• by Wayne Friedman , May 7, 2025

Just in time for the TV upfront ad market to commence, new cable TV network group Versant has struck a two-year agreement with NBCUniversal under its One Platform advertising unit.

This means advertising on Versant cable networks -- CNBC, E!, Golf Channel, MSNBC, Oxygen, Syfy, USA, and digital platforms -- will be sold by NBCUniversal.

This would continue NBCU’s previous advertising structure in part, which analysts say is important when it comes to the leverage needed for media deals with media agencies.

The Versant networks will benefit from package deals with the big NBC Television Network as well as its TV stations and the Bravo cable TV network, which will remain at Comcast Corp.

Versant will benefit from NBCUniversal’s advanced targeting tools and real-time measurement capabilities.

The deal will cover the next two upfront TV advertising cycles.

The spinoff -- announced in November last year -- will be home to nearly all of NBC Universal's cable TV networks including USA, CNBC, MSNBC, Oxygen, E, Syfy, and the Golf Channel.

Comcast will maintain ownership of its NBC broadcast network, the NBC TV stations, its streaming platform Peacock, Universal Studios, its Universal-branded theme parks and the Bravo cable TV network.

As part of this announcement, NBCU ad veteran Tom Winiarski will move to Versant in a new position as executive vice president of ad sales strategy and monetization.

Winiarski, who served as president of platform monetization for the last five years at NBCU, had extensive experience in linear and digital sales, planning and inventory management.

In 2024, NBCUniversal generated $8.6 billion in domestic advertising revenue. Part of this total was the Paris Olympics, which pulled in $1.25 billion.