NBCU Holds Digital Upfront, Pitches 9 Opportunities For Advertisers

by Gavin O'Malley, Thursday, Jan 17, 2008 7:30 AM ET

NBC UNIVERSAL ON WEDNESDAY HELDits first digital out-of-home "upfront." From 30 Rock's Studio 8H--longtime home toSaturday Night Live--the network presented top agencies and advertisers with its new NBC Everywhere initiative to bring ad-supported programming into consumers' daily out-of-home lives.

The network took participants through nine elaborate stage sets illustrating nine new consumer touchpoints with a combined annual reach of 3 billion impressions, according to the event's host, Mark French, senior vice president and general manager of NBC Everywhere. "The most important thing is delivering a niche audience to advertisers," said French. "We're offering advertisers category exclusivity and access to consumers at the point-of-purchase."

Along with agency reps from OMD and MediaVest, advertisers in attendance included Chase, Procter & Gamble, Kraft, Ford, General Motors and Bristol-Myers Squibb, among others.

The new touchpoints include previously announced opportunities, including a supermarket network in partnership with PRN Network; Taxi TV, through a partnership with Clear Channel; gas-station pumps through a partnership with FuelCast; and sports arena concession stands through a partnership with the Arena Media Network, and aboard PATH trains that run between New York and New Jersey.

Through a deal with The University Network, NBCU will also begin selling spots on a network reaching more than 200 college campuses nationwide. For "NBC on Campus," the network will provide content to the college network, while gaining the rights to sell ads to hard-to-reach college students.

Also, through an alliance with IdeaCast, NBCU will be broadcasting directly into health clubs. IdeaCast provides advertisers the opportunity to buy full-network spots or locally targeted ones. The network is in more than 1,000 health clubs, and bills itself as offering a chance to reach an upscale audience.

Other touchpoints include online video games through a partnership with IGA; maternity wards with the iVillage Newborn Channel; and the NBC billboard in Times Square.

Under its new arrangements, NBCU will provide short-form clips (90 seconds or less) from shows ranging from "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" to "The Office" to news features focusing on important issues, such as the presidential campaign. NBCU content will be provided daily, and can be customized for specific markets. Local stations owned by NBC can provide weather, news and sports information in their respective areas.

Every local station has its own sales staff to sell these new out-of-home opportunities. Sales forces are being beefed up nationally to handle the extra work, according to French. "The market has become very fragmented," he adds.

With the local TV ad market slowing, NBCU is hoping to reposition itself in the 10 markets where it owns stations as a one-stop-shop for advertisers to reach consumers at multiple touchpoints. Also driving the strategy is the boom in out-of-home advertising, which offers a captive audience. (CBS is taking control of SignStorey, which operates a network in more than 1,400 grocery stores, in a similar move.)

NBCU's owned stations carrying the NBC network are in the country's top three markets--New York, Los Angeles and Chicago--and seven others.

Along with French, NBCU executives serving as "hosts" at Wednesday's event included John Miller, chief marketing officer, Television Group and president, NBC Agency; John Wallace, who oversees the 10 NBC-owned stations as president of the local media division; Marianne Gambelli, president of NBC network sales; and Beth Comstock, president of NBCU Integrated Media.