Comcast Advertising Partners With Mastercard, Marpipe on Performance-Based Ad Solutions

According to a recent Comcast Advertising study in conjunction with AdExchanger, 63% of advertisers said they would increase spend if there was more attribution connecting TV ad exposure to specific consumer actions or purchases. So, at Cannes Lions, Comcast is taking action. Today, the company announced it's bringing three new innovations across its portfolio to give brands better advanced measurement and attribution tools, allowing them to track the impact of TV advertising throughout the marketing funnel. The innovations come from partnerships with Mastercard to bring attribution to local advertisers, a team-up between Universal Ads and Marpipe for dynamic CTV ad products, and expanded capabilities through FreeWheel. By bringing various Cannes offerings to both national and local advertisers, the company is aiming to deliver lower-funnel results like sales and conversion data. "At Comcast Advertising, our goal is to help advertisers unlock the full potential of TV by making it more measurable, actionable, and aligned with business outcomes,” James Rooke, president of Comcast Advertising, said in a statement. “The truth is, TV is a results engine that connects top and bottom funnel in a way that no other medium can. Endless studies have shown this. However, we don’t make TV advertising as easy or seamless as social media platforms do. Our goal across Comcast Advertising is two-fold: make it easy and prove it works.” Mastercard's partnership brings attribution measurement to local advertisers Comcast Advertising is working with Mastercard to connect TV ad exposure with aggregated and anonymized purchase insights from Mastercard cardholders. The company's data, combined with Mastercard's customer base, enables the Comcast Media Solution feature to be used not only by large national advertisers but also by local advertisers, allowing them to utilize it for the first time. Advertisers will be able to see beta testing sales lift across key categories like automotive, retail, home services, and furniture, optimizing campaigns to deliver the most impact. A recent study of campaigns for five home improvement and furnishing brands revealed a 3x return on incremental ad spend as well as increases to store traffic, average order value, and consumer spend. Dawn Williamson, chief revenue officer, Comcast Advertising, said the partnership with Mastercard is exciting because it fundamentally elevates the way TV advertising performance is measured, especially for local advertisers. "Now, advertisers—big and small—can connect TV ad exposure to actual purchase behavior at the local level, and this is a breakthrough in a space that's traditionally been limited to national campaigns," Williamson told ADWEEK in a statement. "This partnership marks a pivotal moment for TV advertising because we’re finally able to measure the true impact of TV down to the local level. It’s not just about reach—and brand awareness—anymore. It’s about driving measurable business results advertisers can see, trust, and act on." Universal Ads and Marpipe partnership introduces dynamic product ads in CTV Universal Ads, which allows brands of any size to create, buy, and measure ads across premium video, announced a partnership with Marpipe, a platform for catalog advertising, to bring dynamic product ads to CTV for the first time. The integration lets brands automatically generate personalized, shoppable ads for streaming from live product catalogs. According to research from Meta and Marpipe, regular dynamic product ads (DPA) deliver 70% higher return on ad spend (ROAS) compared to standard image or video ads, while enriched product catalogs drive performance more than twice as effectively. Melissa Greenberg, head of partnerships and product solutions, Universal Ads, said dynamic product ads have been second nature for most digital-first advertisers as they're the backbone of social media campaigns, and being able to bring that same personalized and performance-driven approach to TV makes Universal Ads a natural extension for brands looking to scale. "DPA has long been a proven driver of conversions for retail and ecommerce brands," Greenberg said. "With Marpipe, we’re bringing that same performance mindset to TV, proving that television can now deliver the measurable, lower-funnel outcomes these brands depend on. Dynamic product ads are transforming how brands use TV." According to Greenberg, the ads' personalization provides a "smarter, more effective way to turn TV into a performance channel." "This partnership brings the best of Marpipe’s creative automation to the most exciting frontier in advertising: connected TV,” Dan Pantelo, Marpipe CEO, added. “Together with Universal Ads, we’re transforming TV from a brand-only channel into a scalable performance engine for ecommerce." FreeWheel expands its attribution capabilities Comcast’s global tech platform FreeWheel is introducing new tools and expanded partnerships to improve attribution and advertiser performance measurement across its buying technology. To address challenges around outcome measurement in streaming, FreeWheel is launching the FreeWheel Identity Network, an identity resolution and interoperability solution. Through its buying technology suite’s direct connection with the FreeWheel publisher suite, advertisers have seen an over 8x increase in audience match rates compared to other in-market solutions, a key component to accurately measure attribution. FreeWheel is also partnering with PlaceIQ, a location-based audience targeting and measurement company, to drive better campaign performance and efficiency for advertisers. Through the enhancements, FreeWheel's buying technology will be able to offer advertisers streaming through location-based targeting and attribution metrics connecting advertising exposure to physical location foot traffic, as well as improved reporting logs to let users better interpret campaign insights and performance while protecting user privacy. “FreeWheel’s powerful combination of sophisticated programmatic buy-side capabilities, direct premium streaming supply access, and advanced identity resolution align seamlessly with our Open Intelligence vision—enabling more efficient campaign activation, fewer intermediaries, and a strong commitment to privacy," JiYoung Kim, chief operating officer, WPP Media North America, said. "Together, we’re helping advertisers better understand and optimize their data across the full media strategy.”

Cannes Lions

Comcast Advertising Partners With Mastercard, Marpipe on Performance-Based Ad Solutions

The offerings, which were previously available to national advertisers, are now available to those at the local level

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