Comcast Launches Universal Ads: 3 Things Advertisers Should Know

At CES on Monday, Comcast announced the launch of Universal Ads, a TV advertising platform that brings media companies together in a partnership to simplify access to premium video inventory.

According to Comcast, Universal Ads will allow advertisers of all sizes to buy premium video directly from some of the most prestigious media companies today at scale, as easily as they buy from social media platforms. Launch partners include Roku, A+E, AMC Networks, DirecTV, Fox Corporation, NBCUniversal, Paramount, TelevisaUnivision, Warner Bros. Discovery, and Xumo, with more to be announced in the coming months.

Plus, the platform is built on top of FreeWheel’s ad technology, which will allow ad buyers and sellers to do business all in one place.

Comcast executive James Grant will spearhead the Universal Ads initiative. On the product side, former Snap executive James Borow has been hired to lead the Universal Ads’ product and engineering teams in collaboration with the FreeWheel product and technology team.

The company noted that Universal Ads will specifically offer Universal Ads Manager, a free, self-service TV ad-buying tool; direct access to premium, brand-safe video that reaches over 90% of U.S. households; and a marketing API, which will enable developers to build reporting, measurement, creative generation, and other applications.

But what does the announcement mean for the industry overall? And how does it affect marketers?

Here are three things advertisers should know about Universal ads:

1. Universal ads will continue an industry trend toward SMBs

Ross Benes, senior analyst at eMarketer, said the announcement is a continuation of what’s already happening in the streaming space, where large media companies like Disney are placing more effort on small and medium-sized advertisers.

“Fortune 500 companies that spend a lot on national linear TV are already spending on streaming,” Benes told ADWEEK. “Now streaming operators are going after the types of marketers who only bought linear locally or who relied on social and search advertising but felt TV was outside their budget.”

According to Benes, CTV won’t reach the same number of advertisers as the Facebooks and Googles of the world because the inventory is too small. But the plan is future-proofing.

“As this Comcast announcement shows, streaming services will still extend themselves to reach more smaller advertisers because the big brands can only spend so much,” Benes said. “To expand revenue as fully possible, more small and medium-sized marketers will be sought.”

2. The platform simplifies ad buying for some … but not all

Mark Zamuner, president of Juice Media, who has over 20 years of experience in data-driven omnichannel advertising, said the launch levels the playing field for SMBs, simplifies the traditionally complex ad-buying process, and fosters fair competition.

“SMBs typically operate against specific audiences in defined geographical areas. The ability to address those parameters has enabled the success of digital and social platforms. SMBs had a turn-key solution to help them target their marketing/advertising efforts,” Zamuner said. “This is a massive win for both advertisers and NBCU, as it effectively levels the playing field and allows for an easy entry for SMBs to advertise within premium content with geo and audience-defined delivery.”

He added that the streamlined ad-buying encourages SMBs to diversify away from “walled gardens” and instead capitalize on the advantages of linear TV.

However, some question if the platform is solving a problem that doesn’t exist.

“You can buy ads directly from Roku, so why do I need to go through Comcast’s Universal Ads?” Dan Rayburn, a streaming media expert, said. “They’re implying here that it’s really hard for small businesses to buy across Meta and YouTube—and I don’t disagree with that—but it’s not hard for them to buy across Fox, Paramount, or Roku. So, this is creating a conglomerate for them to go to. It’s really acting as a middleman.”

Still, Rayburn noted that there’s an advantage that the platform is being built on FreeWheel, with many of the launch partners being FreeWheel clients.

3. The platform is putting social on notice as TV takes on tech

Nikhil Lai, senior analyst, performance marketing at Forrester, said the platform’s growth hinges on SMBs feeling like they’ve saturated paid social, which makes Universal Ads precarious.

“It will have to prove that it’s not only as easy to use as Meta Ads Manager, but that TV advertising beats paid social’s cost-per-response,” Lai said. “Holding TV advertising accountable to lower funnel goals breaks its economics, which are conducive to incremental reach. When buying TV advertising, unlock its full-funnel benefits.”

The social media element of the announcement also stuck out to Rayburn.

“Originally, I was thinking this makes it easier against TikTok, Meta, and Facebook just in terms of anything tied to streaming,” Rayburn said. “But keep in mind that Facebook and TikTok are not the same as Paramount+ or the Roku Channel. It’s very different content formats, and the quality is different.”

Overall, the industry is going through a broader shift as media companies compete with tech companies, and this is just the latest step.

“We’ve been in the midst of digital transformation for two decades, and now traditional media players have an ecosystem—streaming—that provides all the targeting advantages of digital platforms with the best content for brands to be associated with,” Zamuner said. “With generative AI making advances in the development of video creative, [Comcast] is eliminating the last point of friction. It’s great to see advertisers have more choice and more power. The collaboration among media companies allows them all to win a greater share.”