Not all media is crying the blues about ad dollars, that’s for sure: NCC, the cable television industry’s ad sales representative of record, hit a milestone last week by achieving $1 billion in annual ad sales for the first time in its 20-year history.
"This is a proud day for NCC. This monumental achievement was made through the hard work and dedication of all of our employees, owners and affiliates," said Greg Schaefer, NCC’s President. "The confidence and support that our client and ad agency customers have shown is a testament to the special value they place on cable television’s array of programming, geographic and consumer targeting, and exclusive digital advertising platforms," he added.
In 1988, the company, then known as National Cable Advertising (NCA), was created as a partnership between four of the nation’s largest cable companies – Comcast, Continental, Cox and Warner Cable. Total billing was around $10 Million. A subsequent merger with Katz Media’s Cable Media rep (CMC) in 1995 kicked off a new company called National Cable Communications. In 1998, with annual billing approaching $350 million, NCC was able to unify the industry even further when the nation’s then-largest MSO, TCI, joined NCC’s original owners in an expanded partnership.
Over this 20 year period of growth, NCC has pioneered many ad technologies, including the first cable advertising interconnects, and a fully electronic business platform for ad agencies. Today, NCC is owned by Comcast, Cox and Time Warner Cable, and represents all other major U.S. cable operators, reaching 99% of wired cable homes across every US market.
