• by Tyler Loechner  @mp_tyler, June 3, 2014

Comcast Spotlight, the ad sales arm of Comcast Cable, on Tuesday announced it has struck a partnership with sell-side platform (SSP) Rubicon Project to create a private exchange. Comcast will also sell some of its ad space via an open exchange.

The exchange will feature inventory from across Comcast’s Xfinity.com and XfinityTV.com sites, giving advertisers access to Comcast’s 20 million broadband subscribers. The Comcast Spotlight private exchange is expected to launch this quarter, per a release.

Comcast will use both real-time bidding (RTB) and “programmatic direct” technologies to sell inventory. Advertisers will have access to the inventory via Rubicon’s Advertising Automation Cloud.

Hank Oster, SVP and GM at Comcast Spotlight, stated that the partnership "gives [Comcast] the ability to better scale [its] display advertising efforts and connect with buyers representing leading global brands.”

Rubicon claims to have connected with over 100,000 brands globally.

A Rubicon representative told RTM Daily that Comcast will still sell inventory direct to advertisers. However, “whatever premium inventory their sales team does not sell goes into the programmatic direct and/or RTB inventory,” the rep added.

Gregory R. Raifman, president at Rubicon Project, stated that he views the partnership with Comcast as one that “demonstrates the accelerating trend towards the automation of the buying and selling of advertising.”