NBCUniversal is concentrating its upfront firepower this year during the traditional broadcast upfront week in May.
Instead of having each of its cable networks hold separate events for media buyers in the month leading up to the upfront ad buying negotiations (which kept NBCU CEO Steve Burke and ad sales president Linda Yaccarino busy during the spring), the Comcast-owned media company will present all of its broadcast and cable entertainment networks during what it has dubbed Upfront Week with NBCU.
The week will begin with NBC Entertainment's presentation on the morning ofMay 12 at the Javits Center in New York, the same time NBC has held its presentation the past few years. On May 13, Telemundo Media will have its presentation at Fredrick P. Rose Hall in the Time Warner Center. On Thursdayafternoon, when NBCU's USA cable network had been holding a presentation, the company will instead present all of networks its cable entertainment group. Those networks include USA, Syfy, Bravo, E!, Oxygen, Esquire and Sprout.
NBCU's Cable Entertainment Group is headed by Bonnie Hammer, who was in charge of USA when it first moved its upfront presentation to broadcast week two years ago.
The consolidated upfront approach reflect the portfolio sales approach being pushed by ad sales chief Yaccarino. Yaccarino last year grouped her sales team into four groups, one representing mass market entertainment networks, one representing lifestyle networks, one representing live programming like sports and news, and another representing the company's digital assets.
Showcasing our entire portfolio to our advertising partners all at once is in response to marketplace demand and a natural next step in the evolution of the NBCUniversal portfolio coming together as one, Yaccarino said in a statement. In a world of fragmentation, aggregation and scale means everything for our clients. Our wide-ranging portfolio of content and unequalled targeting capabilities enable us to creatively bring together advertising opportunities to meet our clients' needs uniquely and better than any other media company.
Of course, NBCU sales execs meet with media buyers and clients throughout the year. Some of those meeting lay the groundwork for integrated campaigns that require more planning that simply airing a schedule and 30-second spots.
Some NBCU cable networks will also be holding upfront presentations for the press.
During this year's upfront, NBCU will be helped by having next Februarys Super Bowl -- TV's most-watched event -- to sell.
This isn't the first time NBCU has altered its approach to upfront presentations.
In 2008, NBC presented its fall schedule to advertisers in April, when it held relatively small Infront presentations with advertisers and media buyers. The idea was to give advertisers an early start at the kind of product integrations that were beginning to become popular as a way to combat commercial skipping.
That year during the May upfront week, NBC held an event called the NBC Experience at which all of NBCU's properties were represented. That year's ballyhooed reboot of Knight Rider was represented by Kit, the talking car. American Gladiators fought, Sunday Night Football announcers signed autographs and Bravo chefs served food.
NBC abandoned its Infronts in 2010.
NBCU says its television networks reach one in three adults daily and its digital properties reach 125 million unique users each month.
In last year's upfront NBC sold $2.1 billion worth of advertising commitments. NBC's primetime upfront revenue was up 13%. NBCU's cable network range up price increases in the 7% to 8% range on a cost-per-thousand-viewers (CPM) basis.
Most recent headlines
25/12/2025
Holiday lights are twinkling, hot cocoa's on the stove and gamers are settling in for a well-earned break.
Whether staying in or heading on a winter getawa...
24/12/2025
What is AI good for? Posted by MTI Film on December 24, 2025
What is AI good for?
What is AI good for?
It's been three years since ChatGPT first cap...
24/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
24/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
24/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
24/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
24/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
24/12/2025
Back to All News
Love, Fights, and Everything in Between: Badly in Love' Returns for Season 2
Entertainment
24 December 2025
GlobalJapan
Link copied t...
24/12/2025
Scripps Research study links sleep variability with sleep apnea and hypertension How consumers' digital activity trackers could enable personalized health s...
23/12/2025
How guilas Cibae as Dominican Winter League Games Are Locally Produced for Glob...
23/12/2025
BitFire's Jim Akimchuk on Supplying Scalability and Customization in the Clo...
23/12/2025
CAMB.AI Enables European Athletics to Offer Multi-Language SupportPlan is to eventually offer translation into all languages spoken in EuropeBy Ken Kerschbaumer...
23/12/2025
Analysis: As sports media values trend negative, scarcity and quality are king By Callum McCarthy, Editor-at-Large
Monday, December 22, 2025 - 14:08
Print ...
23/12/2025
ESPN, Disney, and NBA Return to the Animated Altcast Fray With Second Edition of...
23/12/2025
End the Year on a High Note and Donate to the Sports Broadcasting Fund Today! By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director
Tuesday, December 23, 2025 - 12:25 pm
...
23/12/2025
The year is winding down, the weather outside is frightful, and it's the perfect time to escape into a story that warms the heart. For listeners looking for...
23/12/2025
A Zeus motor is hot fire tested at L3Harris' Camden, Arkansas, solid rocket ...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Lightware will exhibit several major product innovations at ISE 2026, including the new USB-C BOOSTER-V1, Google Meet. integration for various Taurus UCX models...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Taking the Stage at Carnegie Hall-On a Global Scale Boston Conservatory Orchestra students reflect on their epic concert marking the 80th session of the UN Gene...
23/12/2025
Back to All News
Netflix's The Great Flood and Culinary Class Wars 2 Top Gl...
23/12/2025
Back to All News
Stranger Things By the Numbers: How the Global Phenomenon Shap...
23/12/2025
Experience the power of WO Automation for Radio's newest service, the System Effectiveness Review. Designed to help you achieve more, a System Effectiveness...
23/12/2025
23 Dec 2025
VEON's Beeline Kazakhstan and Rakuten Symphony Collaborate to A...
23/12/2025
Back to All News
How Steamy Can It Get? Single's Inferno' Season 5 Pre...
23/12/2025
Back to All News
33 Million Global Viewers on Netflix Watched Jake Paul vs. Ant...
23/12/2025
New technique lights up where drugs go in the body, cell by cell Scripps Research scientists developed a technique that maps drug binding in individual cells th...
22/12/2025
SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Presidio's Neerav Shah on the Role of Its Captiva...
22/12/2025
Hitting the bullseye: Sky Sports readies itself for the biggest PDC World Darts ...
22/12/2025
Unique skillset: Bringing new directors to the world of darts at The Worlds with...
22/12/2025
Gravity Media prepares for a flight of fancy with the PDC World Darts Championsh...
22/12/2025
One hundred and eighty: Gravity Media on hitting the production bullseye at the ...
22/12/2025
The Famous Group's Jon Slusser on Fascinating Fans Through Immersive Content...
22/12/2025
ESPN's Meg Aronowitz on Continuing High-Quality Broadcasts of Collegiate Spo...
22/12/2025
ESPN Takes Data-Driven Storytelling to New Heights with MNF Playbook with Next ...
22/12/2025
For a decade, popular German podcast Fest & Flauschig has hosted an annual Chris...
22/12/2025
Paramount Scores Largest Share Increase Among Distributors as Paramount and CBS...
22/12/2025
New multi-year deal integrates Roku's data to fuel Nielsen's measurement suite
Roku gains access to Nielsen's streaming ratings, showing The Roku C...
22/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
22/12/2025
Berklee Wrapped 2025: Our Top News and Stories A look back at a year highlighted by faculty milestones, major film and television projects, Bob Dylan's ho...
22/12/2025
The works of Plato state that when humans have an experience, some level of change occurs in their brain, which is powered by memory - specifically long-term me...
22/12/2025
Partnership integrates complementary satellite data and AI analytics to enhance security, infrastructure, and environmental monitoring solutions for global cust...
NBCUniversal is concentrating its upfront firepower this year during the traditional broadcast upfront week in May.
