• by Tameka Kee , September 23, 2008

Comcast Spotlight and Mixpo have partnered to make it easier for small and medium businesses (SMBs) to create online video ads. SMBs that have created TV spots with Comcast Spotlight (the ad sales division of Comcast) can repurpose them for the Web through Mixpo's online video platform, complete with unique landing pages and detailed performance reporting.

The ads will run on a number of sites, including the Comcast.net start page and portal, which gives SMBs access to more than 14.6 million high-speed Internet subscribers, and Vehix.com, Comcast's automotive portal.

According to Tom Straszewski, senior director of online sales at Comcast Spotlight, the deal is indicative of the cable giant's commitment to offering SMBs simple but effective advertising options, whether they are on the screen or on the Web. "We are experts in tailoring advertising to our clients' unique marketing needs," Straszewski said. "And this demonstrates our commitment to meeting these needs in the expanding digital media landscape."

Comcast Spotlight sales reps in more than 90 markets will offer the Mixpo-powered service to their clients, which are accessible through the Seattle-based company's recently launched platform. The platform includes a "studio" where SMBs can create the clips from existing video, photo and audio files or stock footage, as well as a tool that lets users test different versions of an ad for maximum effectiveness.

The performance-tracking component lets SMBs track impressions and views, play-through and conversion stats, as well as viewers' geographic locations and the sites that referred them. Mixpo's platform also creates custom landing pages for each ad, along with optimized search terms and meta data to ensure that the clips are crawled and indexed by multiple video (and core) search engines.