• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, September 26, 2011

Comcast Spotlight, which sells local advertising for the cable operator, said it has teed up more than 1,000 campaigns using interactive advertising, covering 2.7 billion-plus impressions.

Operators from Comcast to DirecTV -- the satellite operator which is moving into local sales -- told investors that ad sales offer significant growth opportunities.

The Comcast iTV spots can be served in 15 million homes in 50 markets and take on various forms, such as request for information -- where an overlay appears on the screen and a person can order a sample, coupon or other offering to come through the mail through a few clicks with the remote.

There are also opportunities to direct viewers to long-form ads on a video-on-demand platform, in which a viewer can "bookmark" these for viewing later.

Advertisers are warming to iTV partly because of the metrics that can be provided as far as engaging viewing.

Hank Oster, Comcast Spotlight general manager, stated that marketers are "interested in ROI metrics, and are increasingly looking to iTV-enabled advertising as a way to quantify the impact of their messages."

Nike has used the on-demand, long-form option for a short film featuring Kobe Bryant, where an ad invited viewers to click through to view the content.

In an act of corporate synergy, NBC -- now part of Comcast -- used the iTV platform to promote its singing competition hit "The Voice."