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State of the Screens

NBCUniversal Aims to Merge TV and Digital Ad Buying With New Tech

By January 16, 2020No Comments

The big news: NBCUniversal announced the One Platform, which is meant to offer a single platform to buy across TV and digital.

Quote from Mark Marshall – President of Advertising Sales @ NBCUniversal:
“The idea of demo-based buying started in 1962… To say that we are still transacting TV in the same way today seems crazy.”

Key details for the One Platform:
1) 
Initial launch in 2020 w/ single measurement dashboard
2) Three years to complete
3) 300+ ad sales engineering and platform employees are working on it

TV share of video advertising according to eMarketer:
1) 
2019P – 66%
2) 
2020P – 63%
3) 
2021P – 59%
4) 
2022P – 56%
5) 
2023P – 54%

Flashback #1: Inside The Agency Turf War Over Connected TV

What happens next: TV Buyers are being rebranded as video investment teams, and digital buyers are going to school on TV metrics.

The future: The term “digital buyer” and “TV buyer” will go away, and there will just be “video buyers.” Everyone cannot be great at everything, so some buyers will be stronger in TV or digital, but the future is cross screen.

Who wins: The winners will be whichever side learns the other side’s piece first and integrates it into a holistic video offering.

Flashback #2: Understanding Campaign Audiences Across TV + Digital

Unique audience for 18-49 demo according to Nielsen:
1) TV-only – 59%
2) Cross screen – 27%
3) Digital-only – 14%

More #1: NBCUniversal’s Ryan McConville Is De-Fragmenting The Future Of TV

More #2: Let’s get back to the human at the center of TV advertising

More #3: TV Is The Metaphor For Video’s Future

Michael Beach

Michael Beach is the Chief Executive Officer of Cross Screen Media, a media analytics and software company that enables marketers to plan, activate, and measure CTV and linear TV at the local level. Michael is also the founder and editor of State of the Screens, a weekly newsletter focused on video advertising that is a must-read for thought leaders in the advertising industry. He has appeared in such publications as PBS Frontline, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Axios, CNBC and Bloomberg, and on NPR’s Planet Money podcast.