We may still be languishing at the end of 2022, but NBCUniversal are already focused on the new year, with an announcement of its upfronts dates for 2023 already public. Our entertainment lawyer on the ground, Brandon Blake of Blake & Wang P.A, has the news
Upfronts Announced
NBCUniversal’sNewfronts will take place on May 4th, with other upfronts to take place in the following week at the Radio City Music Hall. May 8th will see the One23 developer conference, a tech-focused review of the new ad solutions and other innovations on offer from them, which they introduced three years ago.
It is unusual to see upfronts planned so early in the ad cycle, but with an increased focus on 2023 as ‘the year’ we finally shake off the last ill-effects of the pandemic, perhaps it’s not all that surprising to see them in pursuit of advertising dollars so openly.
Focusing on Positives
This announcement was made as part of a wider-ranging pitch focusing on their ad buyers, in which a heavy focus on their 2022 achievements was made. While it’s always wise to take self-congratulatory statements with a hefty pinch of salt, NBCUniversal has, indeed, put a lot of focus on boosting the data metrics, automation, and commercial experience of their platform this year.
NBCUniversal has also finished 2022 with considerably more confidence in their ad efforts than many other companies are displaying. Despite them announcing that they won’t make their 10% year-on-year growth for this quarter, they’re still doing considerably better than many others and expect to make ‘mid-single-digit’ gains on last year.
It’s rather nice to see a company ending the year in a positive frame of mind regarding its plans and benchmarks. While some of it may be forced positivity for a tough growth cycle, it will be interesting to see if this same buoyancy carries on into 2023 proper.
