• by Wayne Friedman , June 9, 2020

Looking to expand programmatic TV media buying for eager TV advertisers, two Comcast divisions -- Comcast Technology Solutions and FreeWheel -- have created a new platform for content owners and distributors to sell set-top-box video-on-demand inventory.

Comcast says skyrocketing usage of video-on-demand content -- as well as higher video viewership -- has pushed this new solution, which will allow more unified buying across all premium video.

“Until today, it has not been possible to effectively monetize this content in the same programmatic fashion as other video inventory,” stated Richard Nunn, vice president/general manager of advertiser solutions at Comcast Technology Solutions.

Sister company FreeWheel will offer set-top-box/video-on-demand inventory to agencies and advertisers via programmatic demand-side platforms.

U.S. programmatic TV advertising spending is estimated to rise 71% this year to $4.73 billion and then up 42% in 2021 to $6.69 billion, according to eMarketer.

At the same time, the advertising research company also projected that the addressable TV advertising market will soften somewhat. These are targeted TV ads delivered via set-top boxes on linear and video-on-demand (VOD) -- but exclude connected TV, smart TV and OTT ads.