Heading into the Olympic Games Milan Cortina 2026, NBCUniversal reports that it has seen success with its Olympic ad model, which is powered by more than 30 billion data points derived from more than 1,600 ads spanning four Olympic games—generating a 73% increase in message memorability for optimized creative.
Demonstrating the effectiveness of its offerings and the Ad Creative Engine, Marshall shared the story of an Olympics auto advertiser that had message memorability as its key KPI.
“We provided recommendations like incorporating more humor, expanding the use of voiceover, and adding in more branding elements,” Marshall said. “Based on those recommendations, we forecasted the ad would drive 45% in message memorability. In actuality, the ad ran so strongly that it delivered 118% lift.”
Using One solution
According to NBCUniversal, its One Platform Total Audience has delivered full-funnel effectiveness for brands in categories across beauty, retail, and pharmaceutical.
The company reports that One Platform Total Audience campaigns have generated a 32% increase in purchase intent and a 33% increase in brand favorability, as well as two times the increase in search engagement and a 64% increase in incremental store visits. Meanwhile, it has resulted in 28% greater reach, 22% higher search engagement, and a 7% lift in prescription conversations.
Additionally, NBCUniversal was the first publisher partner for Adobe Real-Time CDP Collaboration, a solution that brought publishers and advertisers together to discover, reach, and measure high-value audiences. Through the beta version, advertisers experienced two times more efficient conversion, ten times better match rates, and a 90% lift compared to standard audience onboarding.
According to the company, CPG brands that participated in NBCUniversal’s retail media data collaboration pilot with Instacart saw between 8 to 17 times more return on ad spend (ROAS), with an average of 37% new-to-brand buyers on Instacart. During a real-time outcome measurement beta period, NBCUniversal tracked conversions attributed to streaming campaign exposures in flight and found that advertisers saw an average of 8.5 times more ROAS. This measurement capability will be generally available starting in the first quarter, the company noted.
“Those results proved that we are winning in categories where consideration matters and share shift is happening,” Marshall said. “Not only was the return on investment strong, but the more important impact was how we were driving new buyers into a category.”
From kickoff to tipoff
On the programming side, NBCUniversal will kick off fall 2025 with the return of the NBA to NBC and Peacock, as well as the return of BravoCon in Las Vegas. Then, in February 2026, the Milan Cortina Olympic Winter Games, Super Bowl LX, and the NBA All-Star Game will be held within 10 days of each other, which will be a first in sports-media history.
