• by Wayne Friedman , April 29, 2010

TV stations aren't the only ones seeing big rises in local advertising revenues. The fortunes of local cable, and the biggest cable system operator Comcast Corp., are climbing as well.

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.

"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.