Integrated Ad Sales Drive Reach and Performance Across Platforms

Key Quotes

"We started this, we, meeting in December of 2023, that we started to prep for this legendary February. And we went to the marketplace, the advertisers, and said, 'We should look at this together,' because while we often think all sports fans are the same, if you're an advertiser and you just bought the Olympics, you missed 30 million people that watched the Super Bowl as well. And conversely, if you bought the Super Bowl, you missed 30 million people who are in the Olympics."

Mark Marshall explains that NBC Universal made a conscious decision to market the Olympics and Super Bowl together, recognizing that advertisers buying one event might miss a significant audience watching the other. Marshall highlights that this integrated approach allows for a more comprehensive reach to advertisers and a better return on their investment by tapping into unique audiences for each event.

"So what surprised us was that we hadn't done it prior. And I think part of it was also our team just came together as one organization as well. And we also have just great production people that are able to link it. And so I think for the leagues as well, it's a great promotional vehicle. You think about Super Bowl Sunday, you're going to start off with Olympics, and you'll have Lindsey Vonn hopefully skiing on pre-game before the pre-game of the Super Bowl, into the Super Bowl, then back to the Olympics. So it actually provides promotion for both of them, and it also brings in that casual fan, which we all need."

Marshall expresses surprise that this combined marketing strategy for major sporting events had not been implemented earlier, attributing the success to organizational unity and strong production capabilities. He emphasizes that this integration serves as a powerful promotional tool for both the Olympics and the Super Bowl, effectively drawing in casual fans by creating a continuous viewing experience across events.

"The biggest jump we've seen is technology. You've really seen, and you'll see what, what is technology? What is technology? Well, that, it's a fair question of what, what falls in technology. That's everything from an Uber to a Google could fall in technology. So it's a pretty broad category. But you'll, you'll see an array of new advertisers in that category specifically in the Super Bowl."

Mark Marshall identifies technology as the fastest-growing advertising category, noting that it encompasses a wide range of companies from ride-sharing services to major tech giants. Marshall points out that this broad category will be particularly visible with new advertisers participating in the Super Bowl, indicating a significant shift in the advertising landscape.

"It's the exact same things that happen right now with streaming and broadcasting and cable. And for us, it, it, like our decision we made, which is we don't want to focus only on one thing, that we think there's a huge value to an advertiser to that you need to be in linear, you need to be in cable, you need to be in streaming. And as much as that's written about streaming, and there is no doubt it's growing and its importance, but 72% of the ad impressions are still on linear television."

Marshall draws a parallel between the current rise of streaming and the past growth of cable television, asserting that a multi-platform approach is crucial for advertisers. He highlights that despite the increasing prominence of streaming, linear television still accounts for a substantial majority of ad impressions, underscoring the need for advertisers to maintain a presence across all formats.

"So no longer is TV just dumb. TV is an unbelievably efficient tool to be able to reach a whole lot of people. So what, you know, you've seen advertisers who have gone too heavily into the programmatic or one-to-one, and what happens is TV has a great bleed. It used to be called waste, but a great bleed that you're reaching more than one person at a time with television. And so you're, you're, you are absolutely getting the benefit of that reach when you do linear."

Mark Marshall explains that television advertising is no longer a "blunt instrument" due to new data capabilities, making it an efficient tool for reaching large audiences. He contrasts this with advertisers who focus too heavily on programmatic or one-to-one marketing, noting that linear television provides a valuable "bleed" effect, reaching multiple people simultaneously and offering broad reach benefits.

"The other thing I really loved was the Wild Card. So just like the Olympics, it's so hard to get people to show up for a series that you dropped every Thursday, whatever that is. Where we've seen the most success is things like the Olympics where it's on night after night, or Love Island on Peacock, it's on night after night. I love the idea of the Wild Card, because you really are going to be able to build an audience and build the stories as we get into fourth quarter as well."

Marshall expresses enthusiasm for the MLB Wild Card series, comparing its appeal to the sustained engagement of the Olympics and shows like "Love Island." He believes that the concentrated nature of the Wild Card format allows for building a dedicated audience and developing compelling narratives, which is more effective than scattered weekly games.