Comcast unveils performance-based TV solutions with Mastercard partnership

Comcast Advertising announced three performance-driven solutions on June 17, 2025, addressing measurement challenges that have limited television advertising's accountability compared to digital platforms. The company unveiled partnerships with Mastercard, Marpipe, and PlaceIQ to provide enhanced attribution tools across its portfolio of brands.

According to a study conducted by Comcast Advertising in partnership with AdExchanger, advertisers are 30% more likely to use television for building awareness rather than driving direct action. However, 63% of advertisers indicated they would increase television spending if better attribution demonstrated uplift in consumer spending linked to TV ad exposure.

"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," says James Rooke, President of Comcast Advertising. "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."

Summary

Who: Comcast Advertising, the advertising division of Comcast Corporation, announced new partnerships with Mastercard, Marpipe, and PlaceIQ to enhance television advertising measurement and attribution capabilities.

What: Three performance-driven solutions including sales attribution through Mastercard transaction data, dynamic product advertisements for Connected TV through Marpipe integration, and enhanced location-based attribution tools via PlaceIQ partnership with FreeWheel.

When: The announcement was made on June 17, 2025, with solutions building on previous initiatives including Universal Ads platform launch in January 2025 and ongoing beta testing programs.

Where: The solutions target national and regional advertisers across the United States, with international expansion demonstrated through UK broadcaster partnerships for 2026 marketplace launch.

Why: Addressing the attribution gap between television and digital advertising platforms, responding to advertiser demand for measurable performance data, and capitalizing on Connected TV's projected budget growth from 14% to 28% of media spending by 2025.

The announcement represents Comcast's response to shifting industry dynamics. Connected TV's share of media budgets is projected to double from 14% in 2023 to 28% in 2025, according to recent programmatic advertising research. This growth occurs as 46% of marketers plan to reallocate funds from linear television to Connected TV platforms.

Mastercard Partnership Enables Sales Attribution

The collaboration between Comcast Advertising and Mastercard focuses on measuring advertising's impact on geographically aggregated consumer spending. The partnership combines Comcast's television viewership data with Mastercard's transaction records to analyze campaign effectiveness across national and regional advertisers.

Beta testing across automotive, retail, home services, and furniture categories has demonstrated measurable results. A recent study of campaigns for five major home improvement and furnishing brands revealed a 3x incremental return on ad spend, along with increases to store traffic, average order value, and consumer spending.

The measurement approach addresses a persistent industry challenge. Television advertising has traditionally operated with limited accountability compared to digital platforms that provide immediate performance feedback. The Mastercard partnership aims to close this attribution gap by connecting television exposure directly to purchase behavior.

This initiative aligns with broader measurement developments across the television advertising ecosystem. Other measurement companies have launched similar attribution solutions, with Innovid introducing pixel-free purchase attribution on June 11, 2025, and iSpot unveiling rapid performance tracking capabilities in March 2025.

Dynamic Product Ads Enter Connected TV

Universal Ads, Comcast's platform for seamless television advertising creation and purchasing, announced a partnership with Marpipe to introduce dynamic product advertisements to Connected TV for the first time. This integration enables brands to automatically generate personalized, shoppable advertisements for streaming platforms from live product catalogs.

"This partnership brings the best of Marpipe's creative automation to the most exciting frontier in advertising: Connected TV," says Dan Pantelo, CEO of Marpipe. "Together with Universal Ads, we're transforming TV from a brand-only channel into a scalable performance engine for ecommerce."

According to research from Meta and Marpipe, Dynamic Product Ads deliver 70% higher return on ad spend compared to standard image or video advertisements. Enriched product catalogs drive performance more than twice as effectively, insights that influenced the development of this Connected TV application.

The timing coincides with Comcast's broader Universal Ads platform launch, which consolidated premium video advertising across ten major media companies including A+E, AMC Networks, Fox Corporation, NBCUniversal, Paramount, Roku, and Warner Bros. Discovery in early 2025.

FreeWheel Expands Attribution Tools

FreeWheel, Comcast's media and technology division, introduced enhanced partnerships and new tools to improve attribution and advertiser performance measurement across its buying technology platform. The company announced a new partnership with PlaceIQ, a location-based audience targeting and measurement company.

The collaboration provides location-based targeting and attribution metrics that connect advertising exposure to physical location foot traffic. Enhanced reporting capabilities allow users to analyze campaign insights and performance while maintaining user privacy protections.

FreeWheel's technical infrastructure includes the FreeWheel Identity Network, an identity resolution interoperability solution. Through direct connections between buying technology and publisher platforms, advertisers have achieved over 8x increase in audience match rates compared to other in-market solutions.

"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," says JiYoung Kim, Chief Operating Officer at WPP Media North America.

Industry Context and Market Dynamics

The measurement enhancements address challenges specific to television advertising attribution. Traditional attribution models struggle to connect television exposure to subsequent online and offline behaviors. Recent industry developments have focused on solving these challenges across various advertiser categories.

Privacy regulations have complicated traditional tracking methods, requiring new approaches to measurement. The Institute of Practitioners in Advertising research indicates that effective marketing measurement requires combining multiple methodologies including marketing mix modeling, experimentation, and attribution analysis.

Nielsen's transition away from panel-only TV ratings in 2025 reflects broader industry changes in measurement methodology. The measurement company ended its traditional panel-based system in favor of a hybrid approach combining panel data with information from approximately 45 million households and 75 million devices.

Competition in television measurement has intensified. Alternative providers including VideoAmp, Comscore, and iSpot have focused on digital measurement technology, while established players have invested in methodological improvements and technological capabilities.

Technical Implementation Details

The Mastercard partnership operates through privacy-compliant data processing. The system analyzes geographically aggregated spending patterns without accessing individual consumer information. This approach enables campaign attribution while maintaining privacy protections required by current regulations.

Marpipe's integration with Universal Ads leverages creative automation technology to generate multiple advertisement variations from product catalogs. The system creates personalized content based on viewer data and product availability, bringing performance marketing techniques to television advertising.

FreeWheel's attribution enhancements utilize multiple data sources including viewing behavior, device information, and location data. The platform processes this information through identity resolution technology to create comprehensive attribution reports for advertisers.

Market Implications

The performance-based solutions reflect television advertising's adaptation to digital marketing expectations. Advertisers accustomed to immediate performance feedback from social media and search platforms have demanded similar capabilities from television investments.

Industry research shows that 72% of marketers plan to increase programmatic advertising investment in 2025, marking a significant rise from 62% in 2024. This growth coincides with Connected TV's expanding role in media strategies.

The measurement capabilities may influence budget allocation decisions. According to the Comcast study, 63% of advertisers would increase television spending with improved attribution. Enhanced measurement tools could accelerate this shift by providing concrete evidence of television advertising's impact on business outcomes.

International Expansion Signals

Comcast's measurement initiatives align with international developments. UK broadcasters Sky, Channel 4, and ITV announced plans to launch a unified self-service television advertising marketplace in 2026, powered by Comcast's Universal Ads platform and FreeWheel technology.

This collaboration demonstrates the scalability of Comcast's measurement and attribution solutions beyond the United States market. The UK initiative aims to democratize television advertising access for small businesses while maintaining premium content quality standards.

The international expansion suggests that performance-based television advertising solutions may become standard across global markets. Similar collaborative initiatives could emerge in other regions as broadcasters seek to address digital advertising platform competition.

Future Development Trajectory

The three announced partnerships represent initial components of Comcast's broader attribution strategy. FreeWheel's enhanced capabilities mark the first element of what the company describes as a "Suite of Attribution Solutions" designed to provide comprehensive measurement across multiple screens.

Technical development continues across the television advertising ecosystem. Advanced identity resolution, privacy-compliant measurement, and real-time attribution capabilities are becoming essential components of television advertising platforms.

The industry trajectory suggests continued convergence between television and digital advertising measurement standards. Performance-based accountability, previously limited to digital platforms, is expanding to encompass traditional television and streaming environments through partnerships like those announced by Comcast Advertising.

These developments position television advertising to compete more effectively with digital platforms that have traditionally offered superior measurement capabilities. Enhanced attribution tools may accelerate advertiser adoption of television advertising across categories that have previously focused primarily on digital channels.

Timeline

January 8, 2025: Comcast unveils Universal Ads platform with ten major media company partners

January 22, 2025: Effectv partners with Clarivoy for automotive advertising attribution

January 24, 2025: Nielsen ends legacy TV ratings system, transitions to Big Data + Panel approach

March 27, 2025: iSpot launches Outcomes at Scale attribution solution

June 11, 2025: Innovid introduces pixel-free purchase attribution within InnovidXP platform

June 17, 2025: Comcast Advertising unveils performance-based solutions with Mastercard, Marpipe, and PlaceIQ partnerships

June 18, 2025: UK broadcasters announce unified self-service marketplace powered by Comcast technology for 2026 launch