NBCU Gets Access to Comcast Data

Comcast’s NBCUniversal unit is finally getting access to viewer data from Comcast set-top boxes. Linda Yaccarino, chairman of ad sales at NBCU, made the announcement at an upfront presentation from the company’s cable entertainment networks. Under Yaccarino, NBCU has been one of the leaders in using data to improve the targeting and effectiveness of ad campaigns. But Comcast, the nation’s largest cable operator, had been careful not to make set-top box data available to NBCU, apparently because consumer privacy concerns could have impacted Comcast’s proposed merger with Time Warner Cable. Comcast dropped the merger bid, freeing it from some concerns about government review. "We will use Comcast set-top box data to power ATP,” Yaccarino said, referring to NBCU’s Audience Targeting Platform announced last year. “We’ll marry viewer data and consumer data at scale,” she said. Yaccarino said NBCU now has more data than any tech company. “Our data and analytics can do things that no one else in the market can do,” she said.