NBCU upfront touts star power, Olympics, and transparency

NBCUniversal kicked off its upfront bonanza for advertisers with a familiar refrain—literally.

A symphony orchestra, rising from the floor of Radio City Music Hall, promptly banged out the opening notes of Law & Order: SVU along with other iconic theme songs to officially mark the start of upfronts week.

In a nearly two-hour marathon pitch interspersed with all the trailers, teasers, executives, and Jimmy Fallon that ad buyers may have come to expect, executives regularly reminded attendees that NBCU is a 21st-century company with the best of streaming and linear television.

“We now have the data and insights of our digitally native competitors,” Mark Lazarus, chairman of NBCUniversal Media Group, told the crowd. “We have the beloved talent, brands and intellectual properties of the iconic entertainment companies, and we have the reach and scale of social media platforms…we’re the only ones that have it in one place.”

This year saw the peacock’s pitch back in true form, free from the shadow of last year’s writers’ strike and the C-suite controversy that overshadowed last year’s presentation. Last year, former ad sales chief Linda Yaccarino abruptly departed the company days before the upfronts show to take over as CEO of X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.

At this year’s show, though, she wasn’t forgotten.“NBC is launching a new adventure competition series called Destination X, or as it was originally titled, The Linda Yaccarino Story,” joked late-night host Seth Meyers, to audible groans. And Mark Marshall, chairman of NBCU global advertising and partnerships, who along with Lazarus replaced Yaccarino’s onstage role last year, quipped that he was surprised to be “renewed for season two.”

Here’s what else we saw:

Trailer, trailers, and more trailers: As expected, the audience sat through snippets of new content expected to air later in the year. Attendees got a first look at the Wicked trailer, the Kevin Hart–produced series Fight Night, an adaption of the novel The Day of the Jackal, as well as a new sitcom starring Reba McEntire. Reba-heads, rejoice!

Going for gold: A big chunk of the presentation was unsurprisingly devoted to the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. NBC Sports Mike Tirico said it’s expected to bring in “eight Super Bowls’ worth of impressions,” and NBC plans to dedicate three hours a day of content across the 17 days of the Games. Tirico said viewers will be able to customize their viewing experience on Peacock.

The company also touted its relationship with the NFL, with Lazarus reminding the audience that last season’s Peacock exclusive NFL playoff game was “the biggest live-streaming event in US history.”After the presentation, the news broke that NBC scored the rights to another NFL game, giving the network two games on the Saturday and Sunday before Christmas. Left unconfirmed, though, were rumors that NBCU is vying for the broadcasting rights to the NBA games that are currently owned by Turner.

Level with me: Before a final blow-out performance from singer-turned-daytime-show-host Kelly Clarkson, Marshall highlighted NBCU’s One Platform, the company’s AI-juiced targeting and planning tool. Marshall said a Domino’s campaign using One Platform saw sales jump 38%, compared to a plan that used NBCU’s traditional planning tools.

And because it wouldn’t be an advertising event without a little sizzle, near the end of the presentation Marshall also emphasized transparency, a perhaps subtle shot at companies like Amazon and Google, which have joined the upfronts in recent years.

“We did not create another opaque walled garden,” he said. “We gave visibility to where every single unit ran. Here at NBC, we have this crazy idea—it’s actually your money, you actually deserve to know where every single unit runs.” The audience cheered.