FORT LAUDERDALE –  NBCUniversal is betting big on the marriage of context and content to drive return on investment in ads, says Joe Cady, VP of Advertising at NBC Universal, at the Beet.TV executive retreat this past weekend. Earlier this month, NBC Universal launched an audience targeting platform for television the harnesses both first-party and third-party data.

The platform is a big step in bringing programmatic-style buying to TV buying. “The idea was to take the portfolio of broadcast, cable and digital. We layer data on top of that to match the right message to the right person at the right time. It helps to have the whole portfolio to work with and you can optimize from there…to reach the consumer that advertisers want,” he says. This kind of data-driven buying is more prolific in digital media, but will soon cross over into TV as more buyers express interest in it, and as more media companies, such as NBCUniversal, continue rollout the technology that makes it possible. “We think overlaying data against the content is where we will see the highest returns on investment for marketing dollars,” he says.

The Beet Retreat ’15 was sponsored by  AOL and Videology. Please find additional videos from the event here.