Comcast just made a platform to “steal” ad dollars from YouTube

YouTube and TV networks have a contentious relationship when it comes to ad dollars—and Comcast is about to make things even messier.

Over the last few years, YouTube has positioned itself as a challenger for traditional TV networks. It moved its annual advertising presentation to the TV-focused Upfronts, pushed the fact that its viewers watch over a billion hours of content on living room TVs per day, and overall encouraged advertisers to ditch the old routine of buying ads on shrinking networks and instead consider spending their marketing dollars to reach its social media-savvy audience.

Its efforts have paid off. It went from earning $15 billion in ad revenue in 2019 to more than $30 billion in 2023, and almost certainly earned closer to $40 billion in 2024. For comparison, eMarketer estimates that in 2023, linear TV networks made a combined $66 billion in ad revenue. And, for more specific figures, Variety estimates that networks like NBC, ABC, CBS, Fox, and The CW brought in between $8 and $10 billion each on ad revenue for their 2021-22 primetime schedules.

With those numbers in mind, YouTube has become a behemoth.

Comcast wants that to end.

The telecom/media conglomerate has launched Universal Ads, an ad-buying platform that is explicitly intended to “steal market share” from YouTube and other social media sites.

For now, the platform will only allow marketers to buy ad space on streaming services owned by major TV networks and studios like NBCUniversal and Warner Bros. Discovery, but Comcast anticipates expanding inventory to space on traditional linear TV in the future, per CNBC.

CNBC also reports that Universal Ads’ interface was designed to mimic the ad-buying process on social media platforms, since that process is usually self-service, more simple to complete, and allows companies to deploy ads quickly. Buying ad space on TV networks and major streaming services, however, can be a lot more complicated, which Comcast thinks has deterred small businesses (some of whom are thriving thanks to ads on social media).

Universal Ads has so far signed Comcast subsidiaries NBCUniversal and Xumo, as well as Warner Bros. Discovery, Paramount, Roku, DirecTV, A+E, AMC Networks, Fox Corp, and TelevisaUnivision. Comcast expects to onboard more outlets in the coming months.

“Universal Ads is intended to create new demand from advertisers who have not traditionally worked with us,” Mark Marshall, Chairman of Global Advertising and Partnerships for NBCUniversal, told CNBC. “And while we’re starting with streaming and [small- and medium-sized businesses], in a future state this can be for linear and for agencies as well.”

James Rooke, President of Comcast Advertising, added, “The head scratcher is that there’s a sort of large number of advertisers who’ve built their businesses, or started to build their businesses, on the backs of social video. Yet when you talk to these advertisers there’s an increasing wish to diversify away from a very limited number of big technology companies.”

Comcast wants those advertisers to instead spend their money with its collection of big technology companies.

And it’s willing to offer a couple carrots to ease the switch. First, Universal Ads is free to use. Second, it does offer a functionality (placing ads on major streamers) and level of accessibility that isn’t otherwise available to small business owners. Third, Comcast is already talking about implementing the latest “it” thing, generative AI, so small/midsize businesses that are okay with using AI will eventually be able use Universal Ads to both make marketing and deploy it.

“The idea of empowering small- and medium-sized businesses to connect with audiences through premium content, especially on connected TV, aligns perfectly with the growing demand for flexibility and efficiency in ad buying,” Ryan Gould, Warner Bros. Discovery’s EVP of Sales in Streaming, Digital, and Advanced Advertising, told CNBC.

Whether these plans pan out remains to be seen, but one thing is clear: Comcast considers YouTube—and other social media platforms—a growing threat. And we think that’s interesting.