Advertisers looking to buy space on NBC Universal’s (NBCU) Canadian digital media properties have a new middleman: Toronto’s Casale Media.
Today, the Toronto online media network was named the exclusive direct sales agent for NBCU, a deal that Casale Media CMO Julia Casale says offers expanded choices for clients and advertisers. Online brands under the NBCU umbrella include: NBC, NBC.com, Access Hollywood, iVillage, NBC Sports, Oxygen, Syfy, USA Network, Bravo and all US-based NBC local station websites with Canadian inventory.
The NBCU network represents a reach of 1.75 million Canadian online users, of 7.1% of online users in Canada. This is added to Casale’s current network reach of 20.6 million Canadian online users, or 84.1% of Canadians online.
‘Our direct relationship [with NBCU] gives us the opportunity to extend complete flexibility to buyers, as if they were buying directly from the property rather than through a network,’ says Casale. ‘It allows us to offer a much wider range of opportunities to Canadian agencies we’re currently engaged with.’
Casale says her firm’s position in the Canadian marketplace and a working relationship established by handling some of NBCU’s US inventory led to the deal, which is retroactive to Jan. 1.
‘We’ve been working with NBC for a while as a remnant provider, just using the traditional ad network model,’ Casale explains. ‘NBCU was confident we’d be able to fulfill their needs effectively here in Canada.’
Casale Media Inc. also operates online media ad network MediaNet.
Previously, NBCU Canadian ad media sales were handled by The Olive Network.
