Keep ADWEEK in your pocket—stay updated with exclusive Cannes Lions coverage and analysis. Subscribe today.
Live events create urgency for viewers, and NBCUniversal wants its audience insights to have that same urgency.
Ahead of the 2024 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, NBCU is announcing accelerated first-party audience capabilities to improve live event programming for marketers and drive ad effectiveness with new insights.
“When you take a step back and think about the focus for us and our mission at NBCU from the ad side, it’s to drive ad effectiveness for our clients,” Alison Levin, president of NBCUniversal advertising and partnerships, told ADWEEK. “It’s clear that live moments do just that, so it’s our focus for Cannes, and we’re doubling down on our offering.”
That “doubling down” involves a two-pronged approach.
First, the company will deliver quick-turn, rich insights into interest and intent signals across categories to provide marketers with a deeper understanding of audiences.
For example, within roughly two business days, advertisers will understand aggregated viewer preferences, such as the type of car they’re in the market for and actions they’ve taken such as dealership visits.
According to Levin, receiving that level of insight in the past could take up to a week, and the real difference is the company’s ability to utilize Peacock for live programming and bring insights across the full portfolio.
“The market has had linear insight for some time—for instance, when you think about ACR data. But we’re the only ones who have this level of insight in streaming because of our leadership in live on Peacock,” Levin said. “As streaming continues to grow as a part of live viewership, this is only going to get more important for marketers to understand who these new audiences are.”
In addition to the quick-turn, live insights, the company will deliver strategic, live audience segments that enable marketers to re-engage with consumers throughout their NBCUniversal viewing journey.
For instance, a wellness brand can find wellness enthusiasts who tuned into specific live moments across the company’s linear and streaming portfolio. Levin explained it as retargeting at “valuable, interesting moments.”
“The important part of this is the ability to drive real scale,” Levin said. “And we’re able to do that because of the scale that we have on Peacock with live.”