The news: A partnership between ad tech provider Koddi and Comcast’s Universal Ads aims to make it easier for brands to buy TV ads and determine whether they truly result in sales.

Advertisers using Koddi will get access to streaming TV ad space from publishers in the Universal Ads network, including companies like Roku, NBCUniversal, TelevisaUnivision, Fox, and Cox Media. They will also be able to manage TV and commerce media campaigns in one place. 

Koddi said in its news release that advertisers will be able to plan, activate, and measure campaigns across retail media and premium streaming from a single system.

Why it matters: Measuring ad effectiveness is still one of retail media’s primary weaknesses, particularly offsite retail media and CTV. This deal is an attempt to turn advertising across major streaming and TV publishers into a more measurable, performance-oriented channel. 

For Koddi, the deal gives it a way to apply its capabilities in retail and marketplace data to CTV and other premium video for the first time, helping brands target shoppers and measure sales outcomes. Universal Ads gains an opportunity to make TV ads more accessible to smaller brands.

US offsite retail media spending will reach $17.05 billion this year, up 29.5% YoY, per our forecast. Its share of overall retail media spending will move steadily upward, from 23.7% in 2026 to 28.3% by 2030. That helps explain why companies are pushing retail media beyond retailer-owned sites and apps toward avenues like streaming TV. 

Implications for marketers: This deal provides more evidence that the lines between retail media, performance advertising, and CTV are getting blurrier. The promise is that TV can behave more like digital advertising, becoming easier to buy and measure. The possibilities are there, but better measurement and attribution are still the key test. Marketers should be cautious about assuming this deal fully addresses one of retail media’s toughest problems. 

Still, if this deal delivers strong measurement, smaller and midsize brands could gain easier access to premium TV inventory, better targeting using retail or commerce data, more precise indications of whether TV drove sales, and potentially lower costs. 

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