{"id":668735,"date":"2025-05-12T21:50:35","date_gmt":"2025-05-12T18:50:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/inside-the-nbcuniversal-upfront-a-caustic-seth-macfarlane-an-aerial-ad-chief-and-john-tesh\/"},"modified":"2025-05-12T21:50:35","modified_gmt":"2025-05-12T18:50:35","slug":"inside-the-nbcuniversal-upfront-a-caustic-seth-macfarlane-an-aerial-ad-chief-and-john-tesh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/inside-the-nbcuniversal-upfront-a-caustic-seth-macfarlane-an-aerial-ad-chief-and-john-tesh\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside the NBCUniversal Upfront: A Caustic Seth MacFarlane, an Aerial Ad Chief and \u2026 John Tesh"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\tThe invitation to NBCUniversal\u2018s 2025 upfront presentation promised \u201ca sneak peek at the greatest two years in the history of any media<\/a> company.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHyperbole? You bet. We\u2019ll all be content if the entertainment industry just stays afloat through 2026. But it\u2019s always easier to make lofty claims when you\u2019re first at bat, as Comcast\u2019s evolving TV, film and streaming conglomerate was at Radio City Music Hall on Monday morning. NBCU kicked off a week that will see all major players in ad-supported visual media make a plea for spending commitments in a time when a volatile economy has purse strings ready to snap shut quicker than a gate door at Newark Airport.<\/p>\n

\n\tPerhaps all that uncertainty is why NBCU chose to open its two-hour program not with a musical performance from whoever\u2019s mentoring on The Voice<\/em> these days \u2014 that was the closer! \u2014 but with a tip of the beggar\u2019s hat to a theater packed with media buyers. The curtain opened to a full, 55-piece symphony orchestra performing a medley of 14 brands\u2019 advertising jingles from the last century.<\/p>\n

\n\tLet the marathon of pandering begin.<\/p>\n

\n\tAfter reminding the room that, like Burger King, NBCUniversal will let advertisers have it their<\/em> way, Ted<\/em> creator and rat pack cosplayer Seth MacFarlane delivered a song-and-dance roast of every other media company. None were spared, particularly Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav. MacFarlane implored the crowd to \u201ccheck on his brother right away\u201d after referencing HBO\u2019s curious affinity for incest storylines on its dramas.<\/p>\n

\n\tDonna Langley, chair of NBCUniversal Entertainment and Studios, started the pitch off in earnest with a rundown of her company\u2019s offerings with an emphasis on their \u201cfranchise-first strategy\u201d and the ease with which they claim to sell ads cross-portfolio before calling out a rather surprising example: Saturday Night Live<\/em>. After placing the emphasis of her hype on Wicked<\/em> just a year ago, Langley called out SNL\u2019s<\/em> recent 50th anniversary special and the many ancillary programs around it.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe owned the entire weekend, creating a monocultural moment,\u201d said Langley, citing 3.9 billion viewership minutes across SNL<\/em> programming before claiming that nearly 40 percent of all event viewership in the U.S. through 2026 will be on NBC (and Peacock).<\/p>\n

\n\tEvents (read: those rare opportunities for live eyeballs) were the focus of NBCU\u2019s aggressively long pitch, which dwelled less on trailers than it did on The World Cup, BravoCon the inevitable promotional blitz around Wicked<\/em> sequel Wicked For Good<\/em> and the return of NBA.<\/p>\n

\n\tSpeaking of the NBA, what better way to celebrate the league\u2019s return to NBC for the first time since 2002 with a vague, pre-taped announcement from Michael Jordan that he\u2019ll serve as a \u201cspecial contributor\u201d and a live performance of John Tesh sports theme<\/a> music masterpiece \u201cRoundball Rock?.\u201d In a week where myriad A-listers will grace stages and perhaps even break into song, you\u2019ve got to hand it to the former Entertainment Tonight <\/em>host for whipping the crowd into a frenzy with his Yamaha grand piano.<\/p>\n

\n\tAs for scripted programming, it had its place in the presentation \u2026 just not at the level of years past. Full trailers were reserved for upcoming Peacock originals. Elizabeth Banks vehicle The Miniature Wife<\/em> and a Keke Palmer-fronted reboot of The Burbs<\/em> played particularly well in the room, as did NBC\u2019s solitary new order of the day. The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins<\/em> got a trailer, a plug from executive producer Tina Fey and an appearance from stars Tracy Morgan and Daniel Radcliffe. The surplus of stage time was the only noticeable instance of multiple eggs being put in one scripted basket. (And, if you haven\u2019t heard, eggs are expensive these days.)<\/p>\n

\n\tOne might have thought The Paper<\/em>, Greg Daniels\u2019 spiritual sequel to The Office<\/em>, would be the sitcom du jour. But its teaser was brief, and the on-screen appearance from stars Domhnall Gleeson, Sabrina Impacciatore and original series<\/a> player Oscar Nu\u00f1ez didn\u2019t exactly scream \u201cchemistry.\u201d The reception was warm enough, but this was the same crowd who were just told last year that Suits LA<\/em> was going to be a thing.<\/p>\n

\n\tAn unexpected dose of charm came from Mark Marshall. Shticks from the in-house ad execs are normally a low point of upfront week, but Marshall\u2019s pre-taped bit inserting himself into various NBCU properties before descending to the stage in a replica of Ariana Grande\u2019s bubble from Wicked<\/em> was a true joy. \u201cI just want you to think, over the next couple of weeks when you\u2019re allocating your ad dollars, there was only one ad chief that was in the rafters of Radio City risking his own life,\u201d Marshall said, moments after taking off a sequined pink blazer. \u201cSo you decide where the money should go.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAfter being greeted with some well-earned laughs, Marshall attempted to clear up any lingering confusion about the who\u2019s selling ads for newly launched spin-co Versant. \u201cOne platform is alive and well,\u201d he said, confirming that the same team was still selling across its portfolio \u2014 even if USA, CNBC, MSNBC, Syfy and E! were technically leaving the fold.<\/p>\n

\n\tVersant was the elephant in the room \u2014 both the butt of the joke for Seth Meyers when he came out on stage for his annual jokes and a source of confusion when John Slattery previewed the trailer for his John Grisham adaptation, The Rainmaker<\/em>. It\u2019s \u201cone of many shows coming to Versant this year,\u201d he said. The show, in fact, is coming to USA. Long the crown jewel of basic cable, it\u2019s apparently no longer worth mentioning by name.<\/p>\n

\n\tAs the presentation came to its long-awaited close, Jon M. Chu debuted the trailer for Wicked For Good<\/em> (massive applause), the annual reminder that NBCU still has broadcast rights to The Olympics was delivered and Snoop Dogg drew the short straw among The Voice cast and wrap the whole ordeal with a medley of his biggest tracks. But the energy may have peaked about 20 minutes before the official climax.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThis is our Olympics, our Super Bowl,\u201d he told the audience, reminding them that BravoCon was returning this fall. The Las Vegas gathering of Bravo talent and fans is an orgy of branding, one reason why the media buyers got so worked up by the BravoCon spiel. Dancers writhed to a mashup of \u201cPhysical\u201d (Dua Lipa and Olivia Newton John\u2019s respective songs of the same name), while Bravo talent milled about on stage and Cohen pumped his fist into the air as confetti cannons baptized the rapt Radio City crowd in rainbow shards of paper.<\/p>\n

\n\tIt made absolutely no sense, but it didn\u2019t have to. Bravo wasn\u2019t shuffled off to Versant with the other cable networks for a reason. Its appeal to audiences \u2014 and, in turn, advertisers \u2014 now transcends individual programs. NBA rights may be transient, but Bravo is forever.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The invitation to NBCUniversal\u2018s 2025 upfront presentation promised \u201ca sneak peek at the greatest two years in the history of any media company.\u201d Hyperbole? You bet. We\u2019ll all be content if the entertainment industry just stays afloat through 2026. But it\u2019s always easier to make lofty claims when you\u2019re first at bat, as Comcast\u2019s evolving…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":668736,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/NUP_207661_01718-H-2025.jpg?w=1296&h=730&crop=1","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[64071,71338,106324,156324,156325],"class_list":["post-668735","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-social-mediaa","tag-bravo","tag-nbcuniversal","tag-upfronts","tag-upfronts-2025","tag-versant"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/668735","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=668735"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/668735\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/668736"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=668735"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=668735"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=668735"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}