It’s May, and that means the annual Upfronts are quickly approaching. Leading up to the presentations in New York, we’re taking a close data-driven look at some of the major players that’ll be taking the stage. (See our previous post about Viacom here).
Today’s deep dive covers NBCUniversal, with a specific focus on its cable properties USA Network, Bravo, Syfy, MSNBC and NBC Sports. Below are topline ad and viewership trends from TV ad measurement and attribution company iSpot, and Inscape, the TV data company with glass-level insights from a panel of more than 10 million smart TVs. The data here covers Jan. 1 through April 26.
Related: Viewer Shift to Streaming Powers Bullish NewFronts
USA Network
- Progressive, Liberty Mutual, GEICO, Burger King and Domino’s are among the brands that have spent the most money on USA so far this year, according to iSpot.
- Also per iSpot, some of the programming delivering the highest ad impression counts include Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, NCIS, Chicago P.D., Modern Family (all in syndication), plus WWE Monday Night RAW.
- Other networks that viewers are likely to watch include Universal, WE tv, Oxygen, Syfy and Starz Encore Suspense.
- Inscape’s audience location heatmap shows that the Northeast in particular has a high concentration of viewers.
Bravo
- Top-spending brands for Bravo, according to iSpot, include Liberty Mutual, Burger King, Olive Garden, Sprint and T-Mobile.
- The Real Housewives franchise accounts for three of the top five shows that have generated particularly high ad impression counts (for the Atlanta, Beverly Hills and New Jersey spinoffs), plus Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles and Vanderpump Rules.
- Other networks that viewers are likely to watch, per Inscape, include E!, VH1, Lifetime, TLC and OWN
- Also according to Inscape, parts of the Northeast, Southeast and Southwestern U.S. tune into Bravo at a higher rate.
Syfy
- Top-spending brands so far in 2019 include Subaru, The General, Little Caesars Pizza, Progressive and Liberty Mutual, according to iSpot.
- Reruns of Futurama and The Twilight Zone have generated the highest ad-impression counts for Syfy, as well as the movies Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and The Magnificent Seven.
- According to Inscape, viewers are most likely to watch other networks such as Starz Encore Action, FXM, Spike TV, FX and MGM.
- Here’s the viewership heatmap, courtesy of Inscape:
MSNBC
- According to iSpot, top-spending brands for MSNBC include Liberty Mutual, GEICO, Aspiration, Wayfair and Nutrisystem.
- The programming delivering the highest impression counts: Morning Joe, Dateline, The 11th Hour With Brian Williams, The Rachel Maddow Show and The Last Word With Lawrence O’Donnell.
- According to Inscape, other networks that viewers are likely to watch include Newsy, CNN, CSPAN, HLN and Bloomberg.
- When it comes to audience location, Inscape’s analytics reveal a few hotspots around the country, including Los Angeles:
NBC Sports
- GEICO, Lexus, Honda, Volkswagen and Discover Card are among the brands that have spent the most money on NBC Sports so far this year, according to iSpot.
- Also per iSpot, some of the programming delivering the highest ad impression counts: NHL, Premier League Soccer, Motocross Racing, American Ninja Warrior and Premier League Mornings.
- Other networks that viewers are likely to watch include Olympic Channel, Fox Sports 2, The Golf Channel, CBS Sports Network and Fox Sports 1.
- Inscape’s audience location heatmap shows that parts of the Northeast and Nevada in particular have high rates of tune-in:
And just for good measure, we looked at viewership crossover for USA Network, Bravo, Syfy, MSNBC and NBC Sports. A note about methodology: You have to do more than just flip past a station with your remote to count as a “crossover viewer” in Inscape’s system. For the data below, the minimum viewing threshold is 2 minutes.
Crossover is highest for Syfy and USA: 64% of Syfy viewers have also tuned into USA, while 55% of USA viewers have watched Syfy. Close behind is Bravo-USA (60%) and USA-Bravo (44%). At the low end, only 19% of Syfy viewers have tuned into MSNBC, and the same goes for USA-MSNBC.
