In an attempt to slow Google down from siphoning off advertising dollars away from television, the nation's six largest cable companies are putting together a joint venture to sell customized and
interactive ads across their systems. Over the past six months, executives from Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cablevision, Cox Communications, Charter Communications and Bright House Networks have been
meeting to pout the plan in motion with Stephen Burke, president of Comcast, and Landel Hobbs, chief operating officer of Time Warner Cable.
Cable cos. have long sought to direct the
right advertisement to the right person, based on his or her tastes and lifestyle -- much like online can do. They see much to be made from such customized features. The cable companies will start
with about $150 million behind the effort to sell targeted ads across all six systems. Focused ads on television could be more effective on TV, says Craig Moffett, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein &
Company and makes the data the project will collect from set-top boxes very valuable. "Addressable advertising on television is in many ways the holy grail, because it can offer ever more targeting
ability than Google," says Moffett.
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