NEW YORK — NBCUniversal on Monday leaned into the company’s reputation as a legacy media company while setting the tone for the series of upfronts presentations unfolding this week as big media looks to lock in advertisers for the months ahead. At the same time, the company talked up artificial intelligence and measurement solutions that highlight how it is integrating digital evolution with legacy staying power.
NBCU’s pitch to advertisers took place at Radio City Music Hall and included musical numbers, a cavalcade of celebrities, late night humor and jokes at the expense of Mark Marshall, chairman of global advertising and partnerships.
“Some people may think [the legacy media moniker is] insulting, but to us, on our 100th anniversary, our legacy is our greatest competitive advantage, because our legacy is built on evolution, innovation and a relentless focus on consumer behavior,” Marshall said during his opening remarks, after a prerecorded skit showed the executive adding an NBC tattoo to a stunt double covered in brand logos.
Along with showcasing a slate of programming that includes World Cup games on Telemundo and reality hits on Bravo, NBCU said it will expand its Sunday night sports strategy from football to basketball and baseball. And in the recent tradition of its “Saturday Night Live” season 50 celebration, NBC plans to celebrate its 100th anniversary with a variety special on Dec. 10 that will feature music, comedy and surprise cast reunions.
“NBC is doing something that no other network has ever done, a stunt not even a Real Housewife of Beverly Hills has had the audacity to attempt: We are throwing ourselves a huge birthday party so we can sell ads during that birthday party,” Tina Fey joked during the presentation.
Aside from the usual parade of sizzle reels and content previews, NBCU once again used its upfront presentation to demonstrate how its more recent legacy is as a media company that has used data and technology to help advertisers buy, optimize and measure campaigns across a linear and streaming portfolio that spans entertainment, sports and news.
To start the presentation, Marshall detailed how new tools first introduced in December have been used by advertisers to make the most of their ad buys on NBCU. Live Total Impact, which leverages the initial viewing of an ad during live events and retargets those viewers across the portfolio, is already showing results since its debut earlier this year.
State Farm saw a 90% incremental lift in insurance quote starts, a telecom experienced a 40% lift in website visits, and search engagement increased across food delivery, QSR, retail and travel through Live Total Impact usage. NBCU will bring contextual targeting, previously available in video-on-demand and library content, to live environments in Q4. The solution uses AI to align creative with content; a demo showed during the presentation ran a Bounty ad overlay after a fumble during an NFL game.
Measurement and agentic AI
NBCU will also begin a full-scale rollout of its Performance Insights Hub in Q4, building on its long-running work to provide advertisers with a unified view of campaign delivery, insights and performance. The hub integrates measurement partners including Dynata, EDO, InMarket, IQVIA, iSpot, Kantar Affinity Solutions, Kochava, LiveRamp and VideoAmp.
“When you look at the premium video marketplace, over 70% of those impressions are still on linear,” Marshall said. “If your current dashboard is only measuring streaming, then you're missing nearly three quarters of all ad impressions.”
Along with those partners, NBCU has added Instacart as its exclusive CPG outcomes partner for the hub. The combination of the delivery platform’s first-party data and NBCU’s content has driven, on average, a 5.5-times return on ad spend, with 51% new-to-brand users and 43% new-to-brand sales for brands across the grocery, beverage and alcohol categories.
In addition to its on-stage presentation, NBCU on Monday announced its agentic AI strategy, per details shared with Marketing Dive. A new suite of always-on, interoperable AI agents focused on TV ad buying will be available at the start of the broadcast year and will automate transactions and surface intelligence. The tools, which represent the next frontier in the AI revolution, demonstrate how the company is embracing technology.
“When we talk about the next evolution of NBCUniversal, legacy is not a word we shy away from,” Marshall said during his remarks. “It's our superpower.”
This combination of legacy and evolution is apparent in its flagship late night show, “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” the latest iteration of a show that has run since 1954. In 2025, the show had 16 billion views on social media and, so far in 2026, already has 10 billion — putting it in fourth place behind “SportsCenter,” “Stranger Things” and “WWE Raw.”
“We didn't just survive the digital transition,” Fallon said during the presentation. “Our show became one of the best examples of how legacy television adapted to it.”
