• by Wayne Friedman , June 30, 2022

NBCUniversal says it has closed upfront advertising deal-making for the 2022-2023 season with record results -- with total volume from all its businesses at more than $7 billion, according to media executives.

NBCU says its high-profile streamer Peacock posted more than $1 billion in upfront ad commitments -- double the total of a year ago.

Looking specifically at its broadcast platforms -- including NBC Television Network, and Telemundo -- the company says there was 20% growth in broadcast entertainment, the NFL, and multicultural programming.

With regard to the latter, NBCU says Spanish-language rights to the 2022 FIFA World Cup drove incremental revenue.

NBC says there was “strong demand” for its cable network programming, with pricing “on-par with broadcast rates.”

For its part, the company says this upfront period scored “the highest-grossing upfront since Comcast’s acquisition of NBCUniversal.” Apart from Peacock, NBCU did not release specific financial dollar figures.

Media agency executives say upfront CPMs -- the cost-per-thousand viewer prices -- posted high single-digit/low double digit percentage rises versus a year ago for NBCU, and for other legacy TV network-based media groups.

For all its platforms, NBCU says there was “significant” growth across retail, fast-food restaurant, consumer packaged goods, technology, social and streaming marketing categories, with the highest growth seen the pharmaceutical category -- 40% growth -- and travel, which saw a 30% increase among travel marketers.

Looking at the broader digital/streaming picture (which includes Peacock), NBCU says there was almost 20% growth year-over-year.

As it previously announced about a week ago, NBC says more than 40% of upfront business was conducted outside traditional age and gender guarantees, mostly provided by Nielsen.

Legacy TV-based media companies have been rapidly looking to expand their roster of measurement companies with broader access to data from new sources -- including smart TV and other digital connected devices, as well as first party consumer data -- this in seeking better cross platform return on media investment for marketers.

In this regard, NBCU says One Platform, its unified cross-platform selling service, has seen a 48% increase year-over-year.

In a release, Linda Yaccarino, chairman, global advertising & partnerships for NBCUniversal said: “The momentum of this year's upfront is underscored by our commitment to bring both simplicity and flexibility to a complex marketplace.”