NEW YORK – June 10, 2020 – Today, AMC Networks announced that it has partnered with three major distribution partners to enable addressable capabilities on its own linear and VOD television advertising. The three distributors – Charter’s Spectrum Reach, Comcast Advertising and Cox Media – are the founding members of the On Addressability initiative, launched last June to accelerate the industry’s ability to deliver a scalable and sustainable addressable solution to marketers that maximizes the impact and value of television.
“Addressable is the future of advertising and with On Addressability, we are finally bringing the future into the present,” said Kim Kelleher, President of Commercial Revenue and Partnerships, AMC Networks.
Added Kelleher, “At AMC Networks, we are focused on bringing performance-based marketing to our clients and innovative solutions to brands, however they are interested in buying television advertising. Fortunately, AMC Networks is in a unique position to push this frontier and, with our partners at Charter, Comcast and Cox, we are already getting started.”
As part of the addressability pilot, AMC will allocate a portion of its commercials to addressable ads delivered to aggregated household audiences across the Charter, Comcast and Cox cable television footprints, consistent with each company’s commitment to privacy. This will increase the amount of addressable advertising inventory available to national advertisers and provide additional scale.
“We launched the On Addressability initiative last year because as MVPDs, we are responsible for delivering ads into viewers’ households. Enabling addressable TV has to begin with the content distributors who lay the groundwork and set up the infrastructure,” said Marcien Jenckes, President, Comcast Advertising. “Programmers have the largest amount of inventory, however, and we need their participation to achieve scale. AMC Networks’ decision to partner with On Addressability is important for the industry and the start of what we believe is a growing trend.”
On Addressability focuses on the “how to” of enabling addressability based on the learnings of its participants. This includes (1) defining common practices and standards, (2) enabling technical solutions and (3) working to solve larger challenges surrounding addressability, such as measurement. Charter, Comcast and Cox are working with Canoe Ventures as their technical implementation and service management arm for linear and video on demand addressability, providing programmers with one main entity to interact with to reach a larger, unified footprint of households across all three MVPDs.
“Even though MVPDs have inventory across all platforms – IP, VOD, online included – linear television is still where the majority of viewing takes place, so if we can bring better targeting and more scale to TV advertising, while maintaining security and brand safety, everyone wins, “ said David Kline, Executive Vice President, Charter Communications and President, Spectrum Reach. “We’re looking at a really big opportunity, and with the cooperation and support of forward-thinking programmers like AMC, we’re well on our way.”
“Bringing addressable capabilities to television will allow us to serve our customers better, including agencies, brands and viewers. It’s no longer optional. After lots of thoughtful planning, we’re energized to move ahead to the next stage of the market introduction,” said Louis Gump, Senior Vice President and General Manager at Cox Media. “These addressable trials signal an inflection point that will bring scale and accessibility to addressable campaigns for national advertisers. It’s an important new solution in our tool kit.”
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About On Addressability
The On Addressability initiative maximizes the impact and value of TV as a scalable and sustainable marketing platform. Spearheaded by Comcast Advertising in summer 2019, On Addressability is led by Comcast, Charter and Cox and welcomes participation across the industry. For more information, please visit www.comcastadvertising.com/onaddressability.
About AMC Networks
Known for its groundbreaking and celebrated original content, AMC Networks is the company behind the award-winning brands AMC, BBC AMERICA, IFC, SundanceTV, WE tv, and IFC Films. Its diverse line-up of popular and critically-acclaimed series and independent films include Killing Eve, Better Call Saul and The Walking Dead, which has been the #1 show on cable television for nine consecutive years, as well as Portlandia, Brockmire, Love After Lockup, and the films Boyhood, Death of Stalin, and many more. Its original series Mad Men and Breaking Bad are widely recognized as being among the most influential and acclaimed shows in the history of TV. The Company also operates AMC Studios, its production business; AMC Networks International, its international programming business; the subscription streaming services Shudder, Sundance Now, Acorn TV and UMC (Urban Movie Channel); and Levity Entertainment Group, the Company’s production services and comedy venues business. For more information, visit http://www.amcnetworks.com.
About Charter
Charter Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ:CHTR) is a leading broadband connectivity company and cable operator serving more than 29 million customers in 41 states through its Spectrum brand. Over an advanced communications network, the company offers a full range of state-of-the-art residential and business services including Spectrum Internet®, TV, Mobile and Voice.
For small and medium-sized companies, Spectrum Business® delivers the same suite of broadband products and services coupled with special features and applications to enhance productivity, while for larger businesses and government entities, Spectrum Enterprise provides highly customized, fiber-based solutions. Spectrum Reach® delivers tailored advertising and production for the modern media landscape. The company also distributes award-winning news coverage, sports and high-quality original programming to its customers through Spectrum Networks and Spectrum Originals. More information about Charter can be found at corporate.charter.com.
About Comcast Advertising
Comcast Advertising is the advertising division of Comcast Cable. As a global leader in media, technology and advertising, Comcast Advertising fosters powerful connections between brands and their audiences as well as between publishers, distributors, MVPDs, agencies and other industry players. Effectv, its advertising sales division, helps local, regional and national advertisers connect with their audiences on every screen by using advanced data to drive targeting and measurement of their campaigns. FreeWheel, its media and technology arm, provides the technology, data enablement, and convergent marketplaces required to ensure buyers and sellers can transact across all screens, across all data types and all sales channels, in order to ensure the ultimate goal – results for marketers. Comcast Cable, along with NBCUniversal and Sky, is part of the Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ: CMCSA). Visit www.comcastadvertising.com to learn more.
About Cox Media
Cox Media is the advertising sales division of Cox Communications, the third largest cable entertainment and broadband services provider in the country. Cox serves approximately 6 million residences and businesses, giving Cox Media’s customers the opportunity to reach their ideal customer wherever they go.