Audience Plus.” They discussed the features and benefits of the new platform, before we spent the final minutes of the webcast taking questions from our live audience. To download the slides from this or other educational videos and webcasts, please visit: http://www.comcastspotlight.com/takefive

For the past several years, digital advertisers have enjoyed the ability to reach consumers across hundreds of fragmented web sites, using automated buying and planning to target them with relative ease and efficiency. But what if advertisers could more effectively use data automation to plan and execute their local cable schedules as well? Watch this brief video to learn about a new approach that automates and optimizes the process--maximizing consumer impact, effectiveness, reach and targeting.

We hope you had a chance to attend our Take Five for Your Future webcast, “Advertiser Success Stories: Multi-Screen Campaigns that Produce Results” on June 3. If not, you can watch the full webcast here. A panel of Comcast Spotlight advertisers talked about how they successfully combined television and digital advertising to achieve their company’s goals. Webcast attendees got insight into the advertisers’ business needs and how custom multi-screen advertising solutions were crafted to reach their target audiences. Attendees also learned how each business experienced a measurable impact from multi-screen advertising. The panel shared a wide array of solutions that were used to meet their specific goals. Geographic targeting honed in on audiences for many of the businesses, while some also used Comcast Spotlight’s I+ platform to reach satellite and telco subscribers in addition to those who subscribed to XFINITY from Comcast. The advertisers also shared that a strong online presence increased reach, awareness and recall. Online video was particularly beneficial: in-banner and pre-roll video enhanced advertisers’ television campaigns and offered a cost-effective way to re-purpose creative elements and reinforce the brands’ messages. Attendees also gained insights into how a digital campaign can complement a television one through geographic targeting that matches the neighborhood-level precision of geo-targeted TV advertising. To download the slides from this or other educational videos and webcasts, please visit: http://www.comcastspotlight.com/takefive

Maximizing ROI is a challenge faced by every marketer. How do you integrate TV and digital advertising to get the most effective bang for your buck? Watch this brief video to learn how multi-screen campaigns can be developed to help businesses, across a variety of industries, achieve their goals.

We hope you had a chance to attend our Take Five for Your Future webcast, “Impressions vs. GRPs: Is CPM the New Currency for Buying Local TV?” on April 2nd. Our panel of experts discussed the pros and cons of using targeted impressions for buying local TV advertising. If you couldn’t join us, or want to review some of the information again, you can view the complete webcast now. Janice Finkel-Greene, EVP, Director of Audience Buying Analytics at Magna Global, kicked off the lively panel discussion by sharing her thoughts on how a shift to impressions-based buying could help advertisers address the increasing fragmentation of audiences and make it easier for advertisers to combine multiple markets in a single buy. Additionally, Janice discussed how this would enable a more efficient buying process for local broadcast and cable inventory. Next up, Matt O’Grady, EVP & Managing Director, Local Media at Nielsen, talked about how qualitative data, layered on top of impressions-based buying, could precisely target consumers. Matt also shared his thoughts on how a shift to an impressions-based trading model could make local TV more comparable to other media for buying and measurement purposes. Rounding out the panel was Nick Garramone, SVP, Research and eBusiness Operations at NCC Media, who talked about how this shift in buying could impact an advertiser's ability to measure audiences on a sub-DMA and local zone level, as well as his thoughts on the various options of media currency. The panel also engaged in a roundtable discussion about the obstacles standing in the way of this media buying shift to impressions for local broadcast and cable advertisings in addition to how advertisers would benefit from a shift from GRPs to impressions. They also all shared how their companies are working to ensure that impressions-based buying is reliable, stable and consistent for advertisers before we opened it up to our live audience for questions. To download the slides from this or other educational videos and webcasts, please visit: http://www.comcastspotlight.com/takefive

For decades, “ratings” and “cost per point” have been the default metrics for planning and buying local TV. Each year along the way, advertisers, agencies, and media sellers alike waited for a new process to evolve. Now, though, we’re really beginning to see that transformation taking shape. Watch this brief video to learn how impressions-based buying and CPMs is better suited for a fragmented, multi-platform video landscape.

We hope you had a chance to attend our Take Five for Your Future webcast, “Liquid Creative: Designing Campaigns That Flow Across Screens,” which took place on November 19. Our panel of experts brought both agency and technology perspectives to the conversation, exploring how the ability to reach consumers with messages across many screens presents a new challenge to creative directors. If you couldn’t join us, or want to review some of the information watch the full webcast now. Chris Jacobs, SVP, Executive Creative Director at Cramer-Krasselt, kicked off the lively panel discussion by talking about how multi-screen campaigns changed the creative process, particularly at agencies. He also had the opportunity to talk about how ads for a “skippable” platform need to be handled differently than “unskippable” content. Next, EJ McNulty, Executive Creative Director at Wunderman shared his thoughts on whether the creative concept should dictate the screens used in a campaign or vice versa, and later discussed how screen size could also impact creative. David Cole, VP of Sales and Business Development at Mixpo, discussed strategies for making video ads more viral to expand their reach even further through social media integration. Another speaker on the panel was Brian Unflat, Creative Director at The New Group, who followed up with his thoughts on which screen should come first in campaign planning. Brian also shared his thoughts on producing different versions of creative for various platforms. Rounding out the panel was Brett Tabano, VP of Strategy & Product Marketing at Videology, who talked about how the dynamics between creative and media teams are also changing due to the shift towards multi-screen strategies. In addition, Brett talked about the importance of utilizing multiple screens in an advertising campaign to have a greater reach and impact on viewers and the role of each screen in a campaign. The panel also participated in an exciting “round-robin” game of do’s and don’ts when creating ads for each platform and took questions from the audience that came in throughout the webcast. To download the slides from this or other educational videos and webcasts, please visit: http://www.comcastspotlight.com/takefive

The ability to reach consumers with messages across many screens presents a new challenge to creative directors: how do you design a coordinated and cohesive consumer experience across television, online, tablet, mobile and social media--while taking advantage of the powerful features each platform has to offer? Watch this brief video to learn about the latest industry trends and best practices for utilizing creative on different screens.

We hope you had a chance to attend our Take Five for Your Future webcast, “Targeting Consumers with Video Across Multiple Screens,” on September 4. Our panel of experts discussed how advertisers are capitalizing on today’s fragmented media world by targeting consumers whenever and wherever they watch video. If you couldn’t join us, or want to review some of the information again, you can view the complete webcast here. David Hallerman, Principal Analyst at eMarketer, kicked off the lively panel discussion by looking into his crystal ball and giving his thoughts on the growth we can expect for the digital video ad market over the next few years. Later in the webcast, David offered his advice on how advertising agencies should prepare clients for a "TV Everywhere" future, including how TV creative can be adapted for online use. Next up, Tracy Lewis, Senior Director, Sales Strategy & Development, at Comcast Spotlight, talked about how advertisers are responding to all the new video choices consumers have. Tracy also discussed how online video is a complement to traditional TV advertising and shared how it can help advertisers achieve their goals. Lastly, Tracy shared how Comcast Spotlight is using data analysis to reach audiences with online video, and he introduced the audience to Comcast Spotlight Video Plus (CSV+), sharing how it can segment online audiences geographically and demographically in the same way they can target their television campaigns. Rounding out the panel was Jim Nail, Principal Analyst at Forrester Research, who discussed the future of video advertising campaign planning and how it is moving towards becoming screen agnostic. Jim also discussed audience fragmentation and the opportunities it presents for advertisers. Later in the webcast, Jim talked about how advertisers will need to adjust their media planning in order to reach consumers in a time-shifted, multi-screen world and how the industry can take advantage of the long tail of fragmented viewership spread across online providers and cable networks To learn more about our panelists’ thoughts on the future of video advertising, listen to the full webcast now. To download the slides from this or other educational videos and webcasts, please visit: http://www.comcastspotlight.com/takefive

Video is everywhere. The powerful combination of sight, sound and motion--once available only on the living room TV--now reaches consumers everywhere they go and on every screen they use……on TV, online, on demand, on the phone or on a tablet. And marketers are following consumers’ lead by supplementing their TV campaigns with targeted video ads across multiple screens. In fact, a recent study by Forrester Research found that 68% of advertisers believe agencies will begin planning video holistically across all video options within the next three years. Similarly, 82% of agencies rank the ability to target ads as the most important capability of video buying in the future.* Watch this brief video to learn about how marketers are supplementing their TV campaigns with targeted video ads across multiple screens.

We hope you had a chance to attend our Take Five for Your Future webcast, "Using Video to Drive Auto Sales and Profitability" on April 3rd where a panel of experts shared how multi-screen video strategies can be used to increase automotive sales and franchise value. If you couldn't join us, or want to review some of the information again, you can view the complete webcast now. Larry Bruce, President & CEO of Online Drive, kicked off the lively panel discussion by sharing the results from a study his company conducted of 125 dealerships, 12.1 million website visitors and more than 2,200 buyers to determine which channel has biggest impact on generating leads. The study found that it's not one channel, but developing the right marketing mix that is the key to success. Additionally, the results showed that while some channels don't directly correlate to more leads, they may have a profound impact on the success of other channels. Larry also stressed the importance of thinking about how you want consumers to feel about your dealership when developing the messaging for your commercials. Next up, Jim Dykstra, Automotive Sales Manager in San Francisco for Comcast Spotlight, talked about how demand is strong in the auto buying market, but customer loyalty is low as consumers have gained more price transparency through the internet. They are willing to go further from home to buy a car at a lower price, but are less likely to be a repeat customer due to the distance. To combat this behavioral shift, Jim shared some multi-screen statistics to demonstrate how using TV plus online can target consumers where they consume media and research their purchases. Shifting to the agency perspective, Michael J. Nealy, President of Team One discussed the importance of using online video in conjunction with TV advertising and shared how his client, Toyota of Gladstone, had a more successful campaign by doing so. Rounding out the panel was Bret Rice, Senior Director of Research for the Eastern Division of Comcast Spotlight, who demonstrated with real dealership examples how research can be used to ensure advertising budgets can be spent as efficiently and effectively as possible. To download the slides from this or other educational videos and webcasts, please visit: http://www.comcastspotlight.com/takefive

Car buyers often research their choices online before they even set foot in a dealership....causing dealers to focus on digital lead conversion as the primary metric for marketing success. But recent studies show that the use of electronic media, such as TV and online video, as part of a dealer's upper-funnel marketing strategy can have a big impact on lower-funnel lead conversion results. Watch this brief video to hear how top dealers, dealer groups and agencies are using video to dramatically improve their digital lead conversion--improving local sales effectiveness and franchise value.

We hope you had a chance to attend our Take Five for Your Future webcast, "Mad Men 2013: How agencies are adapting to the times and trends of a multi-screen world" on October 30th. If you couldn't join us, or want to review some of the information again, you can view the complete webcast here. A panel of experts including John Collins, Managing Director, Broadcast & iTV at Media Storm, Mike Donahue, EVP, Strategic Partnerships at the American Association of Advertising Agencies (4A's), Greg Siano, EVP, Director of Media Services at The Tierney Agency, Ken Nippes, Vice President/Media Director at Cramer-Krasselt and Chip Meehan, VP, Content Partnerships at Comcast Spotlight, on how agencies need to change their internal processes--as well as their media planning, buying, account and creative teams--to better serve clients in this new multi-screen environment. Webcast attendees got to participate in live polling to see how their answers matched up with the results of a new nationwide survey of agency executives on the future of media buying. In this lively panel discussion, our experts shared their thoughts on the value of impressions across the different screens and how the media buying model needs to adapt to the change in media consumption patterns, including ROI on new media. The panel also discussed whether set-top-box data should be used to better target ads to consumers because targeted messages to targeted audiences has been found to have a greater impact on purchase behavior than traditional TV advertising as we saw on our last webcast in August. To learn more about the results from our survey to national agencies on these topics, watch the full webcast now. To download the slides from this or other educational videos and webcasts, please visit: http://www.comcastspotlight.com/takefive

The media landscape continues to evolve at a rapid pace. Consumers, and the video they watch, are increasingly fragmented across multiple devices. But how are agencies changing internal processes--as well as media their planning, buying, account and creative teams--to better serve clients in this new environment? Watch this brief video and learn about the results of a new nationwide survey of agency executives.

We hope you had a chance to attend our Take Five for Your Future webcast, "Big Data: The Data-Driven Media Plan" on August 28th. If you couldn't join us, or want to review some of the information again, you can watch the complete webcast here. A panel of experts shared their thoughts on how consumer marketers are matching data from a variety of sources to increase the efficiency and impact of their ad campaigns and provided some case studies and research to back it up. Dan Stein, Senior Vice President at Crossix Solutions, Helen Katz, SVP, Director of Research at Starcom Mediavest Group and Andrew Ward, Group Vice President at Comcast Media 360 shared their insights into the industry's latest buzz, "Big Data," in addition to giving a primer on the basics of what this is, why is it important and how marketers can use this powerful data to drive a more effective campaign. Our webcast attendees learned about hyper-targeted commercials, addressable advertising and its relationship to big data from Helen. She also shared how by working with Comcast Media 360 and using multiple data sources, they were able to answer the following questions: - Can TV's actual impact on sales be quantified? - Can targeted TV drive better results than network TV alone? - What is the sales impact of TV + digital? - Is there a cross-platform impact on consumer attitudes? The CPGs that were part of the test saw a significant increase in ad recall, significant increase in brand affinity and a significant increase in pre-to-post "Intent to purchase." The results were very impressive and many of our live attendees wanted to dive deeper on the results during our interactive Q&A at the end of the webcast! Our panelists rounded out their discussion by sharing some forward thinking outlooks on how this data is going to shape the industry and how targeted advertising will continue to get more refined in the coming years. To download the slides from this or other educational videos and webcasts, please visit: http://www.comcastspotlight.com/takefive

The success of 2012 Obama Presidential campaign proved that large amounts of data from a variety of sources can be combined to micro-target critical voters in critical locations. But can big data provide the same results for consumer marketers? Watch this brief video to hear how marketers are matching data from a variety of sources to increase the efficiency and impact of their ad campaigns.

We hope you had a chance to attend our Take Five for Your Future webcast, "The Marketing Muscle of Sports" on March 13th. If you couldn't join us, or want to review some of the information again, you can view the complete webcast now. A panel of experts shared their thoughts on the popularity and growth in sports television and how it can be an especially effective marketing tool for advertisers. Stephen Master, Senior Vice President of Sports at The Nielsen Company, kicked off the panel discussion by sharing findings from his company's State Of The Media: 2012 Year In Sports Report. He noted that brand recall was 10% higher for viewers of sports programming than non-sports programming. Additionally, while sports programming only accounts for 1.3% of all programming, 41% of TV related tweets are about sports programming -- emphasizing the high level of engagement and enthusiasm sports fans have with and about their teams and sports. He also shared more insight into the relationship between social media usage and sports programming viewing during the webcast. Next up was John Miller, Chief Marketing Officer at NBCUniversal Television Group and Head of NBC Sports Agency, who shared his thoughts about sports as a marketing vehicle and the advantages television advertisers have when their messages are viewed in a sports environment as opposed to within other program genres, which supported the findings from Year In Sports Report that Stephen shared. In addition, John shared how offering programming on multiple screens, as NBC did with the 2012 Summer Olympics, was a strong complement to their TV schedule and increased overall viewership substantially as opposed to cannibalizing it. Mike Wall, Regional VP/GM at Comcast Spotlight, then shared insight into how the engagement consumers have with sports programming extends to the commercials they view during sports. With the growing amount of sports programming on TV, Mike shared some of the key opportunities advertisers have to reach their target demographic across multiple networks, through special programming or by aligning with a league schedule or finding smaller niche audiences that may watch bowling or hunting programming, for example. After an informative discussion about the trends and opportunities from our panelists, we opened it up for a Q&A where attendees asked more about multi-screen and social behavior, the impact of live vs. recorded on advertisers and more. To hear our speakers' answers to these questions and all of our panelists' insight on how sports programming presents a plethora of opportunities for advertisers, check out the webcast now. To download the slides from this or other educational videos and webcasts, please visit: http://www.comcastspotlight.com/takefive

Savvy media professionals know that sports isn't "just another" program genre. It's an important part of American life with an appeal that extends across age, gender and geography--reaching large, passionate audiences. In fact, last summer's coverage of the London Olympics was the most-watched event in U.S. television history. Watch this brief video to hear from experts about why the London Olympics were such a success, and learn how sports can be an especially effective marketing tool for advertisers.

We hope you had a chance to attend our Take Five for Your Future webcast, "Reaching Consumers Across Multiple Screens on November 14th. If you couldn't join us, or want to review some of the information again, you can view the complete webcast here. A panel of experts shared their thoughts how they are using two powerful mediums together, television and online, to increase the reach, engagement and effectiveness of their clients' campaigns. Mike Miller, Vice President/Advanced Advertising at Comcast Spotlight, kicked things off with an impressive rundown of how media consumption is changing, making it more difficult for advertisers to achieve their goals. One key point: while TV viewing is at an all-time high, consumption of major media, which includes internet, mobile as well as TV, also continues to grow over time, gaining nearly an hour over the past four years -- shifting that time spent from radio, newspapers and magazines. Mike also explained that while TV and the Internet are driving the majority of media consumption, increasing from a combined 66% share in 2008 to a 68% share in 2011, this consumption is also happening simultaneously. This represents a fundamental change in behavior from single-platform broadcast TV to multi-platform video viewed across multiple screens that is posing some challenges, but is also creating new opportunities to reach consumers, a point Mike made later in the webcast. Next up was Scott Davis, Executive Vice President at Harmelin Media, sharing his thoughts on how ad campaigns are now being designed to reach consumers on multiple screens. He also discussed how advertisers can benefit by adding online video to a traditional cable campaign and how consumers are impacted by seeing an advertiser's message on two or more screens (vs. just on one). Fraser Elliott, SVP, Media Director at Cramer-Krasselt brought the conversation to the earlier discussion on the trend towards media multi-tasking to explain how two-screen campaigns address that change in consumption and how online campaigns can be a great supplement to a TV campaign by adding incremental reach. He also discussed the challenges that advertisers are facing when planning multi-screen campaigns. The panel discussion was rounded out by Nicholas Wootten, Media Director at School of Thought in San Francisco. He discussed how two-screen campaigns address the fragmentation problems Mike had mentioned and how online video can be used to engage consumers and create a more in-depth experience. After an informative discussion about the trends and opportunities from our panelists, we circled back with Mike for a deeper look at how consumers can be reached through a multi-screen campaign on Comcast. He noted that because our cable customers log in to XFINITY.com to check their email, voicemail, program their DVR, remotely check in on their home security and view video content, we can more accurately segment our online ads based on their subscriber billing address. We can use an entire DMA or pinpoint an advertiser's audience through available geographic zones and target on both screens - making a multi-screen solution more effective and efficient. That addressed the question of how to deliver the message, which naturally led to a discussion of what that message should look like—i.e., the creative part of the equation. Advertisers can re-purpose and leverage their thirty second (television) spot online by using In Banner Video, a video embedded within a standard banner ad that plays when a consumer rolls over the message, or pre-roll, displaying an advertiser's message before a short-form video selected by a viewer. This eliminates the need to come up with entirely new creative for an online video campaign and helps with brand and message recall for consumers. Since this was an interactive webcast, we invited attendees to ask our experts more questions, and they really responded, asking about how multi-screen campaigns are measured, how budgets should be planned to account for multiple screens and more. To hear our speakers' answers to these questions and all of our panelists' insight on the changing trends in media consumption and the solutions available to advertisers, listen to the webcast. To download the slides from this or other educational videos and webcasts, please visit: http://www.comcastspotlight.com/takefive

Today's consumers are viewing video on multiple devices. In fact, more than two-thirds of total media time is now spent on two screens: TV and online.* Consumers have also discovered how to increase the media viewing minutes in their day by using both screens at the same time. These trends, however, present both challenges and opportunities for advertisers. Watch this brief video to hear from industry experts who are taking the lead using these two powerful mediums together to increase the reach, engagement and effectiveness of their clients' campaigns.

We hope you had a chance to attend our Take Five for Your Future webcast, “Dynamic Ad Insertion: Unlocking the Value of Video On Demand, which took place on June 6th. If you did, we welcome your thoughts in the comments below and if you didn’t, you can view the complete webcast here. A panel of experts shared their thoughts on how agencies and content providers believe dynamic ad insertion will open new opportunities for advertisers during this live, interactive webcast. Rob Klippel, VP, New Products & Operations at Comcast Spotlight, kicked off the discussion by explaining what Dynamic Ad Insertion (DAI) is and how it enhances video on demand (VOD) by allowing ads to be dynamically inserted into a VOD program at the beginning and the end of program segments. These ads can be targeted by day-part, genre and rating. He also told attendees that by Q3 of this year, it will be deployed in 100% of Comcast VOD homes. Rob went on to share VOD usage statistics and trends and finished his portion of the webcast by highlighting some of the findings from the Advanced Advertising Media Project. For all the facts and figures on VOD and time-shifting that Rob went over, you can download the full slide deck here. Later in the presentation, Rob shared his thoughts on the similarities between the online ad model and DAI on VOD. Next up, Chad Urice, Managing Director at Media Storm, spoke to attendees from an agency perspective about how DAI impacts the media buying process and how advertisers are reacting to this new advertising opportunity. Rick Mandler, VP, New Media Sales at ABC Television Networks, shared his perspective on VOD from the network side and how VOD impressions are more valuable than impressions in linear programming. Later in the presentation, he shared his thoughts on how networks can benefit from making content available for DAI. Offering up another network perspective was Chris Falkner, VP, Advanced Advertising Technology & Operations at NBC Universal, who discussed how DAI changes the way VOD ad impressions are measured and how DAI can open the door to new advertisers. Rounding out the panel was Nick Troiano, President at BlackArrow, the company behind the advanced advertising technology and part of the industry-wide in initiative known as the Advanced Advertising Media Project (AAMP). While Rob Klippel shared some brief details from this study, Nick took attendees through a deeper dive of the Project, going over the four key findings, which included: 1. Consumers accept advertising on VOD; its presence on VOD is neither a surprise nor a barrier to their viewing experience 2. Ad load on VOD does not affect key measures, such as viewer enjoyment of the show, engagement with advertising, brand recall, interest and purchase intent 3. VOD is fundamentally a TV experience, but with heightened attention and engagement compared to linear TV 4. VOD creates opportunities for different ad formats. Consumers respond positively to longer-form, branded content that recognize their heightened level of attention Since this was an interactive webcast, attendees had the opportunity to ask our speakers more questions about DAI including how it can be bought, fast forwarding’s impact, measurement, etc. To hear our speakers’ answers to these questions and all of our panelists’ insight on DAI, listen to the webcast. To download the slides from this or other educational videos and webcasts, please visit: http://www.comcastspotlight.com/takefive

Viewership of programming on demand is exploding as consumers embrace watching what they want, when they want it. But ad serving technology has limited the ability of both advertisers and programmers to capitalize on these new-found VOD impressions...until now. Watch this brief video and hear from experts about how Dynamic Ad Insertion technology, or the ability to insert commercials "on the fly," will open the door to new, measurable and highly-targeted marketing opportunities.

We hope you had a chance to attend our Take Five for Your Future webcast, What Every Political Marketer Should Know During an Election Year, which took place on March 22. If you didn't, you can view the complete webcast now. A panel of experts shared research on how viewers consume news and how marketers can engage the public, reach specific voting blocks and spend their campaign dollars more efficiently. Dan Sinagoga, Vice President, Political Sales at Comcast Spotlight, kicked off the discussion by explaining how the increase in demand for advertising inventory, particularly in September and October as the November elections near, will impact advertisers. This may lead to shift from positions on cable interconnects (a group of cable systems that collectively reach all cable homes within a market) to individual systems to ease the demand. Because Comcast Spotlight offers zone coverage, which allows targeting by zip code, or neighborhood, marketers can reach specific voter demographics (and for local races, reach only those voters who will vote in that race. Sinagoga said that for the 2010 elections, 70% of cable commercials were targeted by zones. Next up was Katie Handel, Vice President at The Tarrance Group, who shared the results of a bi-partisan research study conducted by The Tarrance Group in partnership with Lake Research Partners. The study of registered voters in California showed that 62% spend their time predominantly watching cable vs. local broadcasting, and 35% watch news most often. However, 47% hadn’t watched a news program within the previous 48 hours, which means there are many other opportunities to target voters through other programming and networks. More detailed results of the study are available by downloading the slides or by viewing the webcast. Kyle Osterhout, Partner at Media Strategies & Research, shared some overall media trends and said that political marketers should take advantage of the micro-targeting capabilities now offered along with like Adtag and Adcopy. Adtag gives advertisers the opportunity to use custom five- second tags at the end of their commercial for a different specific location.Adcopy allows two different commercials to different audiences within the same market (for example, airing a message about one topic in a given area, and a different topic in another area). Both of these are advertising solutions are ideal for political advertising, where it’s all about the localized message. Kyle also noted that reaching viewers on multiple screens—on TV and online—is increasingly important for political marketers. This point is underscored by a Nielsen IAG study that found message recall increased by a remarkable 53% when online video advertising is used in conjunction with on-air advertising. To download the slides from this or other educational videos and webcasts, please visit: http://www.comcastspotlight.com/takefive

As election races heat up across the country, political marketers from campaigns both large and small have discovered new tactics that allow them to engage the public, target voters and spend their campaign dollars more efficiently. Hear how some marketers are effectively using spot cable advertising to generate votes for their candidate in this brief video.

We hope you had a chance to attend our Take Five for Your Future webcast, Integrating On Air and Online for Maximum Effectiveness, which took place on October 26. If you didn’t, you can watch the complete webcast here. A panel of experts showed our audience how advertisers are using video online in conjunction with on-air advertising to connect with consumers and build reach for their message. Marina Klusas, Director at comScore Marketing Solutions, kicked things off by asking the question that many advertisers wonder, “How many incremental people can I reach if I advertise online in addition to TV?” To figure this out, comScore conducted a nationwide study to measure people exposed to ads on TV channels, to online ads (on what is now XFINITY.com), and to both TV and online ads. The main takeaway was that buying online ads increases TV campaign reach Kim Woodworth, Regional Vice President at Comcast Spotlight, shared some interesting figures on how consumers are viewing video content. The majority (59%) of consumers watch TV and use the Internet simultaneously, but more importantly, studies show that brand recall scores increase 82% with exposure to both a TV ad and an online ad – this is the two screen—or “peanut butter and jelly”—effect that is taking place today. Kim also discussed online video options for advertisers, including the benefits of using video pre-roll, or a video ad experienced in-stream, before the video content is played for the viewer. You can have 15- or 30-second exposure before a video, essentially putting your TV ad online and extending the reach of your campaign. These ads can be DMA or zone geo-targeted and advertisers can get detailed engagement metrics on these ads. Lastly, Kim shared a powerful case study with the audience: Media Storm and its client, Game Show Network, wanted to increase viewership for their show, Improv-A-Ganza. By using existing on-air creative, interactive features and prominent placement on XFINITY.com, they had over 33,000 active video ad views, or 140 hours of brand exposure, which increased awareness for the show. She noted that 31% of viewers watched the complete 30-second video ad, which is a strong indicator of intent to watch the program on TV. The panel was rounded out by Anupam Gupta, President & CEO at Mixpo, a video advertising technology provider that allows video advertising to be interactive, dynamically tailored and customized in real-time for unique audience segments. Anupam showcased a number of examples where their dynamic ads had powerful engagement metrics for advertisers. The first was an in-banner video for Jeep that had a 3.34% engagement rate where 1.9% of the users initiated the video, meaning 121,000 people chose to watch the spot. That’s a total of 550 hours of video, or, in on-air terms, 66,000 thirty-second spots. Next, we saw how FOX NFL Sunday got a 2.4% engagement rate where 2.27% of user initiated the video play, 216,000 people chose to watch the spot. They also had 7,500 clicks and 4,500 Interactions from this ad. Lastly, we got to see how online video ads can be used for couponing and mapping with the campaign for Big O Tires on Vehix. They had a 4% engagement rate and 3.8% of people initiated the video, which also received 1,300 clicks and 1,600 Interactions. The bottom line is that online is a rapidly growing space. This year, 5.2 billion monthly video ad impressions were served to 148 million people who are spending an average of 16 hours a month watching video online, according to comScore. Online video is by far and away the fastest-growing Internet segment; from 2006-2010, comScore saw a 344% ad spend increase and a 600% increase in videos. The important thing to remember, regardless of platform, is that advertisers must deliver the right message via sight, sound, and motion, and online video gives them the additional ability to interact with viewers. These online video ads have an engagement rate that is 27 times what static banners deliver in clicks and have 21 times more user initiated views than static banners receive clicks. To download the slides from this or other educational videos and webcasts, please visit: http://www.comcastspotlight.com/takefive

What if you could take the sight, sound and motion of your on-air advertising and combine it with the engagement and targeting capabilities of online advertising? Watch this brief video to see examples of how advertisers are using video online in conjunction with on-air advertising to engage the consumer and build reach for their message.

We hope you had a chance to attend our Take Five for Your Future webcast, Achieving Reach in a Fragmented Media World, which took place on May 18. If you didn’t, you can watch the complete webcast here. A panel of media experts including Jonathan Lichter; Chief Strategy Officer for Kelly, Scott & Madison; Ken Nippes, Vice President and Media Director for Cramer-Krasselt; Charlie Holmes, VP of Satellite Sales for NCC Media; and Peter Heisinger, Regional Vice President for Comcast Spotlight, participated in a lively discussion on how fragmentation is changing the media landscape. Our panel felt that increased fragmentation of audiences across multiple media platforms can pose a challenge for advertisers in their efforts to achieve effective reach goals, and is requiring more resources from agency media departments as they attempt to evaluate the growing range of media options. Ken Nippes and Jonathan Lichter agreed that the increased focus on media alternatives have increased the importance and stature of media departments within agencies. Diminished reach is the largest single issue that comes up with clients,” said Lichter. “And the resources required to evaluate everything that comes through is in fact the key agency operational issue.” Nippes added, “We have the benefit of being the first to know about a lot of new things, so we’re a logical filter for what the rest of the agency needs to know about.” That’s where I+, or “Interconnect Plus,” comes in, according to NCC’s Charlie Holmes. He introduced the new platform for spot advertising in local markets, and explained how it will simplify the process of reaching, and reporting on, fragmented television audiences by allowing advertisers to reach cable, telco and satellite subscribers with a single media buy. Holmes said affiliation partnerships between cable MSOs and, AT&T U-verse and DirectTV would be in place by the end of the year, building on an agreement with Verizon FiOS that rolled out last year. Peter Heisinger provided specific examples of how I+ can help advertisers increase reach in specific markets thanks to I+. Comcast Spotlight is launching I+ partnerships in 33 of its markets, including Houston, Chicago, Atlanta, San Francisco, Miami and Detroit, among others. We polled the audience during the webcast and the attendees agreed with Lichter and Nippes that fragmentation was affecting their ability to do their job. When asked what consequence of audience fragmentation had impacted them the most, 55% said they have difficulty combining campaign metrics from multiple sources, 24% felt that that time required to deal with more media sales organizations is their obstacle, while 21% said that fragmentation was making it difficult to achieve reach goals. The panel concluded that the I+ affiliate partnership offered by NCC and Comcast Spotlight would help alleviate all three concerns. To download the slides from this or other educational videos and webcasts, please visit: http://www.comcastspotlight.com/takefive

The past decade has seen an explosion in the number of media outlets available to advertisers, as well as fragmentation of the audience they are trying to reach--making it even more difficult to achieve effective reach levels. And with that trend come more reps, more creative materials, more invoices and more metrics for already overworked buyers to deal with. Watch this brief video to learn how media experts are dealing with the new fragmented media world.

We hope you had a chance to attend our Take Five for Your Future webcast, “Advertiser Success Stories: Multi-Screen Campaigns that Produce Results” on June 3. If you missed it or would like to view it again, you can do so now. A panel of Comcast Spotlight advertisers talked about how they successfully combined television and digital advertising to achieve their company’s goals. Webcast attendees got insight into the advertisers’ business needs and how custom multi-screen advertising solutions were crafted to reach their target audiences. Attendees also learned how each business experienced a measurable impact from multi-screen advertising. The panel shared a wide array of solutions that were used to meet their specific goals. Geographic targeting honed in on audiences for many of the businesses, while some also used Comcast Spotlight’s I+ platform to reach satellite and telco subscribers in addition to those who subscribed to XFINITY from Comcast. The advertisers also shared that a strong online presence increased reach, awareness and recall. Online video was particularly beneficial: in-banner and pre-roll video enhanced advertisers’ television campaigns and offered a cost-effective way to re-purpose creative elements and reinforce the brands’ messages. Attendees also gained insights into how a digital campaign can complement a television one through geographic targeting that matches the neighborhood-level precision of geo-targeted TV advertising. To download the slides from this or other educational videos and webcasts, please visit: http://www.comcastspotlight.com/takefive

Watch this brief video and you'll hear how both large national advertisers and local retailers have used interactive applications such as "Request for Information" and "Telescoping." What challenges did they experience and what were the results?

Advancements are allowing traditional media platforms to carve out new and expanded roles in the marketing mix. Watch this brief video to hear from Manish Bhatia, formerly of Nielsen, share his take on these trends. You will also hear from Greg O'Brien, Regional VP for Comcast Spotlight, about recent trials of "Video Circulars on Demand," which transformed retail store newspaper inserts into VOD content this past holiday season.

Watch this brief video to learn about the increased demand for, and reliance upon, metrics across all media platforms. Hear insights from experts such as Tracey Scheppach, SVP, Innovations Director for SMGx, and Robert Ivins, former VP, Data Development, for Comcast Spotlight talk about using research and data to gain advertising metrics.

Although television has traditionally been thought of as a reach vehicle, new technologies are allowing advertisers to also engage and connect with consumers. Watch this brief video to hear from Sean Cunningham, President & CEO of the Cable Television Advertising Bureau, as well as Andrew Ward, Regional VP for Comcast Spotlight, who explain how advertisers are engaging with consumers by integrating telescoping to VOD, iGuide Banners and Remind Record into their campaigns.

More than ever, media pros are recognizing the effectiveness of reaching consumers using multiple touch points. Watch this brief video to hear from Tom Straszewski, VP, Interactive Sales for Comcast Spotlight, share his thoughts about the effectiveness of extending on air ad campaigns to online platforms such as Comcast.net, as well as how local retailers can accomplish on air/online integration easily and inexpensively using Spotlight´s partnership with Mixpo.

An examination of television as a two-way marketing tool and the impact it will have on advertisers. Watch this brief video to hear from Craig Woerz, whose agency, Media Storm, has planned and implemented more that 350 campaigns with interactive elements. You will also hear from Mike Miller, Regional VP for Comcast Spotlight, about successful trials of "Request for Information" (RFI) in the Chicago DMA.