Comcast Advertising Appoints Former Snap Executive James Borow to Lead Universal Ads

Key Terms

return on ad spend financial

A marketing metric that shows how much revenue a company earns for every dollar spent on advertising, calculated by dividing sales attributed to ads by the ad spend. It matters to investors because it reveals how efficiently marketing turns money into sales — much like measuring how much crop you get for each bag of seed — and influences profit margins, growth prospects, and budget decisions.

premium video technical

Premium video is higher-quality or exclusive video content that a publisher or platform reserves for paying customers, subscribers, or members, often offered without ads, with extra features or early access. It matters to investors because it can command direct revenue, increase customer loyalty and average spend, and signal a stronger ability to retain audiences—think of it like VIP seating or a premium cable channel that people pay more to access.

self-service ad buying platform technical

An online tool that lets advertisers buy, place and manage digital ads themselves without needing a sales rep, similar to using an online store or vending machine to pick, pay for and monitor items. For investors, these platforms matter because they can lower selling costs, increase ad volume and provide real-time performance data that helps a publisher or platform scale revenue, improve margins and respond faster to market demand.

Borow, who helped launch Universal Ads, will oversee the ad buying platform as it heads into its second year and next phase of growth.

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Comcast Advertising today announced it named James Borow as General Manager of Universal Ads, which enables brands of any size to create, buy and measure ads across premium video. In this role, Borow will lead strategy, operations and execution of the self-service ad buying platform as it continues to evolve and scale. As the previous Vice President of Product Management and Engineering for Universal Ads, he played a key role in bringing the platform to life, from product development to launch.

James Borow, General Manager of Universal Ads

“Universal Ads has built a strong foundation in its first year—the pace and quality of execution have been incredible,” said James Rooke, President, Comcast Advertising. “As such, many ecommerce and social-first advertisers were able to reach audiences on TV for the first time, with exceptional return on ad spend thanks to the performance power of premium video. As we enter year two, James is the ideal person to take the helm, applying his insights and learnings from big tech to Universal Ads as we continue our journey to make TV advertising simple to buy, just like social.”

Borow has more than 15 years of experience in building performance-driven advertising products and partnerships. Previously, he served as Global Director of Product Strategy, Go-to-Market, and Partnerships at Snap Inc., where he helped scale the company’s advertising business from zero to over $1 billion in revenue. He is a two-time exited founder of Market AI and SHIFT and has served as an advisor to a variety of category-defining advertising and technology platforms, including Discord, Grab, and Reddit.

“I’ve been fortunate to work alongside this team from the beginning, and I’m excited to lead what comes next for Universal Ads,” said James Borow, General Manager, Universal Ads. “In the year ahead, we’ll keep expanding the ecosystem and lowering the barriers to entry, including unlocking premium moments like the Olympics in ways that make it easier for all brands to participate, measure impact and keep investing.”

As GM, Borow will join Rooke’s Executive Leadership Team, underscoring the strategic importance of Universal Ads within Comcast Advertising’s growth plan and strengthening integration across the broader Comcast, including FreeWheel and NBCUniversal. For instance, Universal Ads just served as the first-ever, exclusive ads manager for NBCUniversal’s coverage of the Milan Cortina Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.

This milestone also marks a year since the launch of Universal Ads. Over the past 12 months, the team has expanded the publisher ecosystem, advanced product capabilities across creation, buying and measurement, and brought new partners into the platform to increase access to premium video for performance-minded advertisers.

About Comcast Advertising
Comcast Advertising is the advertising division of Comcast. As a global leader in media, technology and advertising, the company fosters powerful connections between brands and their audiences as well as among publishers, distributors, MVPDs, agencies and other industry players. Comcast Advertising’s Media Solutions team provides a streamlined way for advertisers to build brand relevancy and sustainable business outcomes through multiscreen TV advertising campaigns–powered by the media, data and technology assets of Comcast. FreeWheel, its media and technology arm, provides the technology, data enablement and convergent marketplaces required to ensure buyers and sellers can transact across all screens, data types and sales channels, in order to ensure the ultimate goal – results for marketers. And, Comcast Advertising’s Universal Ads enables brands of any size to seamlessly create, buy, and measure ads across premium video directly from top publishers with no fees. Comcast Advertising, along with NBCUniversal and Sky, is part of the Comcast Corporation.

About Universal Ads
Universal Ads enables any brand, of any size, to seamlessly make and buy commercials across premium video reaching new qualified audiences at scale. Universal Ads combines premium and brand-safe video content directly from the most influential media companies with the ease and familiarity of social ad buying. It is your one-stop shop for high-quality video ads delivering unmatched scale. Universal Ads is a part of the Comcast Corporation, a global media and technology company that connects people to moments and experiences that matter. For more information visit www.UniversalAds.com.

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Doug Broad

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Source: Comcast Advertising