• by Wayne Friedman , November 26, 2024

NBCUniversal and Walmart are partnering on a new "shoppable" effort connected to live sports programming across linear and streaming advertising inventory -- starting on Thanksgiving night, extending into the holiday season.

NBCUniversal advertising brands will benefit from Walmart Connect -- the retail media network of Walmart and its network’s 145 million weekly customers -- to NBC’s linear TV live sports content.

NBCUniversal and Walmart say this will make it easy for viewers to start holiday shopping from home during a busy time of year.

Walmart will also feature a two-minute segment in NBCU sports inventory --"Deals of Desire" -- showcasing the retailers' biggest holiday deals.

Alison Levin, president of advertising/partnerships of NBCUniversal, said in a release that this will benefit loyal Walmart consumers in “bringing gameday action to life for fans and brands in a highly engaging and effective ecosystem.”

Viewers of live sports can shop for exclusive holiday deals on Walmart.com through an on-screen QR code and using NBCUniversal’s new text-to-shop functionality in its Shop the Pod platform.

A year ago, in November 2023, NBCUniversal and Walmart began their shoppable advertising partnership with the launch of the "Shop the Moment" feature on Peacock. Viewers could shop by using their TV remote. NBCU and Walmart originally started their "shoppable" effort with the Bravo reality series "Below Deck Mediterranean."

Participating advertisers on NBCU live sports programming can get “closed-loop” measurement connected to consumer sales attribution data across linear and streaming media that is displayed during programming.

In previous efforts connected with brands, Walmart and NBCUniversal say they have seen major gains for advertisers and consumers with NBCUniversal’s premium live sports programming versus that of standard CTV ads.

Per its first-party data, Walmart says 86% of its customers watch NFL football.