Multichannel News: Advanced Ads: Grid Is Good
Rovi, Comcast Spotlight See Strong Demand for Guide Promos
By Todd Spangler
.jpg){kind=small}
For all the talk of the potential for advanced TV advertising, one place where marketing dollars today are freely flowing — and growing — is onscreen program guides.
Operators, including Comcast, as well as Rovi, which sells ad units for its Passport and i-Guide interactive program guides, are seeing demand surge for placement on cable’s IPGs.
The biggest IPG advertisers are cable and broadcast programmers looking to prompt viewers to watch or record their shows. Comcast Spotlight, for one, has hit a high-water mark in the category by nearly selling out its IPG ad inventory for September, according to Chip Meehan, vice president of Western division integrated media sales.
“We definitely had programmers who couldn’t get in where they wanted,” he said. “It shows we’ve reached a certain maturity in this space.”
