NBCUniversal plans to kick off 2026 by offering advertisers stronger targeting, better ad measurement, and access to next year’s live moments when consumers are locked in.

Ahead of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in January, today the company announced new ad products and measurement tools to prove marketing outcomes. The tools promise real-time contextual advertising that can adjust creative based on live events, retargeting and cross-platform offerings, and new ad inventory within Peacock.

While the media company is enticing advertisers with tentpole moments like the World Cup and Olympics, ad products without attribution are no longer enough, said Mark Marshall, NBCUniversal's chairman of global advertising and partnerships.

“All these ad products are great, but really what advertisers want is they want to be able to improve the value of their investments and get a return on that,” he said at a press briefing. “It’s no secret that premium video has always provided great results for marketers, but the challenge was they didn’t exactly know why that was.”

Anchoring in live TV

NBCUniversal aims to help marketers tie linear and CTV outcomes together. 86% of overall ad impressions are still on linear TV, according to January data from iSpot.tv. That means CTV solutions have a limited audience, said Marshall, who positioned cross-platform delivery as a differentiator.

The company’s LIVE Total Impact product allows advertisers to retarget viewers exposed to ads during live broadcasts across the company’s portfolio in the following days and weeks.

• While nearly 70% of US live sports viewers watch digitally, digital only accounts for 33.4% of live sports viewing time, according to a September EMARKETER forecast.

“There’s that initial impact, but then there’s the ripples that happen after,” said Ryan McConville, executive vice president and chief product officer, ad products and solutions, at NBCUniversal. “The additional consideration, additional searching for and purchasing.”

Making live adjustments

NBCUniversal’s CES announcements emphasize real-time adaptability. Using AI-powered contextual tools, advertisers can align creative with live events, down to running a creative in response to a football game fumble.

“We’ve been able to reference the fumble within advertising in seconds of the fumble happening,” said McConville. “You can also utilize overlays or prepare custom creatives, like a ‘fumble creative,’ and a ‘touchdown creative’ in advance.”

AI has improved advertisers’ approach to brand safety, allowing detailed analysis without dismissing an entire category.

“Instead of taking news off the table completely, you can give us your custom instructions about what your brand's sensitivities are,” he said. “As long as the AI is tracking and those things are not occurring, your ads are safe to run.”

Live measurement for real-time changes

NBCUniversal is expanding access to its measurement infrastructure with the launch of the Performance Insights Hub, a dashboard designed to give advertisers in-flight visibility into campaign performance across platforms.

The ability to retarget based on live stats like website visits is central to the company’s sales pitch. In a study with a telecom brand, NBCUniversal found retargeted viewers who were exposed to in-game ads visited the website 6.8 times more than those who weren’t exposed.

“We can retarget those who already express interest based on the first exposure,” said McConville, adding that the ability to retarget based on website visits “is something that has typically belonged to the big tech companies.”

NBCUniversal emphasized interoperability with retail media partners including Walmart Connect and Instacart, allowing advertisers to connect media exposure to sales.

“If you sell products at Walmart…we can effectively demonstrate that your investment in live sports is actually moving product off shelves,” said Gina Reduto, executive vice president of strategy, advertising, and partnerships at NBCUniversal.

Hyperpersonalization for advertisers analyzing performance and consumers receiving messaging was a recurring theme.

“We have brands that want to get further up in the funnel,” said Marshall, “but they just need proof that it’s working.”

Ads on arrival

Today, NBCUniversal also announced its “Arrival Ads” product on Peacock, an ad slot that appears when users land on their profile, and programmatic pause ads.

The team said the success of pause ads gave them confidence that consumers would respond well to arrival ads. Pause ads have proven to be a powerful format, driving a 68% lift in ad memorability, according to a press release.

“There was extensive testing to make sure there is absolutely no disruption to engagement,” said Reduto. “If we disrupt the consumer experience, that’s going to translate to advertiser impact.”

This was originally featured in the EMARKETER Daily newsletter. For more marketing insights, statistics, and trends, subscribe here.