NBCU ‘Redefines Cross-Platform Advertising’ With One Platform Total Audience

In advance of the Consumer Electronic Show (CES), NBCUniversal today unveiled how it is “redefining cross-platform, audience-based advertising for the media industry with the full-scale launch of One Platform Total Audience.”

NBCU says its AI-driven planning and activation technology is “the latest evolution within the company’s One Platform offering and will leverage new investments in automation and data to provide brands unduplicated reach through a single media buy across linear and streaming.”

NBCUniversal also announced it will transact 50% of its business on strategic audiences in 2024, meeting industry demand and enabling brands to effectively engage viewers wherever they consume content.

“From day one, NBCUniversal has evolved its business to connect with consumers where they are, while giving advertisers a seat at the table,” said Mark Marshall, chairman, NBCUniversal Global Advertising & Partnerships. “2024 will be a watershed year for change. Seismic shifts in measurement will throw everyone’s media mix models up in the air, presenting a singular opportunity to transact on strategic audiences and measure real KPIs for marketers. With One Platform Total Audience, we are empowering our clients to supercharge their media schedules in a whole new way and maximize the effectiveness of their ad dollars to achieve their business goals.”

What It Does

One Platform Total Audience was developed with marketers in mind to create new opportunities to find scale, drive incremental reach, and keep brand safety top of mind, NBCU says. Specifically, the technology uses machine learning and predictive analytics to produce a single media plan across linear and streaming that targets a brand’s specific audience segment and strengthens their effectiveness. One Platform Total Audience has access to NBCUniversal’s entire content portfolio. The technology leverages the company’s robust first-party data, along with advertisers’ data sets, “to better reach the consumers who matter most to brands at unparalleled scale, and with program level transparency, into delivery.”

New Investments

NBCUniversal has invested heavily in advanced advertising capabilities. Now, in 2024, the company says it is “arriving at the pinnacle of its commitments by bringing together its capabilities across all screens with the full-scale launch of One Platform Total Audience.”

The latest advancements making this possible include:

• New Automation: One Platform Total Audience will utilize machine learning to automate budget allocation across linear and streaming, identifying an optimized media mix to engage marketers’ precise audience segments. NBCUniversal will also add programmatic guaranteed for media buys with One Platform Total Audience, leading to more automated and turnkey streaming activation. And to make transacting against strategic audiences simple, the company will add new buy-side automated order and workflow management.
• Enhanced Data Interoperability:With interoperability integrations across the media ecosystem, advertisers and agencies have more flexible and efficient paths to onboard their data than ever before, all built with privacy top of mind. As NBCUniversal’s streaming footprint has grown, marketers now have better match rates and more scale to reach their target audiences.

Broad Industry Adoption

NBCU says it has built One Platform Total Audience hand-in-hand with its brand and agency partners to complement agency planning systems. For Q1 2024, One Platform Total Audience has sold out across all major categories including tech, auto and retail. As a result of this broad industry adoption across brands and agencies, the company said it will expand access to One Platform Total Audience in Q2 2024.

Early metrics indicate campaigns that run cross-platform with a strategic audience lead to greater business results. In one early test, the company said it saw increased reach and efficiency with significantly decreased impression waste for a brand. Overall, advertisers saw a 25% higher brand engagement rate than narrow age and gender demographics for the same brands. Together, NBCU said, “these findings demonstrate the value of One Platform Total Audience, when combined with NBCUniversal’s extensive reach and premium content portfolio, to make marketers’ dollars more effective.”

Why It Matters

One Platform was built to bridge the gap between consumers’ all-screen viewing preferences and legacy advertising practices. NBCU said its One Platform technology stack “now provides the data-driven products, services and capabilities marketers need to reach their business goals, while also creating a better experience for viewers.”

Nearly 60% of NBCUniversal’s advertising clients use audience-based buying to drive incremental value, and there has been a continued shift to strategic audiences, with 25% growth compared to a year ago. This continued shift, NBCU said, “is indicative of the importance of strategic audiences, as well as the value of both linear and digital platforms combined, to drive effective media. With new investments in automation and data, combined with the company’s comprehensive ad tech suite and the acceleration of multi-currency, NBCUniversal has built a premium video marketplace that reflects consumers’ viewing habits and gives advertisers a center seat at the table.”