The invitation to NBCUniversal‘s 2025 upfront presentation promised “a sneak peek at the greatest two years in the history of any media company.”
Hyperbole? You bet. We’ll all be content if the entertainment industry just stays afloat through 2026. But it’s always easier to make lofty claims when you’re first at bat, as Comcast’s 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.
Perhaps all that uncertainty is why NBCU chose to open its two-hour program not with a musical performance from whoever’s mentoring on The Voice these days — that was the closer! — but with a tip of the beggar’s hat to a theater packed with media buyers. The curtain opened to a full, 55-piece symphony orchestra performing a medley of 14 brands’ advertising jingles from the last century.
Let the marathon of pandering begin.
After reminding the room that, like Burger King, NBCUniversal will let advertisers have it their way, Ted 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 “check on his brother right away” after referencing HBO’s curious affinity for incest storylines on its dramas.
Donna Langley, chair of NBCUniversal Entertainment and Studios, started the pitch off in earnest with a rundown of her company’s offerings with an emphasis on their “franchise-first strategy” and the ease with which they claim to sell ads cross-portfolio before calling out a rather surprising example: Saturday Night Live. After placing the emphasis of her hype on Wicked just a year ago, Langley called out SNL’s recent 50th anniversary special and the many ancillary programs around it.
“We owned the entire weekend, creating a monocultural moment,” said Langley, citing 3.9 billion viewership minutes across SNL programming before claiming that nearly 40 percent of all event viewership in the U.S. through 2026 will be on NBC (and Peacock).
Events (read: those rare opportunities for live eyeballs) were the focus of NBCU’s aggressively long pitch, which dwelled less on trailers than it did on The World Cup, BravoCon the inevitable promotional blitz around Wicked sequel Wicked For Good and the return of NBA.
Speaking of the NBA, what better way to celebrate the league’s return to NBC for the first time since 2002 with a vague, pre-taped announcement from Michael Jordan that he’ll serve as a “special contributor” and a live performance of John Tesh sports theme music masterpiece “Roundball Rock?.” In a week where myriad A-listers will grace stages and perhaps even break into song, you’ve got to hand it to the former Entertainment Tonight host for whipping the crowd into a frenzy with his Yamaha grand piano.
As for scripted programming, it had its place in the presentation … just not at the level of years past. Full trailers were reserved for upcoming Peacock originals. Elizabeth Banks vehicle The Miniature Wife and a Keke Palmer-fronted reboot of The Burbs played particularly well in the room, as did NBC’s solitary new order of the day. The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins 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’t heard, eggs are expensive these days.)
One might have thought The Paper, Greg Daniels’ spiritual sequel to The Office, 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 player Oscar Nuñez didn’t exactly scream “chemistry.” The reception was warm enough, but this was the same crowd who were just told last year that Suits LA was going to be a thing.
An 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’s pre-taped bit inserting himself into various NBCU properties before descending to the stage in a replica of Ariana Grande’s bubble from Wicked was a true joy. “I just want you to think, over the next couple of weeks when you’re allocating your ad dollars, there was only one ad chief that was in the rafters of Radio City risking his own life,” Marshall said, moments after taking off a sequined pink blazer. “So you decide where the money should go.”
After being greeted with some well-earned laughs, Marshall attempted to clear up any lingering confusion about the who’s selling ads for newly launched spin-co Versant. “One platform is alive and well,” he said, confirming that the same team was still selling across its portfolio — even if USA, CNBC, MSNBC, Syfy and E! were technically leaving the fold.
Versant was the elephant in the room — 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. It’s “one of many shows coming to Versant this year,” he said. The show, in fact, is coming to USA. Long the crown jewel of basic cable, it’s apparently no longer worth mentioning by name.
As the presentation came to its long-awaited close, Jon M. Chu debuted the trailer for Wicked For Good (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.
“This is our Olympics, our Super Bowl,” 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 “Physical” (Dua Lipa and Olivia Newton John’s 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.
It made absolutely no sense, but it didn’t have to. Bravo wasn’t shuffled off to Versant with the other cable networks for a reason. Its appeal to audiences — and, in turn, advertisers — now transcends individual programs. NBA rights may be transient, but Bravo is forever.
#Paper #Seth #MacFarlane #John #Tesh
