Comcast Taps Social Media Reality Series to Tout Xfinity as Tool for Creators, Influencers (EXCLUSIVE)

MONTCLAIR, N.J. — Nothing seems amiss in this well-appointed home in a tony New York City suburb…except for the intriguing experiment taking place inside. Six college students who have cultivated their own “creator” bases have come here to compete against one another in challenges brought to them by Katie Feeney, the up-and-coming sports influencer who now holds forth on ESPN. Their trials and tribulations will be featured in “Best in Class,” a seven-part competition series that will launch August 5th on the TikTok and Instagram channels of Xfinity, the Comcast-owned TV, broadband and phone connectivity service that is shown powering each person’s efforts. The two-minute episodes will drop weekly. “There are six different challenges, and they get to put their content-creator skills to the test, and, ultimately, win $100,000 in a brand deal with Xfinity,” Feeney explains during a break in shooting. “At the college age, that’s life changing.” Popular on Variety In a different era, Comcast used eyebrow-raising TV commercials that tapped familiar figures from the company’s content archive, which includes “E.T.” and “Jurassic Park,” to capture consumer attention. “Best in Class,” however, is aimed at a constituency that doesn’t necessarily watch traditional marketing pitches may not think of Xfinity first when it comes to linking up to the digital realm. Still, the series may give younger consumers, known for their propensity for cord cutting, a new reason to keep Comcast’s services in mind. “One of the biggest tools in their toolbox is reliable, badass Internet, right?” asks Julie Scelzo, Xfinity’s chief creative officer. “These people want to be creators. We are giving them the space and place to do it, with a connection they can’t do it without.” With this new digital series, Comcast aims to show, rather than tell. Most commercial content hits viewers with messages, jingles and even cute mascots. “Best in Class” looks much like your garden-variety competition series. At a different time, Feeney might have played Donald Trump to various hopefuls in “The Apprentice.” To get the look and feel of the show right, Xfinity has tapped not only its ad agency, Carmichael Lynch, but Rock Studios, part of NBCUniversal’s ad-sales division. Over years of airing programs such as “Traitors,” “Love Island” and “The Voice,” NBCU knows the ins and outs of the format, says Karen Kovacs, president of ad sales and partnerships. And more advertisers are seeking to create content that matches what people look for in entertainment. Marketers “are asking us to build content that pulls in the culture,” she says. Others have tested similar ground. AT&T launched in 2013 a “mobile series” called “@SummerBreak” that followed nine teens fresh out of high school for one last, memorable summer together. To see the “show,” as it were, viewers had to follow the “@SummerBreak” feed on what was then known as Twitter, as well as feeds belonging to the teens. By doing so, they could access links to videos, posts, Tumblrs and more. That foray was seen as an experiment to determine whether young people would follow storytelling that played out across social-media platforms. More than a decade later, the research is in: They will. Behind the scenes, “Best in Class” producers are making sure Feeney and her charges are set up to look good in both vertical and horizontal video. Xfinity’s new series launches as Comcast is working to generate new activity around its connectivity business, one of the largest pieces of its portfolio. The company has suffered defections from its traditional cable and broadband businesses as younger consumers find different services to connect them to digital realms. Comcast has made “significant changes in pricing and packaging to make our value proposition clearer and more predictable, continued investment in a simpler, more seamless customer experience and a more aggressive push into wireless,” said Mike Cavanagh, co-CEO of the company, during a recent call with investors. Meanwhile, projections for the health of the so-called “creator economy” are robust. The global creator economy market was valued at $252.3 billion in 2025 and is expected to surpass $310 billion by 2026, according to estimates from Grand View Research. Key to new types of promotion like “Best in Class” is that they not seem like pieces of hard sell. Still, the show may hinge on certain points that burnish Xfinity. “What we set out to do, is make something that’s interesting and entertaining that people want to be part of,” says Scelzo, “and showing that Xfinity is an integral part of what creators do on the daily.” On set, the group of young would-be influencers seemed to focus more closely on the contest than on the flurry of activity around them. That’s the way it should be, says Feeney. “When you are in your 20s and you’re trying to figure out what you want to do, there’s so many outside voices. I think the best thing you can do is just stay true to yourself and stick with what you’re passionate about, and turn off the noise around you,” she says, adding: “It’s good to not care what anyone thinks. And that’s the advice I really give to anyone.”