In the first quarter, the Comcast Spotlight division, its local advertising sales group, watched a 23.5% climb in local revenues to $360 million versus $292 million in the first quarter of 2009.
Comcast Spotlight, which is in 95 DMAs, representing over 30 million cable subscribers, grew its automotive business -- its biggest category -- by a big 58% versus a year ago.
Tune-in advertising -- sales to cable networks that promote their own shows -- grew 45% versus the same period of a year ago. This was the second-biggest category. Food and beverage advertising climbed 39%.
Even with the recession, in the fourth quarter, local cable advertising share grew a couple of percentage points, says Charlie Thurston, president of Comcast Spotlight. Now, Spotlight's share is roughly mid-teens to 20% against those TV markets it competes against.
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"Even when we are down, we were increasing share of TV dollars," he says.
Comcast's other digital platforms also saw hikes: a 51% improvement for its iGuide, its on-screen program guide, in banner ads. Much of this came from movie studio advertising, such as Walt Disney, Universal Studios and Warner Bros.
Business at Comcast.net grew 85% in the first quarter. Comcast will now be selling Internet advertising by "zone," which means a handful of ZIP codes, like it does with its traditional local ad buys for its cable systems. It had been selling Comcast.net by DMA.
For a long time, local ad sales platforms like Comcast's have been selling zones, offering a more targeted media buying opportunity than TV stations sold via DMA.
For 2010, Comcast hopes to gain more political advertising dollars. Where Comcast had a 5% share of political dollars in 2004, it is targeting for as much as 25% this year.
Also, the company has recently grown its business in affiliation agreements with DirecTV and Dish, representing sports network advertising inventory. It also did a 10-market deal to sell local TV advertising in Verizon FiOS video distribution systems.