MediaTalk | Season 3 | Ep. 18 - NBCU Ad Exec Previews 'The Greatest Collection of Content Assembled by One Media Company'

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Mike Reynolds: Hi, I'm Mike Reynolds, a senior reporter covering the media industry with S&P Global Market Intelligence's tech, media, and telecom news team. Welcome to "MediaTalk," a podcast hosted by S&P Global, where the news and research staff explore issues in the ever-evolving media landscape. Today, we're going to talk about the advertising market in general and the upfront in particular. During the upfront, content providers look to sell linear and digital schedules to media agencies and their clients ahead of the upcoming TV season—in this case, the '25/'26 campaign. To put some of these matters into focus, we're looking to be joined today by Gina Reduto, who is executive vice president of strategy for advertising and partnerships at NBCUniversal. With nearly two decades of industry experience, Gina oversees strategy for the entire division, developing strategic business solutions that leverage NBC's One Platform to help clients and agency partners solve business challenges and exceed media investment goals. Gina, we appreciate you joining “MediaTalk” today.

Gina Reduto: Thanks so much for having me. I'm so excited to be here.

Reynolds: Alrighty. Corporately, NBCU is looking to divide and enhance the value of its content businesses. Broadcasters NBC and Telemundo, along with cable network Bravo, aggregate streaming service Peacock, the broadband business, theme parks and experiences, and the film and TV studios will remain with Comcast. NBC's other cable television networks, including USA, CNBC, MSNBC, Oxygen, Golf Channel, and Sci-Fi, will become part of a SpinCo that'll be led by Mark Lazarus. The new entity will also include the digital assets Fandango and Rotten Tomatoes, Golf Now, and Sports Engine. The tax-free spinoff is scheduled to occur before the end of this year. Gina, are you guys in the market as two separate entities, or are you still working together at this stage since the transaction is yet to take place?

Reduto: So, a nice, easy one right out of the gate.

Reynolds: I always strive to make it easy.

Reduto: [Laughs] All kidding aside, you know, the ad sales and partnerships division will absolutely sell the current NBC properties as well as those that will eventually become part of SpinCo in this upfront and also in the subsequent broadcast year. And really, the reason we're doing that is for our advertisers, right? If you think about it, it's the collective reach of the 279 million people we reach each month. And so it really is truly business as usual for us.

Reynolds: Will that change? I know we're getting ahead of ourselves because we haven't even done this year's upfront; but when we get to '26/'27 selling season, the companies presumably will be separated. What can we expect then?

Reduto: We anticipate that we'll continue to work together. We are really focused on this year's upfront just given the slate of content and the events that we have.

Reynolds: Understood. Back to this time around. What's the ad market look like today, Gina? The entertainment marketplace may be a little challenged, some ups and downs. The sports marketplace has been thriving. Is that a fair assessment of where the business is today?

Reduto: It's interesting, and you're absolutely right in terms of sports leading the headlines, but I'd actually argue that advertisers are seeking different types of content based on their needs. To your point around sports, we are seeing incredible demand. Sports have those water cooler moments. Watching sports provides conversational currency. Advertisers lean in because of those mass reach audiences. But if you think about different clients in different categories, you take CPG or retail as an example. They lean into our holiday programming. If you think about the idea that drives business for them in key time periods, something like the Thanksgiving Day parade, which is the kickoff to the retail season, we reach 109 million people that day. And if you're in that category and that quarter, the fourth quarter is really critical to you. That is something you want to lean into. And then, other areas of entertainment content—I would be remiss not to talk about Bravo. I don't know a more connected fan base than the Bravo fan base. They are a massive opportunity for advertisers, a highly desirable audience, a ton of buying power. So much so that even in that area, we see sponsorship revenue up 156% year over year. And it's not like Bravo's a new brand; sports is definitely important, but there are a lot of other areas across the portfolio that brands really want to be a part of.

Reynolds: So that's a good thing for all you guys. I'm just looking at historically a strong second quarter scatter market as a harbinger of a good upfront. How's the scatter market today, Gina?

Reduto: When we look at the marketplace today and look at our last year, we feel really good about where the market is, and we've continued to hit our goals. There's definitely uncertainty in the marketplace right now, and I empathize with advertisers. But I think as it relates to certain things, there are opportunities that are somewhat limited. If you think about a brand needing to secure loyalty and drive business objectives, things like premium content and events are limited, so brands want to lean in and be a part of that. Similarly, there are certain audiences that are highly coveted and make or break for categories. You think about household decision-makers, auto intenders, heavy moviegoers. You want to make sure you have first crack at those audiences, and so you want to be active and securing them in real-time as often as you can. Then again, going back to what I said about something like holiday, if you think about content and marketing in key shopping seasons like back to school, spring wellness, holiday—those are key to hit your sales goals and maintain year-over-year growth. And so while there is definitely uncertainty, there's a definitive need for things like this throughout the year, and so we feel confident that the market will remain strong in that sense.

Reynolds: Okay, going to be a huge sports year for NBC—'26 Super Bowl, February 8th from Levi Stadium in Santa Clara. The Winter Olympics are in Milano and Cortina, Italy from February 6th to the 22nd. Telemundo holds Spanish language rights in the US for the 2026 FIFA Men's World Cup in the US, Canada, and Mexico. I think you're also in the NBA All-Star game with the new contract starting up with the '25/'26 season. These are tentpole events.

Reduto: They are. We are really gearing up for a major year, especially when it comes to sports. Arguably, I'd say we have the greatest collection of content assembled by one media company. Then you take that and juxtapose it against the fact that it's our hundredth anniversary in 2026. To put it into perspective, we'll have essentially 40% of big event viewership in the US, and to your point, starting in February, the Super Bowl, NBA All-Star Weekend, the Olympics. Fast forward to the summer, and we have the World Cup. What's really interesting is advertisers are so jazzed about the events and clamoring to be a part of them; but what's becoming more desired is the buildup and the anticipation around those events. They're almost as exciting as the events themselves. And if you think about it from a consumer perspective, it makes sense, right? People get so invested in the athlete stories, they're so passionate about the teams they're rooting for, they're just devoted fans, and brands want to be woven into those stories. So while I can't give you specifics in terms of how well sold we are, I can definitively share are that our partners are so excited about this offering and just want to find new and innovative ways to be a part of them.

Reynolds: Those big events—did you guys have them in your upfront sales pitch last year, and now there's some more business to take care of? Any sense you can give me for that, Gina?

Reduto: Yeah, sports is always a part of our upfront; that's nothing new. As we think about sports and look across linear and streaming, linear ratings are up, digital revenue is growing. In fact, it's actually doubled year over year. So sports, again, with the rest of our portfolio, is absolutely a part of the upfront.

Reynolds: Among the major content companies, Gina, NBCU has been the biggest proponent of multiple measurement and currencies. Are you guys writing a lot of business this way, in general and for upfront, with companies that are not named Nielsen?

Reduto: We have always been hyper-focused on establishing partnerships with the measurement vendors that clients work with. First and foremost, it's about how do we deliver for clients across industries? If you think about the various industries in which our clients operate, our focus can't be on a singular currency or supporting a specific provider, but rather on what marketers need. We offer full-funnel solutions that leverage the latest innovations and strategic partnerships, really with the hope of providing transparency into performance throughout the campaign lifecycle. And I think the reason a multitude of providers is really necessary. If you think about the marketplace today, marketers need to know how their campaign is performing, not just with NBC, but across the entire ecosystem, and that's becoming increasingly challenging just given the level of fragmentation that exists in the marketplace. We recognize the intricacies of the landscape. We believe measurement should be easy to use, accurate, transparent, and standardized when possible. And so that's why we're not gravitating towards a specific partner, but rather leaning into partnerships with a variety of providers. It's really just reflective of the varied needs of our client agency partners.

Reynolds: As you work with clients to get the best information for them, anything you can say, Gina, about Nielsen's Big Data + Panel measurement system? It was tested last year, officially in place this year. Too soon to use that data to transact on, or your thoughts about that.

Reduto: We're always big believers in finding and offering new ways of transacting. The key piece of this for us is just making sure that we have a strong understanding of any new method and test it extensively before we commercialize it for advertisers. To your point, Big Data + Panel is really critical for the future, which is why we're engaging multiple providers. I think panel alone is no longer big enough to offer stability and validity just given the level of fragmentation and the diversity of the audience, and as it relates to Nielsen Big Data, we've done a ton of testing over the past two years and gathered enough that we feel advertisers, if they want to, can effectively transact on it. But again, the advertisers are focused, and so we're agnostic in terms of how and with whom they want to activate.

Reynolds: Using the word focus, NBCU, you guys have been going after mid and small-size businesses for NBCU TV and streaming platforms. I know you guys have had success there. Do you guys do a lot of upfront business that way?

Reduto: This is a huge focus area for us, both in the upfront and scatter. I think really what it's about is making sure that we have the solutions that resonate for brands of all sizes. And if you think about what we're doing at NBC and even more broadly at Comcast with the launch of Universal Ads. We've spent a lot of time talking to smaller brands, understanding their objectives, and really a lot of what we heard was that premium video was difficult to buy and had too many sort of operational hurdles. And so we've been laser-focused on how do we alleviate some of those challenges, offering something like programmatic to remove the friction from the buying process has been a key area for us. Not that it's a new capability, but just making sure that those advertisers have the awareness that mechanism of buying was actually available to them as it pertained to premium video. The other piece that I think is really important with small advertisers is they enter the market and launch on social, but after spending for a while in social, they hit that point of diminishing returns. And that's where we think premium video can really come in and take their brands to the next level, performance-wise. Because it makes all of their media work harder. Again, we have to prove that to those brands, and so that's where I think measurement can play a key role. We've been really focused on implementing the tools and capabilities to help small and mid-size advertisers demonstrate the impact of their investment in real-time. So by making it easier to buy and removing the friction, but also leaning into measurement and attribution, we think we'll be able to continue to really grow with small advertisers in the future.

Reynolds: You mentioned programmatic along the way here. How big a deal is that during the upfront? I know it's a marketplace throughout the year, but does NBCU transact a lot of business during the upfront selling season, or is there still the personal relations that you guys all have with the agencies and the clients? The major driver there?

Reduto: Yes, programmatic is a part of the upfront, and a lot of that is managed via the same relationships, and so it is direct with the agencies. I think programmatic is a tremendous growth driver for us in the upfront, but really all year. We see double-digit growth in the programmatic space. I think what's important for brands to know, and in order for us to keep growing this, is that we're heavily investing in programmatic enablement across all of our content. Even going back to our earlier conversation, making sure that that's available through our biggest events in live sports. That's really where we see the biggest returns. You take something like the Paris Olympics, 90% of the advertisers who participated programmatically had never participated in the games before. Wow. So you think about what an incredible opportunity that is. Then, you pair that with the fact that two of the top advertisers that ran programmatically in the games saw 95% incremental reach on Peacock compared to everything else that they were running. So I think we know it works for us, and we know it delivers for brands, and that's why it'll just continue to be a huge focus area. But again, we want to have the paths of activation that clients prefer. So whether that's programmatic or in more of a managed service way, we're indifferent.

Reynolds: You've set me up nicely for my Peacock question. The streaming service added 5 million subs in the first quarter to end with 41 million paying customers. I think there's 80,000 hours of content annually, original fare programming for NBC and Bravo. More sports than any other streamer, including NFL, the Olympics, as you mentioned, and starting next fall, the NBA. Again, is this going to be a strong upfront for Peacock, Gina?

Reduto: Peacock is definitely a focus area, and as you teed up, there is a ton of great momentum. I think what we've really been starting to do is talking to people about Peacock being the foundation of their streaming media plan. And there's a few reasons actually for this. First, to your point around massive scale and unique audiences, we have 96 million monthly active users, and if you think about the slate of content next year, that's only going to fuel the growth of Peacock. What I think is also really interesting is the uniqueness of the audience. A key piece for advertisers on streaming that has been historically challenging is maximizing reach, and on Peacock, 70% of our audience can't be reached on other streamers. When you add to that and look at NBC holistically and pair Peacock with our linear offering, there's incredibly low duplication, so less than 10% duplication on Bravo, around 20% duplication on sports. So it's also really about the ability to capitalize on linear and streaming in one place. The other piece that I think is really important from an advertiser perspective is the consistency of engagement on Peacock. We connect with consumers every day of the week, and that's what you laid out in the question, which is the breadth and depth of the content — the 7,500 hours of sports. Then we have news, NBC Bravo next day, pay-one movies. There are just a lot of reasons to come and watch every single day, and that's what's important for brands, the consistency throughout the week. Meaning if you think about some other streamers, they might be binging one day on the weekend. On Peacock, when they're watching every single day, you can sell products every day. Brands don't sell products one day a week. They sell seven days a week all year. And so that persistent presence on Peacock is really key. And then lastly, we touched on this with programmatic, but it's easy to activate, so I think it's the combination of the audience, the ad experience, and all of those things, which is really why we see brands come in and continue to shift budgets towards Peacock.

Reynolds: This is a more general question for the ad-supported SVOD market, which obviously is growing. All your competitors are in the game. And then going back to the start of 2024, Amazon Prime Video started getting into the marketplace. A lot more inventory, maybe unsettled things, more opportunities. Has that settled down, Gina?

Reduto: I think there's a few things that you sort of have to talk through when you're thinking about the growth of AVOD. First, when you actually isolate for premium AVOD, the demand is actually outpacing supply growth—more than two times, and that's indicative of how performant it is. I think the other piece to keep in mind when you're comparing AVODs is the importance of audience buying. We know by the end of next year, it'll be anywhere from 85% to 90% of all streaming is bought on an audience. And then last, just the constant demand for new and unique ad formats. And if we think about all these things, we actually feel really confident about Peacock’s place in the ecosystem because we were built for ads from day one. We're well-positioned, even as supply continues to grow, and if you think about the growth, a lot of these streamers have recently added ads to their platform, which is what's creating the supply, but it's not actually all premium supply. The shows on these streamers not having been built with advertising in mind, they're retrofitting ads into the content, which can create really disruptive breaks and a jarring user experience. And we see this play out. That's why Peacock has maintained the strong majority of the ad-supported user base, and we continue to see 34% higher ad impact. So we know that's an advantage for us. The other thing, and I mentioned it before, but audience targeting requires scale but also consumer diversity. While those other AVOD tiers may be growing, Peacock has that unique audience you can't find on other streamers. Plus, if you add our other digital endpoints and linear networks, we have even more ad-supported scale. And then the last piece that I think is really important is this ongoing desire for ad innovation, right? If you think about us having a five-year head start and already having a strong slate of high-impact ad innovation, we're watching the others try to play catch up. Earlier this year, we announced we're experimenting with vertical video, mini-games. Some of this is already available on our app, and we'll have more announcements coming soon. So I think, based on the trends and Peacock's ability to deliver, even with the increase in supply, we actually feel really good about where we sit.

Reynolds: Alright, Gina, we're getting toward the end. So I'm going to introduce the “T” word — tariffs. It changes from day to day. What's your sense for clients' reaction to the marketplace? They still need to be there, don't they?

Reduto: I think so. It's so challenging for our partners; the uncertainty, the day-to-day, even hour-to-hour switches make it so incredibly difficult to plan. What we are doing is really working with our advertisers across every potentially affected category to find the right solutions. I think there can be a tendency to focus on the bottom-of-the-funnel tactics when uncertainty arises. The challenge with that is you may capture existing demand, but you're actually doing nothing to build future demand. And that's where premium video not only makes your existing media work harder, it builds future demand and brand equity. And I think what that means is you're finding future buyers. The other piece is you need to drive loyalty. We know during times of uncertainty, consumers can be prone to switching, and when they switch, they're probably trading down to lower-cost alternatives, which brings in pricing power. When consumers are uncertain, they're more price-sensitive, and you just want to ensure that you are building brand opinion to guarantee consumers still gravitate towards your brand, even though it may not be the lowest-cost option. And then I think the other piece is we've lived this before. We've navigated recessions, we've gone through the pandemics, and so we have the case studies and the proof points that show the benefits of staying with advertising. You look at case studies where we see two times higher consumer retention rates or an eight times growth in average household spend. We literally have a case study for every single category to help our brand understand the implications of pulling back. And I think the other key piece is measurement; the advancements in measurement attribution can also help advertisers navigate the uncertainty. By being able to better understand impact in real-time, that affords decision-making power and gives you confidence in the decision you're making, but also allows you to optimize when it's not. So I think even though there's a ton of uncertainty, if we can leverage past learnings and lean into measurement and attribution, you can validate the impact of the media investments you're making.

Reynolds: So, message to advertisers that it behooves you guys to stay in the game here. Alright, last year, NBC saw solid upfront spending from the auto, retail, insurance, personal care, and beverage categories. More of the same this year? And are there any other categories that you think may emerge as strong players for '25/'26, Gina?

Reduto: Yeah, just, broad strokes, looking at last year, there was a lot of momentum around sort of experience-centric categories. You think about entertainment, travel, casual dining, alcohol for some, and then, you know, categories that are more service-oriented. You think about finance, insurance, education — they were also bright spots in the '24/'25 upfront.

Reynolds: Okay.

Reduto: I think it's hard for us to tell which categories are definitively going to lean in this year, but I think there's two things. One is we expect continued growth in the things we talked about. Advertisers want to leverage advanced audience, they want to capitalize on the growth in streaming, and they absolutely want to be a part of sports and live events just given the full funnel impact.

Reynolds: Right.

Reduto: The other piece is, we expect categories like CPG, retail, finance to drive volume, just given the sheer size and composition of those industries. But we also always watch out for what are those emerging categories or sub-sectors that might drive growth even in times of uncertainty. Some of the things we're watching now are things like energy, real estate. You break down CPG, something like supplements. Interesting. Okay. Even within retail, something like resale or secondhand. Then, B2B is really surging. While I don't have a crystal ball and I can't tell you definitively, I can tell you it's going to be incredibly exciting. We have the greatest collection of content, and we're just really excited to lean in and partner with brands and do new and innovative things. It's going to be great.

Reynolds: Okay. We're still a few days ahead of your upfront presentation at Radio City Music Hall in Manhattan on May 12th. Is there going to be something really cool or something cool that Gina knows about, that she wants to tell everybody else to keep their eye out for?

Reduto: There's going to be a lot that's really cool, but you'll have to tune in to see.

Reynolds: Okay. That concludes this episode of Media Talk. I want to thank our guest, Gina, for sharing her thoughts on the market overall and the upcoming upfront selling season in particular. Much obliged, Gina.

Reduto: Thank you so much for having me.

Reynolds: This is Mike Reynolds. Thanks to all of you for listening. We'll catch up soon on the next installment of “MediaTalk.”