Last week, at the Comcast Technology Center, NBCUniversal brought together nearly 50 local businesses and agencies, its local sales team and experts across the entire company to discuss One Platform resources that local marketers can begin to leverage, from NBC Spot On, to Open Doors, to company experts across business development, commercial innovation, measurement, and local advertising. Here are some key takeaways from the event.
NBCUniversal has signed BBC Studios Global Distribution COO Maggy Chan to lead its global advertising and partnerships in the U.S., EMEA and Asia Pacific, replacing KC Sullivan, who recently became CNBC President. Chan, a 25-year entertainment and media veteran, will work with international advertising and partnerships teams to expand, grow global reach and help advertisers reach 1 billion viewers across 150 countries, building on ties with Sky, Apple News and RTL AdConnect.
Laura Molen, who rose to president of advertising sales at NBCUniversal during a decade-long run, has announced plans to depart the company early next year. The longtime deputy to ad and client partnerships chief Linda Yaccarino will stay on through the end of the first quarter of 2023 in order to help with the transition. (Image credit NBCU)
Comcast’s NBCUniversal unit, which portrays itself as a leader in changing the television advertising business, said it is planning to hold its upfront events according to a fairly traditional schedule. In a post on LinkedIn, Linda Yaccarino, chairman of NBCU global advertising and partnerships, said NBCU will hold its 2023 upfront on May 15 at Radio City Music Hall, again leading off upfront week. (In-person upfronts took a two-year pause during the pandemic.)
NBCUniversal has expanded Peacock’s distribution, with the service last week joining DirecTV Stream’s lineup at a discounted price. DirecTV Stream customers can now add a Peacock Premium subscription (with ads) to their plan for $2.99 per month – $2 off the regular price of $4.99 per month. They also have the benefit of managing Peacock, along with any other streaming subscription purchased via DirecTV, under a single bill.
The lawsuit against the 85-year-old comedian — and this one calls NBCUniversal, a studio and a production company complicit in the abuse — comes more than a year after Cosby left prison after his 2018 sexual assault conviction in Pennsylvania was overturned. The lawsuit filed Monday under New York’s one-year window for adults to file sexual abuse complaints involves accusers Lili Bernard, Eden Tirl, Jewel Gittens, Jennifer Thompson and Cindra Ladd. The lawsuit alleges that each woman was abused or assaulted by the A-list actor after meeting him on set or through other entertainment circles in the late 1960s through the 1990s.
Exclusives
Centered on local marketers, the goal of this interactive forum is to connect local business owners in Philadelphia to the resources, technology capabilities and partnerships across Comcast NBCUniversal while building the future of local advertising through NBCU’s One Platform.
CEO Jeff Shell at today’s UBS conference: “It’s hard to figure out whether that’s because of macro-conditions — whether people’s businesses are worsening — or rather because people are just uncertain. I tend to believe it’s just the uncertainty because it’s more cash than pricing.”
A U.S. judge on Monday said Devin Nunes, the former California congressman and an ally of former U.S. President Donald Trump, can sue NBCUniversal for defamation over a comment by Rachel Maddow concerning his relationship with a suspected Russian agent.
NBCUniversal, highlighting how easy it is to use data and technology to enhance advertising for marketers and viewers, said a number of clients are using viewing data from alternative measurement company iSpot as currency for some of their upfront cross-platform buys. A dozen advertisers, including General Motors, Marriott Bonvoy, PepsiCo, State Farm, T-Mobile and Wayfair have joined The Currency Council, a group NBCU formed to accelerate the use of unified measurement, multiple currencies and new transactional models.
Telemundo Stations’ Regional News Channels are now available on The Roku Channel with additional FAST channels — Dateline 24/7, Today All Day and Sky News International — arriving by early 2023. Also, the deal for NBC News NOW on The Roku Channel has been renewed.
Maybe … if you believe there is a sizable number of viewers who subscribe to Peacock Premium Plus.
NBCUniversal has renewed the syndicated daytime talk show for two additional seasons, taking the series fronted by the former American Idol breakout through its sixth season in 2025.
In the wake of Warner Bros. Discovery’s gutting of TBS, TNT and TruTV, SVP Unscripted Jenny Ramirez has left the company and joined NBCUniversal Television and Streaming in the same role. She will unscripted development and current productions for reality/talent competition series and game show formats across Peacock, NBC, USA Network and E! She will report to EVP Unscripted Corie Henson.
Executives from CBS, NBCU, CBC, Magid and Graham Media discussed the pros and cons of gathering and using data to attract and retain viewers during TVNewsCheck’s TV2025 last week at NAB New York. Above, l-r: Graham Media’s Dustin Block, Voice Interaction’s Joao Neto, Magid’s Bill Hague, MNCU’ Shawn Makhijhani, CBC’s Roma Kojima and CBS’s Radha Subramanyam.
NBCUniversal today announced the appointment of five senior executives to its Global Advertising and Partnerships division, “bolstering the company’s ability to continue delivering on the technology and partnership vision unveiled […]
NBCUniversal is finding new ways to help fans of the The Real Housewives or Below Deck buy things, both virtually and in real life at the upcoming BravoCon. At BravoCon in New York City, in addition to being able to meet their favorite Bravolebrites, fans the Bravo Bazaar will feature more than 60 brands. Attendees will be able to purchase Bravo-approved products and services from brands including Lashaholics, Literie Candles, and Verishop brands as well as Bravolebrity-owned businesses like Sewing Down South, LoverBoy and CaraGala.
NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell has all but confirmed a decision to trim back primetime by an hour, a move that will fundamentally alter the linear broadcast industry. Broadcasters would do well to buckle up for change now.
In an interview with CNBC, NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell said Peacock has now reached 15 million paying subscribers and he also confirmed reports that the company is considering a possible give-back of the 10 p.m. hour of programming to affiliates. Shell said no final decisions have been made, but added the company intends to “reallocate resources” toward areas of the company that are growing.
NBCUniversal Content Distribution President Mac Budill is voluntarily stepping down and will be replaced by current senior VP-level executive Matt Schnaars, NBCU said Wednesday.
The program, called “Open Doors: Where Small Businesses Thrive,” will launch across NBCUniversal’s One Platform during Hispanic Heritage Month with an on-air message focusing on one small business in English and in Spanish. It will provide advertising and marketing services, with State Farm and creative agency Walton Isaacson signing on as partners.
The Comcast-backed media conglomerate committed to help young people from diverse backgrounds break into the industry through the efforts of a new Creative Impact Lab, which aims to focus on non-profit storytelling and provide opportunities for apprentices from diverse backgrounds to hone their production skills.
NBCUniversal’s longtime executive vice president of unscripted current production, Shari Levine, is stepping down from her role and shifting to a non-exclusive consulting position. Following her exit, Noah Samton will expand his purview as the new head of East Coast for unscripted lifestyle current production across all platforms, while Kathleen French and Ryan Flynn will oversee the West Coast current production team, with all three reporting directly to NBCU television and streaming’s head of unscripted content, Rod Aissa.
NBCUniversal will lay off more than three dozen staffers who worked on E!’s entertainment shows Daily Pop and Nightly Pop, which were canceled last month. The move is due to a larger restructuring effort of the cable channel to create a centralized Terrace Studios that will share production efforts across E! News brands and NBCU’s syndicated Access programs.
The automaker will use NBCUnified to access NBCUniversal’s network of consumer touchpoints in movies, entertainment, news, sports, ecommerce, subscriptions, theme parks and more with media agency partner, Carat.
NBCUniversal Chief Executive Officer Jeff Shell has asked his top deputies to find savings at its legacy cable and broadcast TV networks, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the plans haven’t been finalized.
Executives from NBCUniversal, Fox Television Stations, E.W. Scripps, Gray Television and Estrella Media told a TVNewsCheck webinar last week they’ve needed to embrace a wide range of tools and tactics to grow audience and revenue for their streaming channels. Ubiquity and flexibility, they said, are key.
On Monday, NBC is launching Dateline Premium, a new subscription on Apple Podcasts offering ad-free access to more than 400 hours of exclusive audio programming. The subscription costs $2.99 per month or $29.99 per year, after a seven-day free trial.
To Kill 10 O’Clock Primetime, What Is NBC Really Thinking?
NBC has floated the idea of shrinking back primetime and giving back the 10 p.m. hour to local news. Would it be a shrewd move or just another sign of the network’s slavish prioritizing of Peacock?
Peacock launches its first ever DocFest, an on-platform showcase highlighting a selection from the streamer’s top-tier documentary roster. The six-week virtual festival will feature six brand new Peacock Original titles between Sept. 14 and Oct. 19, with new titles dropping every Wednesday.
Employees “should have access to safe and effective health care, and their privacy should be protected,” studios say in a joint statement.
The former head of unscripted programming for TBS, TNT and truTV has, as expected, joined the TV and streaming group. In her new post, she will report to entertainment chair Susan Rovner and oversee reality competition, talent competition and game show formats across the conglomerate’s eight brands, including Peacock, NBC, USA, Bravo and other cable networks.
The executive oversaw game shows and competition series for NBC, Peacock and the rest of Susan Rovner’s entertainment portfolio. Sources say Rovner wanted to make a change at the division based on the overall performance of Groom’s unscripted shows at NBC, Peacock and the rest of the cable portfolio. Sources say the company is near a deal with a candidate to replace the well-liked executive.
Executives from Estrella Media, NBCUniversal, Scripps Networks, Gray Television, Fox Television Stations and Allen Media will share how they’re maximizing their OTT sales opportunities and cultivating innovative strategies for audience development in part two of a TVNewsCheck webinar event slated for Aug. 25. Register here.
NBCUniversal is bowing a reality series that is precedent-setting in being as much about ecommerce as entertainment. Every episode of Love Island USA, an original series from from ITV Entertainment launching on July 19 on the NBCU streamer Peacock, will integrate a wide range of shoppable products into the content as contestants attempt to pair up to win.
