• by David Goetzl , February 15, 2008

Comcast will invest up to $70 million this year as part of cable operators' joint effort to develop a national interactive advertising platform, a top company executive said Thursday.

Cable executives have indicated that leading operators had banded together to fund the development of a system, code-named "Project Canoe," (by industry research arm CableLabs), which would allow an advertiser to easily buy national spots. The added benefit--targeted click-through options depending on locale. Cable operators' set-top box data could yield performance results similar to initiatives by DirecTV/TNS and Google/EhcoStar's Dish Network.

But Comcast's disclosure that it has set aside some $50 million to $70 million this year to contribute to the platform's infrastructure underscores how committed cable operators are to turning it into a reality, especially as their traditional bread-and-butter TV provider business is under pressure.

"This is going to be something that is very real, and very significant in terms of its contributions to our business if you go out to '09 and '10," said COO Steve Burke on a conference call to discuss results for the recently completed fourth quarter.

Burke did caution that development is "complicated," but called it "one of the most exciting upsides that we have." He failed to provide any specifics in terms of launch timing, functionality or which cable operators are involved.

However, Comcast's bullishness was such that it touted potential revenue growth in the same vein as its commercial phone (and other b-to-b offerings) that it projects will reach $2.5 billion by 2011. CEO Brian Roberts has previously said vis-à-vis interactive advertising, "the money is humongous--and real cash."

If the system allows advertisers to place buys that run in a fell swoop on just the top-five cable operators--Comcast, Time Warner, Cox, Charter and Cablevision--ads could reach some 50 million homes. MSOs get about two minutes an hour of ad time on the cable networks they offer.

Separately, as Comcast discussed its recent results, Roberts said the company had no interest in any recently discussed high-profile transactions. "We are not spending any time on any of the large transformative acquisitions that have been speculated about like Yahoo or Sprint."

Also, Burke said that Verizon's competing telco TV offering, FiOS, is continuing to peel away customers from Comcast. "There's no question Verizon is real," Burke repeated. But he expressed optimism that Comcast was making up any lost revenue by out-maneuvering Verizon for phone and high-speed Internet customers. He said Comcast has no feel for whether the other telco TV provider, AT&T U-verse, poses a threat.

In the fourth quarter, Comcast saw revenue increase 14% to $8 billion, as operating income leaped 20% to $1.5 billion.