NEW YORK—The trio of Comcast, Charter Communications and ViacomCBS have announced that they will share equal ownership of Blockgraph, a software platform designed to use audience data for advanced TV and premium video advertising.
Blockgraph was first introduced in 2017 as part of Comcast Advertising’s FreeWheel technology unit. Both Charter and ViacomCBS were early supporters. The goal of Blockgraph is to help marketers form insights across their collective platforms without relying exclusively on third parties.
Jason Manningham, who previously served as general manager of Blockgraph under FreeWheel, has been set to lead the new joint venture as the CEO.
“Together with Comcast, Charter and ViacomCBS, we have the opportunity to reshape data driven advertising in a way that’s better and more sustainable for brands, publishers, content distributors and above all else—broadcasters,” said Mannigham.
Charter’s David Kline and ViacomCBS’ John Halley praised the opportunity that Blockgraph offers, but also emphasized the importance of protecting the privacy of consumer data.
Blockgraph is already in use by Comcast’s NBCUniversal, which is integrated the software into its AdSmart platform.
