• by Wayne Friedman , March 29, 2018

NBCUniversal is expanding its self-service, programmatic media-buying system to include Adobe’s Advertising Cloud TV platform. The network says it is the most widely used solution in the industry for automated, data-driven planning and buying of television advertising.

Adobe will be incorporated into NBCU’s Audience Studio, its advanced advertising platform. Marketers can plan media purchases through a private marketplace for all of NBCUniversal’s broadcast and cable TV brands.

“We continue to listen to our clients and the marketplace on areas we need to develop and grow, in order to help them achieve their business goals,” stated Mike Rosen, executive vice president of advanced advertising and platform sales for NBCUniversal.

Mike Law, executive vice president/managing director of video investments at Dentsu Aegis Network, said delivering data-driven planning and optimization for its clients’ TV buys “at scale has been slow.” He calls NBCU’s efforts with Adobe a positive move.

Adobe notes that more than 1,000 global clients -- including Allstate, Ford, Johnson & Johnson, Kraft, L’Oréal, MGM, Nickelodeon and Southwest Airlines -- have used its Advertising Cloud platform.

The move comes just weeks before the TV upfront advertising market begins.

NBCUniversal says it was the first media company to allow national television advertising to advertisers for programmatic ad-buying, beginning in February 2016.