NBCU

NBCU will be taking over FreeWheel; Instacart is for sale (and DoorDash is interested); and is your smart TV listening to you?

The 2024 Olympics proved premium live sports could be transacted programmatically. The 2026 World Cup tests something harder: whether programmatic spend holds up amid viable alternatives.

Comcast separates NBCUniversal and Sky from its broadband and wireless business; Omnicom is all in on M&A; and startup Whatnot bets on livestreamed shopping.

Everyone’s investing in AppsFlyer; NBCU launches Rock Studios, a creative studio for brand integrations; and Meta wants to hop on the TV bandwagon.

Netflix expands its ad ambitions with new programmatic tools; OpenAP pushes cross-publisher CAPI measurement for TV ads; Starlink bidstream data reportedly fuels surveillance tracking.

NBCU’s early embrace of ad tech – led by Ryan McConville, its chief product officer and EVP of ad platforms – set the stage for a pandemic-fueled digital transformation that blurred the line between traditional TV and streaming. But that doesn’t mean linear isn’t still a top priority.

NBCU is testing agentic systems that can automatically activate campaigns across its entire portfolio – including live sports on linear.

WPP aims to turn around faster; YouTube TV tips the carriage deal market; and Roblox takes its time on video ads.

Apparently, we’re in for a hardware revolution; advertisers don’t know what to expect from the US’s new version of TikTok; and live sports should take better advantage of ad opportunities.

YouTube backpedals on banning COVID and political misinfo; Tylenol pushes back against Trump’s claims that it causes autism; and Disney doubles down on linear TV and raises Disney+ prices after its Kimmel boycott threat.

NBCU’s streaming losses were down to $100 million in Q2 from $348 million year-over-year, representing significant progress as the platform nears break-even.

SaaS companies are abandoning interoperability in search of more revenue; Spotify’s ad business is growing slower than expected; and sports is an upfronts winner for Disney and NBCU.

Netflix cracks Nielsen’s top 3 channels, but YouTube is still tops; CTV is maturing as a marketing channel, but it comes with zits; and Google rolls out another core update for search.

Nextdoor isn’t ruling out AI data licensing, but it has concerns; NBCU touts sports and streaming as drivers of its record Upfronts; and Scholastic follows kids and parents to YouTube.

CTV advertisers have carried over one-to-one programmatic logic from display and online video into a channel that behaves nothing like them. We need to stop chasing CTV impressions and start chasing impact.

Streaming is rapidly becoming a top performance channel for brands like NOBULL that are looking to drive outcomes up and down the funnel.

To zero in on premium inventory, The Trade Desk is analyzing metadata signals about ad placements and pushing adoption of its alternative ID. It’s also betting the farm on CTV.

In today’s newsletter: Amazon stands out among Upfronts CTV rookies; Google reveals how much revenue its ad tech divisions make; and women hold more marketing leadership positions than men, but churn is worse for women.

In today’s newsletter: Walmart’s hottest growth drivers are ads and subscriptions; why The Trade Desk’s UID 2.0 could be regulators’ next target; and how the growth of CTV content fortresses is preventing breakout streaming hits.

The SSP revised its full year outlook down by $10 million, due to a DSP partner adopting first-price auctions and weakness in key ad verticals. But it highlighted mobile in-app as a new key revenue stream.

It’s anyone’s guess how CTV advertising will eventually look. But, today, there are no rigid standards, writes Operative’s Mike Pollard.

Athletes aren’t the only ones competing during the Paris Olympics. Advertisers are bidding to reach tens of millions of viewers during the first programmatic Olympic Games.

In today’s newsletter: Spotify surges on strong Q2; how Gen Z media preferences are transforming the Olympics; and QSR companies ditch subscription services after first-party data gains fail to materialize.

Actors, musicians, dancers and comedians vouched for the value of NBCU media in between flashy performances and trailers during the programmer’s TV upfront. But about advertising, NBCU execs barely made a mention.

NBCUniversal’s upfront pitch centers on advanced audiences, attribution and the fact that it built Peacock with advertising features baked in, rather than retrofitting it to support an AVOD model (unlike newer entrants to the ad-supported streaming competition).

To fill in the gaps left by third-party data loss, Adobe has added a data collaboration product to its Real-Time CDP that lets advertisers match their data to a partner’s to create lookalike audiences, target ads or attribute campaigns.

In today’s newsletter: Google PAIR snags a CTV partnership with NBCU; why Madison Avenue and Hollywood will never make their relationship official; and TV buyers explain why they aren’t all-in on alternative currencies just yet.

If you’re using retail media or commerce marketing for the bottom of the funnel only, then you’re missing out on major opportunities.

NBCUniversal is kicking off the new year with a programmatic progress report during CES in Las Vegas this week.

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. Organic Farming TikTok has had the same two business priorities for years. One, to develop an ecommerce marketplace on the app and, two, to create a conversion-based ad platform akin to Google, Amazon or Meta. TikTok has struggled mightily on both fronts. Its […]