After working to take some of the commercials out of its primetime and latenight shows, NBC wants to do something similar in the morning. The network said Friday it had extended a partnership with American Express in which the credit-card company will, next week, help to expand segments across three hours Today franchise, replacing time that would normally be filled with ads. On Today.com, the show’s web presence, pre-roll ads will be reduced. The 7 a.m. hour of Today, arguably the show’s newsiest and best-watched, will retain its original structure.
The network is celebrating Leap Day partnering with American Express to create custom show content to add to the broadcasts of Blindspot, Late Night with Seth Meyers, The Voice and Today. In addition, BuzzFeed will create social content around the shows to drive tune-in.
The credit and debit card industry has spent $332 million on national TV advertising through the end of May, according to research firm iSpot. The category is split among 10 brands with the biggest five accounting for more than 97% of total ad spending, iSpot said.
The idea of buying something you see in a TV show by pressing a button on your remote was long the stuff of science fiction. Now NBCUniversal and American Express are the latest to try to turn the idea into reality.
