LONDON — The television industry remains hobbled by a double standard that gives tech giants an unfair advantage when competing for advertising dollars, according to a senior executive at one of America’s largest media companies.
Traditional media companies continue to operate at a competitive disadvantage because they’re held to stricter measurement requirements than their technology-focused rivals, creating what amounts to an uneven playing field in the battle for advertising budgets, said James Rooke, president of Comcast Advertising.
“The big media companies are handicapped every single day when they go to work because they’re held to a much higher standard,” Rooke said in this video interview with Beet.TV.
Measurement disparities create competitive disadvantage
Speaking after a talk at The Future of Television Advertising Global conference in London, Rooke explained that major media companies in the United States must provide complete transparency for every impression delivered and submit to third-party measurement from traditional measurement providers. Meanwhile, tech companies pursuing the same advertising dollars operate under more relaxed standards.
“Whereas a number of other companies who are going after the same dollars don’t have to play by their same rules,” Rooke said. “If you’re judged by different scorecards and held to higher standards, that’s really tough.”
This disparity comes at a particularly challenging time for the television industry. According to GroupM forecasts, digital platforms are expected to capture nearly 73% of total ad revenues by 2025, while retail media is poised to overtake global TV ad revenues in the same year.
Simplifying TV buying without sacrificing premium value
But Rooke also emphasized that the television industry must make its inventory easier to purchase while maintaining its premium positioning.
“I fundamentally believe that’s not because marketers don’t believe in the performance power of premium video. In fact, I know that to be true,” Rooke said. “But the complexity that exists in terms of being able to buy it and the inability to solve of always-on outcomes is overriding the goodness of the underpinning product.”
Comcast Advertising has been working to address these challenges. In May 2025, the company introduced an AI-powered platform designed to help small and local businesses create cost-effective commercials quickly, removing barriers to TV advertising by simplifying the creative production process.
AI offers potential solutions for TV’s challenges
Despite the challenges facing traditional television, including from tech, Rooke expressed optimism about artificial intelligence’s potential to level the playing field.
“I actually think that AI for the big media companies is going to be a tailwind, not a headwind,” he said. “We are already seeing the application of AI with regards to being able to help simplify the ability for businesses to buy into the ecosystem.”
Rooke believes AI will help close capability gaps between traditional media companies and tech platforms by improving algorithms that optimize audience targeting and campaign performance.
“AI is going to provide a path to sort of bring some of those practices faster into the premium video ecosystem,” Rooke said. “And again, it’s going to be another tool that’s going to help close the gap.”
You’re watching coverage from The Future of TV Advertising Global 2025. For more videos from this series, please visit this page.
