In my current role, I’m part of a three-person team managing sports programming, marketing, and merchandising across Comcast’s Xfinity and XUMO editorial destinations and platforms, reaching 10M+ customers.
My work combines technical skills (UX copy editing and copywriting, product design, long-term plan building, and backend content management system programming) with interpersonal skills (cross-team communication and business partner collaboration).
Copywriting and product design
One of the highest-vis placements across our platforms are screensavers, essentially giving us the ability to place television-width billboards inside users’ homes.
I use this product feature to keep high-impact content moments in front of users: Tier 1 events, the beginnings of regular seasons or postseasons, etc., encouraging tune-in engagement for customers with existing entitlements.
I also leverage these placements as upsell opportunities. By combining content and service offerings with individual titles, I’m providing the customer with an immediate incentive to add a streaming service or package: Sign up for X right now, and you can watch Y as soon as tonight.
UX copywriting
Screensavers are obviously one version of UX copywriting, taking advantage of passive connection. I also want to meet customers where they are with active connections, which is where In-Grid placements are effective.
Like screensavers, these placements are used in multiple ways. Because they’re placed in the guide, live tune-in for on-now events is programmable, and with the product feature consistently resurfacing as users browse, we don’t have to hope they stumble upon one placement: it repeatedly reminds them.
Here, my copy leans particularly actionable. “Watch live“, “Live now“, “Tune in“. We want to stop the user and immediately impact their viewing habits.
Business partner collaboration, cross-team communication and backend CMS programming
While a lot of our placements are driven by the editorial team’s decisions, others are part of Xfinity’s Audience Direct program – that is, premium-area paid tiles and features sold directly to both partners and advertisers.
A prime example is the ad takeover Eli Lilly bought during the 2026 Winter Olympics. The company wanted eyeballs on its brand, and the Olympic Games are consistently our highest-trafficked stunts across all platforms.
The process involves…
Working with the sales team, who ask us to detail what parts of the interfaces and platforms are directly sellable vs. which will need product work
Communication with the brand itself, to highlight the importance of each placement, and to estimate how many impressions/clicks can be expected
Backend programming of the placements, to make sure each one leads to the correct parts of our platforms — collections, hubs, deeplinks into programs, or whatever else the client wants
Partner collaboration
Similarly, we work with streaming and network partners like Apple TV, Netflix, FOX, Tubi, fubo, ESPN, WBD, and more throughout the year to surface their placements across our platforms — sometimes as parts of Audience Direct plans for big moments (Super Bowl, World Cup, season kickoffs) and sometimes as good-faith support to further our relationships with the partners.
Adam Hermann 