Universal Ads Sets Up Shop In Local TV’s Backyard

ProximitySports
Written By Tim Hanlon

Taylor Heery / @taylorheeryphoto via Unsplash

The unveiling last week of Comcast's Universal Ads platform marks a significant shift in the TV/video advertising landscape, and a potential threat for local TV stations and their ad sales teams. By streamlining access to premium video advertising across major media networks, Universal Ads aims to democratize television advertising, making it as accessible to small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) as social media platforms like Meta and Google.

Launching later in first quarter, Universal Ads will consolidate inventory from prominent national media companies, including NBCUniversal, Fox, Warner Bros. Discovery, Paramount, TelevisaUnivision, and Roku, into a single, user-friendly platform - powered by Comcast’s ubiquitous FreeWheel unit.

This integration promises to allow advertisers the ability to purchase premium video ad space with unprecedented ease and scale. The platform will offer features such as a free self-service buying tool, AI-powered creative production, and direct access to content that reaches over 90% of U.S. households.

Plainly, Universal Ads poses a direct threat and a newly viable alternative to local TV station ad sellers, who have traditionally served as the primary conduit for SMBs seeking to engage local audiences through television advertising. For local TV stations, Universal Ads presents a huge challenge - but perhaps also an opportunity.

At minimum, local TV station ad sellers and the groups that manage them must urgently reassess their strategies to remain competitive. Here are several approaches they might consider:

  • Develop Local TV’s Own Proprietary Platform: Local stations could band together to create their own unified advertising platforms, simplifying the buying process, plus offering aggregated inventory and AI-powered creative (e.g., Waymark) to attract SMBs seeking streamlined solutions. Some individual broadcast groups are already competing against each other with their own initial approaches, but ultimately, a one-stop platform across stations that makes it easier for local businesses - especially those new to “TV” - to shift dollars from Big Tech will more quickly float everyone’s boats.

  • Merge TV & Digital (For Real): If anything, the very existence of Universal Ads should be motivation enough to finally eliminate any silos that may still exist between “digital” and “TV” sales at local stations once and for all. Marketers of all kinds - and especially small-budget SMBs - don’t care about the business models underpinning individual media formats; they know what Big Tech can offer, but also yearn for higher-quality “premium” media environments - regardless of traditionally defined touchpoints.

  • Double-Down On Local Expertise: Local TV stations possess in-depth knowledge of their specific markets’ economies and cultural idiosyncrasies, expertise that cannot be easily replicated by a “top-down” national-into-local tech platform. Marry that with one (or both) of the tech advancements above, and local marketers of all budgets will beat a path to your door.

  • Partner With Universal Ads: Rather than viewing Universal Ads solely as a competitor, local stations should consider collaborating with the new platform to expand their reach, cement their importance in local marketing and tap into the new budgets of SMBs. Four of the project’s launch partners after all (Paramount, NBC, Fox, TelevisaUnivision) own and operate dozens of local stations across the country, and offer a ready-made base from which to pioneer the model for others - including “independent” affiliate groups. Perhaps the quickest and most prudent of strategic options, if local TV wishes to ensure it remains a relevant player in the evolving advertising ecosystem.

Tim Hanlon

Tim Hanlon is the Founder & CEO of the Chicago-based Vertere Group, LLC – a boutique strategic consulting and advisory firm focused on helping today’s most forward-leaning media companies, brands, entrepreneurs, and investors benefit from rapidly changing technological advances in marketing, media and consumer communications.

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