Roku is about to launch a weekly trivia game on its home screen.

Starting Tuesday, users of the streaming company's mega-popular TVOS platform can play a round (or more) of trivia that tests their knowledge of entertainment.

Roku says that those who play the weekly game will find “a little help from Roku City characters and Easter eggs.”

Also Read: Max’s Dragons Seen Flying Over Roku City Promoting Season 2 of ‘Game of Thrones’ Prequel

“We are focused on expanding monetization of the Roku Home Screen, bolstering programmatic ad capabilities, and growing Roku-billed subscriptions,” Roku CEO Anthony Wood wrote in the company’s Q1 2024 letter to shareholders. 

“Advertisers seeking to maximize ROI need ad solutions with significant reach and innovative ad technology — our business remains well-positioned to capture the billions of dollars in traditional-TV ad budgets that will shift to streaming,” Wood added

Roku grew its platform revenue to $755 million in the first quarter of 2024, up 19% year over year.

And while the company hasn’t released specific figures on how much money it makes from ad deals, Wood said Roku generated its revenue “primarily from the sale of advertising.”

The company, which launched Roku City in 2018 as a way to integrate advertisements into virtual billboards, has already leveraged that forum in order to expand its ad offerings.

“Our ongoing enhancements to our Home Screen are helping to drive engagement, with Streaming Hours originating from the Home Screen Menu more than doubling YoY in Q1,” Wood also wrote. This growing engagement creates more monetization opportunities.

And while its new trivia feature lacks an immediate commercial element, the more eyes Roku has on its home screen, the more bargaining power its gains in future negotiations.

Roku has already had ad partnerships with key players in the streaming industry like Max and Paramount Plus, and currently has plans in the works to develop video ads for Roku City.

At a time when more dollars are flowing into digital advertising, local sellers are facing increasing pressure, according to a new study from ad software company Frequence.

The survey found that 72% of sellers said their organization expects them to deliver more results with fewer solutions.

Keeping up as technology evolves was a problem for 70% of those surveyed, with 82% saying they wish their organization provided them with more software to do their job.

Also Read: Digital Revenue Is Profitable for Local Media, Survey Finds

The pressure is so great, 72% of respondents said they considered leaving their job for a competitor because of the lack of technical support.

“As the industry navigates this period of rapid change, one thing is clear: local-market media professionals need support to meet mounting challenges,” Frequence CEO Tom Cheli said.

Also Read: Local Advertisers Benefit From Omnichannel Strategy, Frequence Study Finds

“Technological tools and greater automation can help immensely, and success awaits the companies that invest now to give their employees the tools and resources they need. Local-market advertising is a resilient, adaptive industry, and with the right strategies the future for media companies will remain bright,” Cheli said.

According to the study, 33% said they were stressed out when they had to gather and analyze campaign performance data; 19% said managing and adjusting campaigns in flight was a pain; and 18% cited difficulties with determining an optimal mix of omnichannel campaign tactics.

Sellers also said they felt pressure to sell more third-party ad inventory.

“Every day, new advertisers enter the local market as barriers to entry fall and outcomes improve,” Cheli said. “Projections for future ad spend grow more optimistic by the day, and the excitement and growth have led to even greater expectations for performance.”

Frequence surveyed 471 digital advertising and marketing professionals that work at media companies or digital ad agencies. The survey was conducted in August in collaboration with independent market research firm PureSpectrum.

Netflix has hired two senior executives from Snap to head up its new advertising sales business.

Jeremi Gorman was named president, worldwide advertising and Peter Naylor was tapped to be VP, advertising sales. Both executives will be joining the company in September.

Earlier this year, Netflix, which became the dominant streamer with no commercials, has lost subscribers the last two quarters. It announced plans to add a lower-price ad-supported tier in order to re-ignite growth.

Also: Analyst: Adding Commercials Will Boost Netflix Subscribers by 6% and Earnings by 20% in 2025

“Jeremi’s deep experience in running ad businesses and Peter’s background in leading ad sales teams together will be key as we expand membership options for consumers through a new ad-supported offering,” said Greg Peters, Netflix’s COO.

In July, Netflix made a deal with Microsoft to provide the tech infrastructure for its advertising business.

Also: Netflix: Microsoft Relationship Is About Advertising For Now

Gorman had been chief business officer at Snap since 2018. Previously she was head of global field sales for Amazon Advertising.

“I am thrilled to be joining Netflix to help build the advertising business and a world-class advertising team from the ground up. We're just at the beginning, but look forward to delivering the best experiences for Netflix members and the advertising community, of which I have proudly been a part for over 20 years,” Gorman said.

Naylor had been VP of sales, America, for Snap. He joined Snap in 2020 after serving as senior VP of ad sales for Hulu for six years. Before that, he was executive VP, digital advertising sales at NBCUniversal.

"It has been great to see the excitement amongst the advertiser community about Netflix's upcoming ads-supported offering. I’m excited to be joining the team and look forward to helping our advertisers connect with Netflix members around the world,” Naylor said. ■

NBCUniversal said it hired former Turner Broadcasting ad sales executive Frank Sgrizzi as senior VP, client partnerships.

Sgrizzi was one of several ad execs pushed out of Turner when its parent company, Time Warner, was acquired by AT&T. AT&T earlier this year sold Turner and the rest of what became WarnerMedia to Discovery.

At Turner, Sgrizzi worked with Linda Yaccarino, who is now chairman of NBCU Global Advertising and Partnerships, and once called Sgrizzi “the brother I never had.”

At NBCU, he will report to Karen Kovacs, executive VP, client partnerships.

“Frank is not only an expert in this business but a trusted colleague amongst the entire industry,” said Kovacs. “We are extremely fortunate to have him join our team and are thrilled with what his unmatched experience and leadership will bring to our sales division, our clients and our partners.” ■

After COVID-19 pushed last year’s negotiations into September, the 2021 upfront television market reflects the new normal of the media world.  

There is an eroding supply of broadcast and cable ratings points and a post-quarantine economy that’s heating up. Both trends point to higher prices and more ad dollars flowing to digital video, trends that have been accelerating for years.

Like last year, the networks’ elaborate upfront presentations will be held via Zoom instead of in venues like Carnegie Hall or Radio City Music Hall. 

Matt Sweeney, chief investment officer at GroupM, said that in last year’s upfront there was a spirit of empathy that got people to work together to get through a difficult time. This year, he’s concerned about “the accelerated degradation in traditional ratings” that will make it more difficult for clients to reach consumers via television.

If the dwindling supply of ratings points sends prices up, “I think there’s a point at which the value of a unit or an impression gets beyond being an effective investment vehicle,” he warned.

Also Read: NewFronts Speakers See Advertisers Changing Channels from Traditional TV

“What it does is it forces marketers and their media agents to find those audiences beyond just traditional TV,” Sweeney said. 

The big media companies know that, and instead of competing with streaming as it grows, they’ve bought or built their own streaming services, like Disney’s Hulu, Comcast’s Peacock, Fox’s Tubi and ViacomCBS’s Pluto TV and Paramount Plus (see related story, page 16).

“We’re really excited about all of those platforms,” Sweeney said, adding, “We’re watching very closely to see what the consumer uptake is with those services. At some point, how many is too many.”

When the smoke cleared for last year’s upfront, commercial time worth $18.6 billion was bought, including $8.7 billion on the broadcast networks and $9.9 billion on cable networks, according to Media Dynamics. 

The total was down 14.8% from the 2019-20 upfronts, but down 2% when the upfront buys canceled because of the pandemic are taken into account.

John Nitti, chief media officer at Verizon Communications, a big advertiser, said double-digit price increases will lead to money moving where there’s better returns. 

“If money is going to move, money is going to move,” Nitti, a former agency media buyer, said. “Marketers have become more and more comfortable with digital streaming platforms. If we continue to see the degradation of linear ratings but growth within digital platforms, I think you’ll see the merger of the upfront and NewFronts into one time frame.”

Nitti wants the flexibility that was a hallmark of the 2020 upfront to continue into 2021. 

“Why should you not be able to make optimizations and changes?” he asked. “As a retailer at heart, we need to be looking at our numbers daily. We need to drive those optimizations and have flexibility, so that will continue to persist.” 

In some cases, he noted, traditional media vendors were actually able to switch schedules faster than their digital counterparts.

Planting a Flag in Streaming

Media companies will be offering their own streaming services as a way to restore their reach and expand the inventory they have to offer in the upfront.

Fox, for example, will be including its Tubi ad-supported streaming service (AVOD) during its entertainment programming upfront presentation, president of ad sales Marianne Gambelli said.

Gambelli anticipates a strong upfront market after several good quarters in the scatter market.

With sports back and production of scripted shows back in gear, Gambelli hopes ratings will make a comeback. “But I think demand will probably outstrip that supply to some degree,” she said. 

That could mean higher prices.

“But then, there’s an explosion in AVOD [ad-supported video-on-demand],” she said. “I think a lot of money will go there. We’re really excited about that space, so I think there will be ways to manage through it. Like there always is.” 

Another way to increase the supply of broadcast inventory is to include older viewers, instead of buying and selling based on the 18-49 and 25-54 demographics. A number of programmers, including A+E Networks, have proposed switching to adults 18-plus as the new television currency.

“It has to happen,” Gambelli said. “When you’re buying broadcast,  why wouldn’t you just count the entire audience, then do your narrowcasting in digital?”

Increasingly advertisers are buying based on targets other than age and sex, such as people likely to buy cars. “It has to evolve, she said. “That’s where we really unlock the value of broadcast.”

While traditional linear supply is tight, digital supply may be as well, warned Jon Steinlauf, chief U.S. advertising sales officer at Discovery.

Scatter a Leading Indicator

“The strongest indicator of how this market is going to go has been the strength of second-quarter scatter,” Steinlauf said. “The scatter market for us has been sizzling hot in second quarter, even better than first quarter.”

During its first-quarter earnings call, Discovery said it was seeing prices in scatter that were 50% higher than upfront.

“People are talking a lot about supply being tight,” Steinlauf said. “It’s clearly tight in linear and there are questions about how tight it is going to be in nonlinear. I’m of the camp that thinks nonlinear is going to be tighter than people think.”

Inventory will be tight because the streaming services are new and just ramping up in terms of adding subscribers. The ones that take ads at all are running as little as four minutes of commercials per hour, a fraction of the load on broadcast and cable. 

The digital and streaming inventory will be important this year because advertisers are looking to make up for the reach they’re losing in traditional broadcast and cable.

Discovery has built a $500-million-a-year digital business with its Go apps and this year added the Discovery Plus streaming service to the mix. Advertisers can reach cord-cutters with the digital product.

“They’re all on a mission for reach,” Steinlauf said. “If we wanted to sell out Discovery Plus on the first day of the upfront, we probably could,” he said. “We’re not going to because there’s too many other more lucrative markets for it down the road,” including programmatic markets where CPMs are at a premium.

Steinlauf recalled that a year ago, there was talk about moving the upfront to the end of the year and switching to a calendar that starts in January versus the broadcast year, which starts in October.

All that talk has gone by the wayside as categories largely shut down by the pandemic — travel, restaurants, movie studios, non-essential retail — are coming back to the ad market. 

Underdelivery Concerns

With traditional ratings down, media buyers and advertisers have complained about underdelivery. The shows they bought commercials in last upfront didn’t get the audiences they were promised, if they ran at all, as production delayed the start of many scripted series.

The CW told advertisers that its scripted shows wouldn’t premiere until the first quarter, said executive VP national sales Rob Tuck, and provided audience estimates based on the alternative schedule. “We got through the fourth quarter in great shape; our clients came out if it in great shape,” Tuck said.

Later on, The CW launched its scripted shows, including Superman & Lois, Walker and Kung Fu. As part of its upfront, The CW is providing each client with an individual report card that shows how the CW delivered on their 2020-21 upfront deals.

“We’ve heard the clients screaming about how the linear networks took their money, didn’t deliver and didn’t care,” Tuck said. “We took their money, we did care and we delivered on our promises.

“We really try,” he said. “We’re the little guys. Our service has to be good. If we’re causing a problem, it’s too easy to get rid of us. It just is.” 

That approach meant The CW had inventory to sell in scatter instead of having to give it to clients as make-goods. The CW feasted on high prices in scatter and should be able to take advantage of a strong upfront as well.

“I think there’s a lot of pent-up demand,” Tuck said. That will fuel business, the economy and the ad market. 

“There will be greater demand than a year ago,” he said. 

“Do I think more money will shift to digital? Sure, because the agencies and clients always follow where the audience goes,” Tuck added. “The great thing about us is we’re on all these platforms. We were the first network to be multiplatform, so we play in that world.”  

NBCUniversal and Twitter said they have expanded their content and advertising agreement globally.

Under a new multi-year deal, advertisers will be able to reach Twitter users with trending, sponsorable content from Comcast’s NBCU and Sky units, including real-time sports highlights and coverage of live events such as the Golden Globes, with red carpet live streams, watch parties and fan voting to engage users.

Also Read: NBC Extends Olympics Deal With Twitter Through 2022

In addition to content from the Golden Globes, being held Feb. 28, NBCU and Twitter plan to distribute content from more than 30 live events, including Telemundo’s Latin Music Awards, news on Noticias Telemundo, the E! People’s Choice Awards, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and sports on NBC Sports, Telemundo Deportes, Sky Sports and Golf Channel. 

Also Read: Peacock Exclusively Pins WWE Network in the U.S. 

NBCU will be using Twitter to amplify interviews about racial justice and equity during Black History Month.

Also Read: Twitter Announces 30-Plus Content Deals at NewFront

The content will be distributed on Twitter via handles including @nbc, @enews, @telemundo, @noticiastelemundon, @nbcsports, @golfchannel, @telemundosports, @latinxnow, @onherturf, @nbcolympics, @SkySports, and @SkySportsPL.

“With this strategic partnership, NBCUniversal’s leading video content meets Twitter’s worldwide reach, empowering marketers to connect with global audiences, while bringing consumers curated premium content on an engaging platform," said Krishan Bhatia, president & chief business officer at NBCUniversal. “The growth in digital viewing has been nothing short of explosive in recent years and together with Twitter, we're helping our partners engage audiences in a brand-safe way—and shape key conversations as they unfold."

Twitter will be providing broader sales support for NBCUniversal's advertisers.

“NBCU represents one of Twitter's largest and deepest content partnerships in the US. This agreement expands not only their content publishing output in the US, but will position international markets for growth as well,” said Jen Prince, VP and Global Head of Content Partnerships. “More premium content means more sponsorship opportunities for advertisers, so there's meaningful revenue impact here as well.”

Sponsors will be able to use Twitter's advanced targeting capabilities and mobile advertising formats through NBCU’s One Platform offering, which reaches 160 countries, and NBC Spot On, which provides digital inventory for local marketers.

NBCU and Twitter have been working together since 2013. The number of campaigns run has grown 10 times since 2013, In 2002, global video views for all NBCU Twitter handles have grown 26% on average, while the number of campaigns increased 25%.

“For the better part of a decade, we've sought out partners that enable us to bring the best possible experience to our audiences, along with the flexibility and scale that marketers need to reach them,” said NBCU senior VP Joe Cady, who leads business and strategy for digital and advanced TV ad sales. “Our best partnerships are the ones that value premium content, integrate product and technology, and commit to long-term collaboration. When we're able to combine our strengths towards a common goal, we can move the industry forward.”

NBCUnivesal will continue to offer Bravo content on Twitter, including the Watch What Happens Live After Show, to be distributed via @BravoWWHL.

Krishan Bhatia, Josh Feldman and Tom Winiarski, top executives at NBCUniversal’s advertising sales and partnerships division, have been promoted to expanded roles.

Also Read: Yaccarino Adds Local Ad Sales Duties at NBCU

Bhatia has been named president and chief business officer, a new role at the company, a subsidiary of Comcast. 

Also Read: NBCU, Twitter Expand Content, Ad Deal Globally

Feldman has been promoted to be the division’s first chief marketing officer.

Winiarski was appointed president, platform monetization.

All three executives will continue to report to Linda Yaccarino, chairman, global advertising and partnerships.

“These three promotions reflect a renewed mandate for us to become the best possible partners in every single area we operate,” Yaccarino said in a staff memo.

Also Read: Layoffs Continue at NBCU, ViacomCBS

In addition to leading the strategy, partnerships, product, technology, measurement and operations functions for NBCU’s One Platform approach, Bhatia will oversee and have budget responsibility for digital and advanced advertising sales and account services. He will also play a key role in building NBCU’s new data and identity platform.

Also Read: FreeWheel Helps Automate NBCU Linear Ad Scheduling

Bhatia, who had been executive VP, business operations & strategy for the ad sales division, joined NBCU in 2011 from Comcast, where he’d been since 2005.

Feldman will continue to head NBCU’s creative partnerships team and will add trade marketing to his group, unifying all marketing, creative production and commerce efforts within creative partnerships. He is responsible for NBCU sales events including the upfronts and will continue to oversee commerce and commercial innovation.

Also Read: NBCU Readies for Holiday Commerce with PayPal Deal

Previously executive VP, head of marketing and advertising creative, Feldman joined NBCU in 2016 from Turner Broadcasting.

Winiarski, who had been executive VP, ad sales planning & monetization, joined NBCU in 2015 after 21 years at Turner.

Winiarski will continue to organize the sales team around the One Platform, all audience approach and work with technology teams to automate systems and create value for clients.

“The pandemic really accelerated a change in the way consumers were using media and we wanted to provide our clients with an opportunity to reach our viewers--ultimately, hopefully, their customers--by working across linear and digital,” Winiarski said.

NBCU was able to optimize plans based on Nielsen demographic data across its entire content footprint using its AdSmart system, which was designed to handle more advanced consumer segments. That was a step toward transacting on those advanced targets.

The company has also changed the focus of its planning process from one based on networks to one more focused on the needs of clients and agencies.

“What we want to do is have dedicated resources that can dig deeper and get a better understanding of how we can deliver for our clients,” Winiarski said. “We continue to invest in technology to get to a place where we can really target linear with the precision of digital at scale and ease the process of transaction for clients.”

Here is Linda Yaccarino’s memo announcing the promotions:

Team,

I said it right before the holidays, and I'll say it again: last year was an unbelievably transformative year for our company. We have radically shifted the way we operate, totally realigned our organization, and continued to lead the industry with our One Platform vision. One Platform exists today, and is driving our success, because of THIS TEAM--and as a platform, we are only as strong as the people on it.

Today, I'm proud to recognize three people who have helped lead that radical transformation with outstanding results: Krishan Bhatia, Josh Feldman, and Tom Winiarski. 

Along with the rest of our leadership team—Krishan, Josh, and Tom have helped usher in our One Platform future across their teams, our organization, the company, and our industry. These three promotions reflect a renewed mandate for us to become the best possible partners in every single area we operate. And with your help, these leaders will continue to animate our vision and accelerate our progress in their areas of expertise.

First, Krishan will become President & Chief Business Officer. In addition to heading our Strategy, Product, Technology, Measurement and Operations functions for One Platform, Krishan will now also have oversight and budget responsibility for Digital & Advanced Advertising Sales, as well as our Account Services team. Additionally, in this new role, Krishan will continue to help me build out the new enterprise-wide data platform for the company. With this One Platform view across Digital, Strategy, Technology and Operations, Krishan will continue to help future-proof our business on our journey towards becoming the leading Global Advertising Platform.

Meanwhile, Josh Feldman will become our Chief Marketing Officer. Creativity is at heart of our vision and Josh has done outstanding work leading our transformative marketing efforts. Last year Josh's team redefined how we showed up in the marketplace by deploying PSAs to keep Americans informed about COVID-19, creating a legacy-shattering Upfront 30 Rock Special, uniting the industry in our first Creativity Summit, and developing an innovative suite of new commerce solutions. Now, Josh will bring trade marketing into his group, and unify all marketing, creative, production and commerce efforts within the Creative Partnerships structure.

Finally, Tom will be elevated to President, Platform Monetization. As the leader of our Planning and Monetization practice, Tom will oversee the continued, massive transformation of our organization, and help mobilize and coordinate our entire Sales team as we go to market as One Platform. In this elevated role, he’ll help drive us closer to an all audience future, and work closely with our technology teams to automate our systems and leverage One Platform to create more value for us and our clients.

On a personal note, I have had the privilege of working with these three for a long time—and each of them brings incredible expertise, the courage to think big, and the commitment to execute. They’re great people, and I’m proud to call them colleagues and friends. They each embody what I love about this team, and I am so excited to see them thrive.

Please join me in congratulating them when you have a chance.

Linda Yaccarino

Chairman, Global Advertising & Partnerships, NBCUniversal

NBCUniversal’s Advertising and Partnership division said it expanded its relationship with Salesforce, giving its sales team additional online resources at a time when they are handling more data and different types of inventory while many work from home.

As part of its The Future of Work initiative, NBCU has also launched a “center of excellence” that help the company build a more diverse, inclusive and equitable workforce and help them do their jobs better.

“We all share the responsibility for transforming our industries and our society—and that starts inside our own companies. With Salesforce, we’re building a unified information source to re-imagine collaboration across our entire platform so that NBCUniversal can continue delivering the highest level of transparency, insights, and results for our customers,” said Linda Yaccarino, chairman, Global Advertising and Partnerships, at NBCUniversal.

Salesforce on Tuesday announced that it agreed to pay $27.7 billion for Slack, doubling down on work-from-home technology.

Tools from Salesforce, including Quip, Inbox and Chatter, will help NBCU stay organized and more productive. To manage data inside of Salesforce, NBCU is activating Datorama software. 

To help engage clients and support its Insights and Measurement team, NBCU will use Salesforce’s artificial intelligence tool called Einstein. Einstein will help staffers deliver better recommendations and Tableau will help showcase those insights in presentations.

Saleforce’s Pardot will provide measurement and metrics around marketing engagement, NBCU said.

NBCU staffers also have access to training technology to help them use the Salesforce tools.

“Real-time access to more information will provide NBCUniversal’s partners an open, accountable structure, helping to tailor solutions and campaigns, understand audiences, and measure impact,” NBCU said.

In a blog post about the Center of Excellence, Christina Glorioso, senior VP, Sales Effectiveness and the head of the Center, and Brad Epperson, senior VP, Sales Operations and Business Automation, said the best way to build the future of work is to work with NBCU’s marketing partners.

“Our commitment to our people is also an investment in our customers. When we empower our teams with the information and insights they need to propose creative solutions we become more valuable partners,” they said in the post.

The center's goal of developing the most mobile sales team in the industry has been based on four key pillars: diversity and inclusion, having collaboration tools, career pathing and development and sales excellence.

“Already, these efforts have shown results and sparked cultural change, with more than 80% of our sales teams utilizing our new shared resources for essential information and training,” the blog post said.

Upcoming developments include NBCU's annual innovation day and opening up the Bold & NBCUniversal group to partners outside the company, so some programs can be shared.

 WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar has filled the company’s long-vacant head of advertising sales post with Jean-Paul Colaco, a former Apple who worked with Kilar at Hulu and Vessel.

The head of ad sales post has been open since the departure of Donna Speciale more than a year ago. Since then, the company’s ad supported entertainment networks including TNT, TBS and truTV have taken a back seat as the company has focused on building its streaming platform HBO Max. 

Colaco will pay a key role as HBO Max launches an AVOD offering next year.

Colaco will report to Tony Concalves, head of WarnerMedia’s commercial businesses, including ad sales, distribution, Otter Media, home entertainment and content licensing.

In the new set up, the WarnerMedia ad sales leadership team of Amit Chaturvedi, revenue operations and product management; Katrina Cukaj, ad sales strategy and network partnerships; Joe Hogan, sales and client partnerships; and Amy Leifer, operations and services, will report directly to Colaco.

“JP is a well-respected, proven leader who brings with him a fresh perspective about the connection between the customer journey and advanced advertising,” said Goncalves. “He understands our vision as a company - that in embracing moments of great change and taking risks, we can create a better customer experience around our brands. He joins a world-class team and together they will further strengthen WarnerMedia’s position as a leader in sales.”

At Apple, Colaco helped grow the company’s search ads business. At Hulu, where Kilar was CEO, annual sales rose from zero to 4500 million. He was responsible for business development at Vessel, a short-form video startup that was sold to Verizon in 2016.

“I am thrilled to be joining WarnerMedia, one of the best storytelling companies in the world with an unparalleled array of global brands and franchises,” Colaco said in a statement.

“It is humbling to be part of the team creating the next generation of advertising experiences alongside our incredible brand partners. We are in the midst of the next chapter of media transformation and advertising is a critical component to the fabric of the ecosystem.  We have the opportunity to connect marketing messages to consumers, winning over their hearts and minds, in innovative ways that have never been done before,” he said. “I am excited to join this talented team and collectively build a customer-centric advertising experience delivering powerful and relevant brand messaging across platforms.”

Ad campaigns that incorporate cross-platform planning can achieve improved reach and lower frequency without incremental spending, according to a report from NBCUniversal.

In its September Cross-Platform Consumption Report, NBCU said that it aggregated results across several campaigns. It said that a schedule that is more balanced and optimized improves reach by 26% and lowers frequency by 18%.

Frequency measures how many times each individual sees an ad during a campaign.

NBCU said that live TV is still an important part of the media mix, but the traditional TV schedule must be reconfigured for the all-screen era.

If the advertiser shifts from having digital represent 2% of spending to 13%, reach rises from 33.6% to 42.3% and frequency drops from 5.1 time to 4.2 times.

NBCU said brands that invest in “multiple viewership pathways” also saw an 11% jump in awareness, a 12% gain in consideration and a bump of 14% in intent to purchase.

In one campaign, a casual dining restaurant was looking to drive foot traffic. Using just TV, it got a respectable lift in conversion. A plan calling for cross-platform exposure resulted in 75% better lift.

NBCU concluded its report with three recommendations for advertisers.

Rethink the focus on traditional TV screen, adopting new strategies that are fit for the all-screen era. 

Maximize reach by acknowledging the value of both linear and digital programming.

Invest in both linear and digital premium video to engage with more consumers and drive KPIs that deliver impact for brands.

Even in the middle of a pandemic, Discovery can count on Shark Week to deliver sponsors.

In its 32nd year, Shark Week has attracted new sponsors including Jeep, Heineken 0.0, Nationwide, Burger King, Home Depot, Modelo, Gorilla Glue and Cooper Tire. Returning sponsors are headed by Geico.

Last year, Shark Week generated $28 million in ad sales for Discovery, according to iSpot.tv. This year, in an environment where analysts are expecting ad revenues to be
down as much as 30% for the second quarter, demand for Shark Week remains high, Discovery executive VP of national ad sales Scott Kohn said.

Commercials during Shark Week, which starts Aug. 9, are nearly sold out. Kohn wouldn’t say how this year’s sales would stack up to last year’s, but Discovery in 2020 made a concerted effort to boost the digital component.

RELATED: Cover Story: Summer of Sharks

“We’re definitely seeing significant growth in the support of Shark Week from a digital perspective,” Kohn said. “This is
how clients are buying and we’ve created much more robust content to view on our digital platforms.”

About half of the Shark Week sponsors made deals in last year’s upfront. The others bought more recently in the scatter market, Kohn said.

“We did see a tremendous amount of interest throughout the scatter marketplace,” he said. “I think people recognize that especially now, when there’s not a lot of competition on the air, Shark Week is going to be the place to showcase your brand message.”

Although Discovery pitches itself as an alternative to sports, Kohn said he couldn’t be sure if some of the money being gobbled up by Shark Week had originally been earmarked for events that were canceled or postponed because of COVID-19.

Many Shark Week sponsors run special commercials and marketing programs around the programming stunt. Despite the pandemic, Discovery was able to produce custom content for clients.

“We’ve been able to produce some amazing programming,” Kohn said. “We’ve taken a lot of best practices and, working with our integrated ad sales and marketing teams and clients, produced custom content during this time as well.”

Alcohol-free beer brand Heineken 0.0 will be integrated into the premiere episode of the event’s aftershow, Josh Gates Tonight: Shark Week. A sweepstakes with a shark dive as the prize is part of Jeep’s on-air and digital program, which also includes Nature Minute multiplatform videos and on-air custom vignettes.

RELATED: Nets Strutting Out Stunts This Summer

Jeep has social videos running on Facebook and Instagram, as well as Shark News videos across all sites and social. Nationwide will be featured on-air with a custom vignette and a Nature Minute video, as well as Shark News videos across social. Burger King will be featured prominently throughout Shark Week with on-air sponsorship and a mid-form series on the Discovery GO app.

Cooper Tire will sponsor tune-ins leading up to Shark Week, as well as digital and social content.

Kohn said he’s begun talking to clients about sponsoring next year’s Shark Week. 

With the National Hockey League set to resume play on Aug. 1, NBCUniversal said most of its sponsors will be returning for the delayed Stanley Cup playoffs.

“The vast majority of our hockey partners have come back,” said Dan Lovinger, executive VP, advertising sales, NBC Sports Group. 

Lovinger noted that hockey was extremely well sold out when the season was suspended because of the COVID-19 pandemic in March. The toughest conversations were the result of hockey moving from its spring finales to playoffs that will start in the summer and extend into the fall.

When the league suspended play, Lovinger said that advertisers were given an option. If the games are canceled, you can have your money back. If games were postponed, the buy was put on hold, and once the tames resume, “we’ll talk about the best way forward,” he said.

NBC’s first step when the NHL announced its plans for restarting, with teams playing in two Canadian cities, was to get sponsors to recommit.

Very few of NBC’s hockey sponsors are in categories that the pandemic has stopped from doing business, like films, airlines and other travel advertisers.

“Now we move into a scatter market that has been pretty good toward the end of the second quarter and into the third quarter,” he said.

With that foundation, Lovinger expects other advertisers looking to reach sports fans to buy into the Stanley Cup games.

“I think we certainly saw that with NASCAR and with Golf. What people are seeing is pent up demand,” he said, pointing to the record ratings the Yankees game pulled on ESPN when baseball season started.

Lovinger said NBC has also been doing NFL business. It has some clients on multiyear deals. It has also signed up marketers who are looking to build market programs around their NFL sponsorships. ”Virtually all of our marketing positions are claimed," he said. "We have precious few left.”

Negotiations with other advertisers have been affected by the delays in the upfront market, he noted.

NBC Sports also released a study that shows how much both sports fans and sponsors are affected by the absence of games on TV.

“What it really tells us is that sports is the ideal environment for unity and hope,” Lovinger said. “Given the current climate, regardless of age or gender or location, a sports fan is a sports fan. Sports can heal a lot of our society’s wounds.”

In a move that caught some networks by surprise, Nielsen is delaying its plan to include out-of-home viewing in its ratings.

Networks have been pushing to have out-of-home viewing added to traditional ratings to increase audiences, particularly for sports programming.

Related: VAB Calls on Nielsen to Reverse OOH Delay

With sports leagues looking to start up live games, networks have already been selling advertising based on traditional plus out of home viewing. 

The impact is largest with the National Football League, already the highest-rated programming on TV. The NFL is getting ready to open training camps and have its season despite the COVID-19 pandemic.

Related: ViacomCBS Blasts Nielsen Out-of-Home Ratings Delay

The delay, first reported by Sports Business Daily, could force the networks to go back and renegotiate some of those deals. 

According to SBD, Nielsen was calling media companies Wednesday afternoon to tell them that the out-of-home ratings would not be launched in September.

Nielsen said the Coronavirus was responsible for the delay.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has had a far reaching effect on the media industry and on consumer viewing habits,” Nielsen said in a statement. 

“Throughout this crisis, out-of-home audiences have been particularly hard hit, with estimates falling by as much as 60%. This is driven by broad stay-at-home orders, significant reduction in travel, closures of restaurants and public gathering establishments, and other situations that have reduced exposure to television content outside of the home. The recent surge in COVID-19 cases is expected to create further volatility in this space, making it challenging for the industry to plan around this audience segment,” Nielsen said.

“In consideration of the impact the pandemic has had on out-of-home audiences, Nielsen has decided to postpone the integration of PPM measured out-of-home viewing into the National TV currency. Nielsen will continue to offer its existing standalone out-of-home reporting service to subscribing clients, many of whom have used the service to transact on out-of-home audiences since 2017,” Nielsen said. “In recent days, several states have started to pause their reopening and local governments are considering the reimplementation of stay-at-home orders. With future uncertainty around how the pandemic will further impact out-of-home viewing, Fall 2020 is not the ideal time to integrate this measurement into currency. While a new implementation date has not been determined, Nielsen is prepared to complete the integration when appropriate and will reassess the situation in Q1 2021.”

Fox Sports and ESPN were among the first to sign up for Nielsen’s  out-of-home measurement as a special service and try to negotiate with advertisers using larger audience numbers.

Networks were to receive weekly reports that include daily data for program and commercial audience estimates. The out-of-home viewing data will be derived from Nielsen’s Portable People Meter (PPM) technology and combined with national TV ratings.

At the time, Nielsen said Fox regular season NFL games saw a 16% lift from added out-of-home viewing.

Sources said a significant number of advertisers agreed to include out-of-home viewing in their audience estimates.

NBCUniversal and Sky named KC Sullivan as president and managing director of their global advertising and partnership division. 

The two units of Comcast will work together to give global brands and agencies access to their audiences, talent, technology and research and insights from a new global intelligence lab.

Sullivan, most recently president and managing director of CNBC International, will report to NBCU chairman for advertising and partnership and work closely with Sky Chief Business Officer Patrick Béhar.

Andrew Mortimer, previously Sky Media U.K.’s director of client strategy, was named senior VP of global partnerships for NBCUniversal + Sky Global Partnerships, Mortimer will report to Sullivan and Béhar.

Max Raven, who had been senior VP for CNBC International’s commercial agency Catalyst, will lead Advertising & Partnerships for Global News.

The companies said that Sullivan, Mortimer and Raven will work closely with Krishan Bhatia, executive VP for business operations and strategy for NBCUniversal.

 ESPN said it has sold out its advertising inventory for The ESPYs earlier than ever, with more than 20 advertisers set to air spots during the awards show.

Until live sports comeback, ESPN has been trying to maximize viewership and revenue with events like the NFL draft and documentaries like The Last Dance. The ESPYs is also likely to draw attention.

Capital One returns as the presenting sponsor of the program, which will air on ESPN on June 21.

This year’s ESPYs will also include the Sports Humanitarian Awards, with Bristol Myers Squibb returning as presenting sponsor.

Other ESPYs sponsors include Gatorade, which will be celebrating student athletes, MassMutual, which presents the Pat Tillman Award for Service and Saint Archer Gold for Athletes United, a fun look at what athletes have been doing at home in the recent months.

AT&T will also mark the first SeeHer Greatest Female Performances feature, raising the visibility of women’s sports.

Cisco Webex signed up as the official technology partner of the 2020 ESPYs. Webex is being used by athletes in their homes for interviews and other storylines within the show. Webex is also sponsoring this year's honorary ESPYs recognizing high school athletes. ABC’s owned TV stations will utilize Webex to feature the athlete in their homes on Localish in the week leading up to the ESPYs.

Other sponsors of the Sports Humanitarian Awards include Dove Men+Care, which will present the Muhammad Ali Sports Humanitarian Award; Anthem Foundation, presenting the Billie Jean King Youth Leadership Award and UFC as sponsor of the Stuart Scott Enspire Awards.

The ESPYs will be hosted by Sue Bird of the WNBA, soccer star Megan Rapinoe and Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson. The show is shifting its focus from athletic achievement to service and courage in the world of sports.

Diana Horowitz was named senior VP, advertising sales, at FuboTV, a new position.

Horowitz, most recently VP, sales at Telestream, reports to fuboTV CEO David Gandler. She is expected to expand the company’s direct and programmatic relationships and grow fuboTV’s direct ad sales team.

“I’ve known Diana since our days at Scripps Network Interactive and am thrilled she has joined fuboTV to lead our national ad sales and ad operations,” said Gandler. “Advertising is a growing revenue stream for fuboTV alongside subscriptions. I’m confident Diana will help us build a complete ad sales operation that offers brands multiple opportunities to engage with our streaming platform and our original programming.”

Before joining Telestream, Horowitz held posts at IBM Watson Media, Comcast Technology Solutions and Scripps Networks Interactive. She started her career at The New York Times Co.

“I am thrilled to be joining fuboTV at this incredibly exciting time for the company and the media industry,” said Horowitz. “A leader in media innovation since its inception, fubo provides an unparalleled platform for advertisers to reach a highly engaged audience in a premium connected television environment. FuboTV’s powerful combination of premium channels and programming, coupled with industry-leading advertising technology and targeting capabilities, makes it uniquely positioned for growth in today’s rapidly transforming media landscape, where CTV has become the primary screen."

It won’t be Carnegie Hall, but ViacomCBS’s virtual upfront presentations on May 18 and 19 will be entertaining, promises Jo Ann Ross, the media company’s president and chief advertising revenue officer.

“First and foremost, we believe it is our job to entertain and show the content that will resonate with different clients that have different audiences that they want to reach,” Ross said.

The upfront will also present a unified front for Viacom and CBS, which merged at the end of last year. The coronavirus crisis wiped out both CBS’s annual theatrical presentation as well as the smaller intimate dinners with media buyers that Viacom held, hosted by CEO Bob Bakish.

“The upfront that we’ve come up with is a brilliant, I don’t want to say replacement, I’ll say a brilliant turn from what we were doing as separate companies,” Ross said.

The event will cover the unveiling of CBS’s primetime schedule, show off Viacom’s cable networks and display the combined company’s streaming assets, including CBS All Access and Pluto TV.

The presentation will juxtapose talent from both companies, and of course Ross herself will show her team spirit by dressing up in an outrageous outfit or as a character in one of the network’s shows. “I am not a shrinking violet,” she explained. “I will not let a pandemic hold me back.”

Upfront On Demand

The presentation will be offered on-
demand — not live-streamed — and the websites will enable clients to take deeper dives into topics including the company’s Vantage ad targeting system and other advanced marketing services.

CBS will also tout its upcoming Super Bowl LV. “If the country is open and things return to somewhat normal, [companies that haven’t been advertising] are going to want to speak with a loud voice and where are they going to go?” Ross said. “They’re going to go to the No. 1 vehicle in all of advertising, which is the Super Bowl.”

This will be CBS’s second Super Bowl in three years. It swapped Super Bowls with NBC to avoid selling against NBC’s Tokyo Summer Olympics. The pandemic postponed the Olympics until 2021, so CBS wound up selling its Super Bowl against the Olympics anyway.

Fun and games aside, this is a tough year for upfronts. On top of the absence of live presentations and the boozy parties that follow, COVID-19 has pulled some advertisers off the air and has others cutting or postponing spending. A survey of clients by Advertiser Perceptions found clients expected to spend 33% less in this year’s upfront, although some of that money might return to the networks in the scatter market.

RELATED: Ad Sales Execs Taking Crisis One Day at a Time

Like the top salesperson she is, Ross was sanguine about the upfront. “I think that the cadence will be a little different, but we are optimistic that people are going to come to the table when they’re ready and we’re ready to do business,” she said. “As we like to say, we’re open for business.”

Ross said she didn’t think clients wanted to “reinvent the wheel,” but that ViacomCBS had combined the companies’ sales forces making it simpler to access all of its assets.

Advertisers can get a combination of broadcast, cable and interactive ads in one buy, if that’s how they want to transact. They can also buy a combination of broad reach media based on traditional age/sex demographics, as well as data-targeted audience buys.

CBS inventory will be available for the first time using Vantage. While CBS had targeting tools, “Vantage is a home run,” Ross said. “It’s more sophisticated probably than what we had as a standalone with CBS.”

With more clients looking for assurance that their advertising will generate sales, CBS is willing to make guarantees based on results Ross said.

Cancellation Concerns

Meanwhile, ViacomCBS and other media companies are waiting to see how much of last year’s upfront buys clients will use their contractual options to cancel. Reports said that some major advertisers were looking to cancel 50% of their third-quarter reservations, the maximum allowed, which would add up to billions of dollars.

RELATED: Disney Sets Virtual Upfront Roadshow for Buyers, Clients

Like the other programmers, ViacomCBS has extended the deadline on options to later in the month to see if advertisers can figure out ways to revamp their ad plans rather than simply cancel last year’s upfront buys.

“They have the right to option,” Ross said. “There’s not much more you can say about it. We’re working with them. We gave them flexibility and gave them a longer runway to make decisions. I think we did a really good job estimating [how much advertising clients will cancel] but probably a week from today, we’ll know more.” 

AMC Networks has made some ad-sales organization changes, reflecting the addition of BBC America, which AMC manages in a joint venture with BBC Worldwide, to the stable of national networks that already included AMC, IFC, SundanceTV and WE tv.

The advertising sales teams of AMC and SundanceTV will now be combined, reporting into Marc Krok, senior vice president of ad sales, formerly head of ad sales for AMC. The newly combined team will take advantage of AMC and SundanceTV’s cinematic and quality storytelling and audience composition, the company said in a release.

Todd Schwartzman, formerly SVP of ad sales at SundanceTV, has been named SVP of ad sales for BBC America. He succeeds Melissa Drucker, who did not make the transition to the new organization.

WE tv ad sales continues to be led by SVP Allison Clarke and IFC ad sales continues to be led by SVP Vanessa Benfield.

Krok, Schwartzman, Clarke and Benfield all report into Scott Collins, executive vice president of ad sales, who has now added to his portfolio sales oversight of BBC America, SundanceTV and IFC. Collins continues to report into AMC Networks president of advertising sales Arlene Manos (pictured). BBC World News advertising sales, headed by VP Michael Graff, also reports into Manos.

Within the sales planning organization, Steve Luttinger, EVP of sales strategy, now oversees sales planning across the company’s five networks, and continues to report to David Epstein, EVP of content and inventory strategy.

“AMC Networks has one of the most successful ad sales teams in the business. This realignment allows us to better utilize the top tier talent we have across our sales organization while creating efficiencies for our advertising partners,” Manos said in the release. “Under the direction of Scott and Steve, our ad sales and sales planning teams are well positioned to continue to lead the company to future revenue growth.”

Despite the emergence of over-the-top video and the effect of technology on the overall media landscape, good old M&A seems to have set the tone for the coming year in the distribution sector. Here are what a few top media analysts believe is in store:

Mergers and Acquisitions: The Comcast- Time Warner Cabe and AT&T-DirecTV pairups will win approval early in the year — with conditions — and industry consolidation will continue. Most analysts expect Charter to lead the consolidation wave after it closes on deals with Comcast-TWC to double its footprint. MoffettNathanson principal and senior analyst Craig Moffett would not be surprised if smaller operators band together with the hope of later being acquired by Charter.

Title II Resolution: The Federal Communications Commission will move to recommend Title II reclassification of cable, which will lead to partisan battles in Congress, lawsuits and, inevitably, a flavor of Title II heavily sprinkled with forbearance. Most analysts believe, like BTIG media analyst Richard Greenfield said in a recent blog post, that forbearance will remove the regulation’s less pleasant attributes, like price regulation.

Ads Rebound: National ad sales, on the skids in 2014, will bounce back. Many analysts see the recent downturn as cyclical instead of proof of structural impairment. When the uptick will occur is “hard to say,” according to Pivotal Research Group media analyst Brian Weiser.

U.S. Pay TV Rise: Expect to see subscriber gains, despite the threat from subscription video-on-demand services, as household growth begins to return, according to Pivotal Research principal and senior media & communications analyst Jeff Wlodarczak.

Dish Network Inaction: Dish will do nothing with its wireless spectrum, which rises in value as broadband needs explode. Wlodarczak believes Dish chairman Charlie Ergen will monetize the spectrum via a lease agreement three years.