For the first time, NBCUnivseral is giving all local and regional U.S. advertisers access to inventory across Peacock, YouTube and Apple News as part of an expansion and restructuring of its Spot On platform.
Launched in February, the platform was built to give local advertisers access to digital inventory across local NBCUniversal stations. On top of its expansion with Peacock, YouTube, and Apple News, the platform is getting even more inventory through NBCU’s OneApp, which includes NBC, Bravo, E!, USA, Oxygen, MSNBC, and SYFY, doubling the amount of available digital and streaming inventory.
In addition, local advertisers will be able to access audience and geo targeting capabilities once limited to NBCUniversal’s One Platform thanks to a new organizational shift which places Spot On under the One Platform umbrella.
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“By opening up more of our owned and third-party digital inventory to local advertisers, we’ve transformed NBC Spot On into a supercharged local digital sales offering,” said Krishan Bhatia, NBCUniversal’s executive vice president of business operations and strategy, in a statement. “Small and medium businesses have long turned to NBCUniversal for their local advertising needs, and the sales team has always delivered premium content alongside geo-targeted audiences. Now, we’re bringing even more must-watch content on dozens of platforms to advertisers who want to reach audiences at scale in a specific region.”
The move is part of NBCUniversal’s push to substantially grow and simplify how advertisers can spend across its diverse portfolio, effectively leveling out the playing field for marketers on a global level. And with anticipation mounting for a new surge of COVID-19 cases this holiday season, the announcement may give local businesses some hope of getting their message out and recouping some of their losses.
“Breaking down legacy barriers between local and digital more accurately reflects consumer behavior, and better connects businesses to their customers,” wrote Frank Comerford, chief revenue officer for local sales, and Krishan Bhatia, executive vice president of business operations and strategy, in a blog post. “So, we’re doing everything we can to ensure that all local businesses have the digital capabilities and inventory they need to reach audiences on every screen.”