Light Reading Cable: Comcast Claims Interactive Ad Success
By Steve Donohue
ATLANTA -- Cable Next-Gen Video Strategies -- TV ads that let viewers set reminders to watch or record upcoming shows are already paying off, according to one Comcast Corp. (Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK) executive.
In one instance of an interactive TV ad campaign tested in San Francisco, Comcast Spotlight director of product management Kathleen DeBenedictis credits such "reminder" ads for bringing in more viewers in key demographics. "It's all about driving viewership to those programs," DeBenedictis told the audience here yesterday.
The campaign included interactive reminder spots run by Lifetime Television and CBS on Comcast's San Francisco system, where it says it has 1.2 million interactive TV-enabled homes. Two days prior to the premiere of Lifetime’s Project Runway series -- which targets women 18 to 49 -- the network ran "remind record" spots. The campaign resulted in a 74 percent higher viewership for the 18-to-49 demo in San Francisco compared to other top 20 markets, DeBenedictis said.
