NBCUniversal is getting the jump on the new year, announcing dates for its NewFronts and upfronts presentations next May while touting the ways it has “fueled fandom, growth, and innovation” in 2022.
Linda Yaccarino, NBCU chairman and head of sales and partnerships, revealed the 2023 outlook in a LinkedIn post. The NewFronts presentation will be May 4, she announced, while the upfront at Radio City Music Hall will once again kick off the week’s slate of pitches. The other save-the-date notice NBCU issued was for February 8, which will be for its One23 developer conference, a tech-style review of innovations and ad solutions that NBCU added to its annual docket three years ago.
“That’s just in the first five months of the year. As for what comes after, please stay tuned!” Yaccarino wrote in the post, which was posted publicly but aimed at NBCU ad buyers.
Along with trumpeting NBCU achievements in 2022, including the Winter Olympics, Super Bowl and BravoCon, Yaccarino said her team’s efforts are “so much bigger than our company. Together, we’ve charted new paths forward for our ENTIRE industry. Whether it’s through advanced data or automated activations, more engaging commercial experiences, or more accurate measurement, we’re leading the way.”
December is on the early side for confirming upfront plans for six months from now, but the early action fits with the broader industry’s efforts to rebuild after the chaos of Covid. The 2020 and 2021 NewFronts and upfronts were thrown into chaos by the pandemic, with the ritual’s return last spring coming as the industry emerged from months of Omicron lockdowns and other setbacks. With much in flux in the advertising sector, media companies will be looking to do all they can to shore up dollars in the upfront marketplace.
NBCU CEO Jeff Shell recently registered more confidence in the company’s ad performance in the current quarter than other media CEOs did about their own ad efforts, which have been hit by a broader advertising slowdown in recent months. Although the sector is “getting worse” amid inflation, rising interest rates and other factors, and NBCU won’t meet its prior forecasts for 10% year-to-year growth in the quarter, the picture is still better than it is for many competitors. “Even given the worsening advertising market, we’re still going to be in the fourth quarter up in the mid-single-digits over a year ago,” Shell said. “So, this is not a disaster.”