Comcast Advertising is ushering in a new era for TV advertising, enabling agencies and brands to buy biddable, targetable ads on linear TV for the first time. Using FreeWheel’s platform, media buyers can now access traditional TV inventory within the Programmatic Private Marketplace (PMP), bidding and targeting alongside digital inventory.
During the beta phase with Comcast inventory, advertisers are already testing this capability. Once expanded, FreeWheel publisher clients will also make their inventory available, giving advertisers greater campaign flexibility, targeting precision, and audience reach.
“We’re proud to partner with Comcast Advertising to open up traditional TV to a new generation of buyers,” said Kevin Weigand, VP of Partnerships at Dentsu. “Our Stitch Head campaign demonstrated incremental reach via Modern Video, blending linear and digital channels for maximum impact.”
First-to-Market Campaign Highlights
Dentsu, in collaboration with Comcast Advertising and Rabbits Black, promoted the movie Stitch Head on behalf of Briarcliff Entertainment. The campaign utilized a PMP setup incorporating CTV and, for the first time, biddable linear TV. This marks the largest opportunity yet for brands to complement CTV with incremental reach into linear households, powered by Dentsu’s Modern Video approach and proprietary identity solutions integrated with FreeWheel’s Buyer Cloud.
Key Features of Comcast’s Programmatic Linear TV
- Biddable, Targetable Linear Inventory: Traditional linear TV is now available via PMP, allowing buyers to bid and target audiences just like digital campaigns.
- Choice & Control: Media buyers can access inventory through managed IOs, PMP, or PG deals, and optimize campaigns with ease.
- Simplicity & Efficiency: Brands can purchase linear and digital inventory together, boosting performance; research shows +15% lift in purchase intent when TV complements digital.
- Incremental Reach: Over 11 billion impressions per month on premium linear inventory create a vast new supply for programmatic campaigns.
- FreeWheel Buyer Cloud: The platform enables customizable, efficient campaign execution, unlocking audiences beyond traditional programmatic setups.
“One of the key pillars for the industry is simplicity for the marketer,” said James Rooke, President of Comcast Advertising. “Biddable linear TV brings ease, efficiency, and scale to programmatic campaigns, letting buyers seamlessly reach audiences across both traditional and streaming channels.”
This step represents a major convergence of traditional and digital media buying, empowering advertisers to optimize campaigns in real-time while reaching premium audiences at scale—an industry milestone in programmatic TV.
