In a tough moment for the economics of TV, NBCUniversal went to market with a greater emphasis on big tentpole events and a little less on individual TV shows and specific networks.
The Comcast-backed media conglomerate believes advertiser interest in larger properties such as the 2024 Olympics, a planned celebration of the 50th season of “Saturday Night Live” and its annual “BravoCon” helped buoy its efforts in TV’s annual “upfront” market, when U.S. media companies try to sell the bulk of their advertising inventory ahead of their next cycle of programming. NBCU expects this year’s upfront negotiations to generate “total cash commitmentsroughly in line with last year,” says Mark Marshall, the company’s interim chairman of global advertising and partnerships, in an interview. Notching volume around flat compared to 2022is no small feat when advertisers have been wary of spending amidst spikes in inflation, fears of a recession and the complexities of strikes by writers and actors in Hollywood.
NBCUniversal expected to secure more than $7 billion in advertising commitments across its portfolio in 2022.
In an era when advertisers are mindful of viewership declines for linear TV and spikes in the audience for streaming video, the focus on bigger properties makes sense, says Marshall. “A few years ago, if someone wanted to go after that Bravo audience, we would negotiate what percentage of primetime, what percentage of daytime they were going to get for their 30 second commercials. This year, we have done deals for BravoCon that include linear media, Peacock, social, data, on-site activation, talent and influencers and commerce opportunities. It absolutely has changed. In previous years we would talk about volume in one vertical versus the other. It really has evolved to a total market approach.”
NBCU is seeing solid demand for the three big properties. The company has already secured $100 million in advertising commitments for the 2024 Paris Olympics from marketers who did not take part in the Tokyo Olympics in 2020, and projects total sales for the extravaganza to be ahead of all previous Olympics broadcasts. NBCU has sold out of sponsorships for stand-alone “Prime Pods,” or commercial breaks consisting of messages from a single advertisers. The company also expect a larger slate of advertisers to take part in “BravoCon” across categories such as jewelry, pet care and home furnishings. Meanwhile, NBC has received more than 30 requests for sponsorships for the “SNL” milestone, from categories including auto, wireless, technology, beverage and retail.
It was not clear whether NBCU’s commitment totals would be as robust without the big events.
This year’s market has been a landmark, with the networks conceding to significant “rollbacks” or reductions in key rates, measures known as CPMs that represent the cost of reaching 1,000 viewers, in order to drive deals.
The networks and the digital-video companies have been in discussions that called for CPM increases of around 5% for the strongest TV properties, like sports, and for rollbacks going as deep as -5% for weaker linear inventory and even for digital, according to executives. According to buying executives, rollbacks were even discussed for primetime TV, once the medium’s strongest asset. In a sign of how much weaker the market for TV advertising has become, TV networks in 2022 struck deals that called for CPM increases ranging from 8% to 12%.
TV networks overall are likely to see a decline in volume in upfront ad commitments for the first time since the 2020 coronavirus pandemic — and just the second since 2015. These executives said the volume of advertising commitments the networks were able to secure fell in nearly all areas, except sports.
NBCU has worked to have attractive content to offer in the fourth quarter, a critical time for advertisers who want to reach holiday-minded consumers, despite the strikes. NBCU’s coverage of Big Ten football — secured last year in a seven-year rights deal — brought in more than 40 new clients. “Sunday Night Football,” one of TV’s most-watched properties, is ready to debut in the fall. Despite the work stoppages, NBCU plans to run original hours of both new shows such as “Found” and “The Irrational” as well as returning programs including “The Voice,” “Quantum Leap” and “Magnum, P.I.”
The company also saw robust demand from advertisers for the Peacock streaming hub, with a 30% uptick in commitments.
