NBCUniversal Takes Aim at C3 and ‘Social Media Guys’ During This Year’s Upfront

It wouldn’t be an NBCUniversal combined upfront without ad sales chief Linda Yaccarino taking aim at legacy metrics and the Facebooks and Googles of the world. While it took a little longer than usual for her to get onstage, she didn’t disappoint once she got there. Yaccarino, the company’s chairman of advertising and client partnerships, didn’t make an appearance until about two hours into NBCUniversal’s annual event at New York’s Radio City Music Hall, following an amusing taped segment in which she appeared to be testifying in front of Congress, Mark Zuckerberg-style. “Nothing brings people together like television,” she said to buyers, who were attending the first of this week's broadcast upfront events. “Come on, no family has ever gathered around a news feed before.” [kickout id="1"] Referencing all the talent onstage and production numbers that NBCU had executed during the upfront (more on that below), Yaccarino noted: “When the social media guys can do that, let me know. But I wouldn’t hold your breath, because we’re not in the likes business—we’re in the results business. Real, verified results, delivered the right way.” She talked about the benefits of working with clients to drive consumer engagement, as well as improving ad recall, brand affinity and purchase intent. “Those are the metrics that matter, not whatever a C3 tells you,” said Yaccarino. “I still cannot believe I have to get up this stage and talk about legacy measurement.” When the C3 metric was created back in 2007, she said, everyone still had flip phones, and “Meghan Markle was on Deal Or No Deal.” As a modern alternative, she touted NBCU’s new CFlight unified advertising metric, which measures live, on-demand and time-shifted commercial impressions of episodes on every platform. This upfront, NBCU will reduce ads by 10 percent in all its prime-time original series across its entire broadcast and cable portfolio (50-plus shows in total). It will also create a 60-second “prime pod” of audience-targeted advertising in the first or last breaks of all those shows. Conflicting messages Two hours before Yaccarino’s appearance, NBCUniversal president and CEO Steve Burke told the assembled buyers that the company would be shaking things up a bit for this year’s presentation. “What we’re going to try to do today is not just go through network by network," he said. " … [I]nstead, we’re going to celebrate all of our businesses together.” But then, oddly, much of the event proceeded just as it did last year, going through each network one at a time. (Burke also said in this turbulent time in the industry, “We feel like we already have the perfect set of assets to really thrive in this business,” which seems to run counter to the news that parent company Comcast is prepping a hostile bid for 20th Century Fox.) E! talked about Busy Phillips’ new late-night talk show, Busy Tonight, and the return of E! True Hollywood Story this fall. Guiliana Rancic called it “what is sure to be everyone’s pick for the revival of 2018,” which would be news to ABC and the cast of Roseanne. Syfy broadcasted trailers for new shows Deadly Class and Nightflyers, while Telemundo staged an emotional rendition of The Greatest Showman's “This Is Me” to talk about the cultural power of the Hispanic audience. Andy Cohen announced that Project Runway will be returning to Bravo for Season 17 after spending the last decade on Lifetime. [kickout id="2"] USA revealed its upcoming Suits spinoff starring Gina Torres will be called Suits: Second City and be set in “the dirty world of Chicago politics.” It also showed a sizzle reel for Treadstone, inspired by the Bourne franchise, which called it a “new series” even though USA has only ordered a pilot at this point. NBC News’ stars took the stage as a unified group, with NBC Nightly News anchor Lester Holt talking about their “unparalleled team of journalists.” “Journalism is at the heart of what we do. Facts do matter, and trust is earned,” he stressed. The members of the gold-medal-winning women’s Olympic hockey team received a standing ovation. Seth Meyers doesn't hold back As the event stretched on, MVP Seth Meyers once again single-handedly energized the crowd with several barbs about his company and network. “NBC had a huge year thanks to the Super Bowl and the Olympics, and I realize that’s a weird thing to bring up, because this year we don’t have either. It’s like a waiter coming over to tell you which specials they’re out of,” he said. [kickout id="3"] He was also the only person to reference disgraced former Today host Matt Lauer, who had been onstage at last year’s event, noting, “we are home to the No. 1 drama on television. A show that. each week, gives us twists and turns, heartbreaking reveals and this season, the departure of a once-beloved character. I’m talking of course about … the Today Show.” Meyers, who later unbuttoned his shirt to poke fun at America’s Got Talent executive producer and judge Simon Cowell’s onstage attire, also had a few ad-themed jokes in his upfront arsenal. “For my money, the best ad integration this year was on USA between the TV show Suits and the royal wedding. Whatever the Queen paid for that integration, it was worth it, because I have been hearing a lot about that wedding,” said Meyers, referring to former Suits star Meghan Markle. “The most interesting ad integration was when that Crock-Pot killed Jack on This Is Us. What an incredible rebranding for slow cookers!” Déjà vu NBC, which announced its fall schedule yesterday, wasn’t featured until an hour until the event; the network played trailers for several upcoming NBC comedies and dramas, many of which seemed reminiscent of other past and current shows. Comedy Abby’s, about a backyard bar, had a Cheers vibe. Drama The Village, coming in midseason, felt like This Is Us in an apartment building. Fall’s The Enemy Within seemed to share DNA with The Blacklist, and Manifest seemed more than a bit similar to Lost. The event featured several live and pretaped production numbers, including a taped opening in which several NBCU stars, including Kristin Bell, Sean Hayes, Ted Danson and Howie Mandel, sang an upfront-themed parody of Mamma Mia, since NBCU will be releasing a Mamma Mia sequel this summer. “It’s the upfronts / Here we go again / My, my, oh how much I missed you,” they sang. World of Dance judges Jennifer Lopez and Derek Hough closed the presentation with a pyrotechnic-filled dance number. However, none of this year’s performances were as electrifying as Jennifer Hudson’s 2017 performance, when she started the morning with “I Am Telling You I’m Not Going,” from her Oscar-winning turn in Dreamgirls. And none came close to the is-this-really-happening? vibe of NBC chief Robert Greenblatt’s surreal upfront duet with Dolly Parton three years ago. Prior to the upfront, NBCU handed out interactive bracelets to attendees that pulsed with colored lights throughout the event; the bracelets were somehow used to help the company pick a new category—“most bingeable show of 2018”—for the upcoming People’s Choice Awards, which will be held for the first time on E! on Nov. 11. During the past two combined upfronts, NBCUniversal vowed to keep the presentation to just under two hours. This year, it missed that target by a good 15 minutes.