• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, May 22, 2012

Industry-wide initiatives like Canoe Ventures may have floundered, but at least one major cable TV operator is muscling ahead with enhanced TV advertising buys that offer digital targeting, measurability and even interactivity. Comcast Spotlight, the spot and local cable TV advertising sales division of Comcast Corp., this morning unveiled Comcast Media 360, a new unit focused on helping marketers and agencies to leverage developing “cross-platform” advertising options.

The new unit, which is headed by Group Vice President Andrew Ward, has also struck a deal with Publicis’ Starcom MediaVest Group Exchange (SMGx) for three undisclosed clients to tap the new units' enhanced ad capabilities later this year.

“Our clients are demanding addressability, interactivity and accountability on all platforms,” SMGx Executive Vice President of Innovations Tracey Scheppach stated in the announcement, which did not elaborate on the SMGx clients involved, or what they might be doing with the new Comcast unit.

Comcast said the new ad applications will include:

• Targetability: utilizing consumer segmentation tools and Comcast’s infrastructure to deliver commercial messages to well-defined geographic and/or demographic groups.

• Interactivity: utilizing interactive platforms like request for information (RFI) and telescoping to long-form video-on-demand (VOD) content to enable deeper consumer engagement with advertising content.

• Accountability: working with independent third-party research companies to measure the impact of advertising.