NEW YORK — With a Writers Guild of America strike already impacting late-night television programs and Upfront Week just 13 days away, NBCUniversal put a shrug to the ongoing labor dispute between the labor union and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers by putting its focus on “new ad innovations” and “scaled premium content” available on its OTT platform, Peacock, at a 2023 IAB NewFront presentation held on Tuesday.
The goal for NBCU: to position Peacock as “the most complete streamer” for audiences and advertisers.
“The new ad innovations will further enable advertisers to connect and interact with audiences through precision, scale, and culture-defining content,” NBCU believes.
These “ad innovations” are comprised of the following:
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Spotlight+: Built for any brand that wants to resonate across all platforms, content, and screens, Spotlight+ powers a full brand takeover to reach viewers wherever they are watching. Whether it’s an original film on Peacock, a drama-filled show on linear or a third-party digital partner, Spotlight+ leverages the scale of NBCUniversal’s One Platform to give advertisers a unified moment in the spotlight.
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Marquee: Originally built for linear and then developed to take advantage of Peacock’s powerful live offering, the Marquee Ad harnesses a new level of interactivity between brands and the content viewers love and is now available in live sports on Peacock through the scoreboard or other premium placement. By placing marketers at the center of the action, a brand scores when the team scores. This data-enabled innovation allows for targeting at scale, helping marketers reach the right sports fans at the right time.
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Power Break: This innovation takes the Pause Ad to the next level through data testing and research. Power Break produces data-informed Pause Ads to dynamically customize a brand’s message – from color, language, creative – to resonate with different priority audiences. This is the first iteration – with plans to scale across NBCUniversal’s suite of ad innovations.
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Must ShopTV: Announced earlier this year at NBCU’s One23 – this AI-powered innovation allows fans to shop products that appear in their favorite NBCU content. Now available to marketers, Must ShopTV is scaling across One Platform content.
“We want our viewers to engage with brands that are valuable and relevant to them, which is exactly why our new ad innovations leverage our first-party data, shoppable capabilities and the scale of One Platform,” said Peter Blacker, EVP of Streaming & Data Products and Head of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, Global Advertising and Partnerships, NBCUniversal. “Plus, our most premium content is open to any advertiser – after all, Peacock is a singular destination for audiences AND advertisers.”
Kelly Campbell, President of Peacock and Direct-to-Consumer, added, “Streaming started as a business that put consumers first, and we are committed to keeping it that way with content and experiences that audiences can only find on Peacock.”
The NewFront presentation also served as a platform for Peacock to show off new ad-supported “Premium Content.” This includes:
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Pay One Movies: With Universal Filmed Entertainment Group movies now coming to Peacock as early as 45 days after their theatrical release, Peacock is seeing viewership success with two of every three Peacock subscribers having watched a recent theatrical Universal film. Advertisers are seeing the benefit with 95% of viewers having a favorable opinion on the cinematic ad experiences, including pre-roll ads emulating theatre previews and Pause Ads aligning with organic breaks.
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Original Films: Peacock welcomes new ways for brands to tap into different forms of content and get in front of audiences as the hero during impactful cinematic experiences. Upcoming new original films on Peacock include “Shooting Stars,” which captures Lebron James’ journey as a high school basketball player and is sponsored by Capital One, Google Pixel, and State Farm, and “Bernard and the Genie,” a unique adaptation of the 90’s film from original screenwriter Richard Curtis and starring Melissa McCarthy.
Peacock’s NewFront presentation follows NBCUniversal’s annual developer conference, One23, which took place earlier this year, and showcased how NBCUniversal’s One Platform unified tech stack offers solutions for marketers of all sizes. Today’s presentation demonstrated the latest innovations that can be activated on premium content across the media and technology company’s entire One Platform including Peacock.
NBCUniversal’s annual Upfront Presentation is scheduled for Monday, May 15 at Radio City Music Hall.
