NBCUniversal today announced a suite of new cross-platform data and technology products that promises to enhance the consumer experience and prove real-time impact for advertisers.
Chief among NBCU’s solutions was the introduction of LIVE Total Impact, which the media giant is billing as industry’s first cross-platform tool designed to leverage real-time viewership of live tentpole moments and extend engagement across the company’s full ecosystem beyond initial event broadcasts.
The news was released ahead of NBCU’s appearance at the 2026 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
“Big moments are only getting bigger. Cross-platform reach is critical to drive quick reach in real time,” Alison Levin, president of Advertising and Partnerships at NBCUniversal, told Beet.TV Editorial Director Lisa Granatstein in an interview at the company’s Rockefeller Center offices. “Our marketers have wanted for a while the ability to take that exposed audience and help with the ramp down of these events — to continue to find that audience, continue with their messaging, whether that be across linear streaming or even our social endpoints.”
Levin pointed to a successful beta testing during Sunday Night Football with telecom and retail brands. NBCUniversal plans to expand LIVE Total Impact across February tentpole events including Super Bowl LX, the Milan Cortina Olympic Winter Games, NBA All-Star Weekend. The program will also be the centerpiece of NBCU’s ad programs for 2026 live events like Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
Passing the beta test
A telecom brand beta test demonstrated full-funnel impact with 10% lift in awareness and memorability versus control. The pilot also showed 77% higher search engagement compared to competitive streaming benchmarks, and 1.8 times greater website visitation than industry benchmarks, Levin said.
Retargeted viewers exposed to in-game ads visited the website 6.8 times more than unexposed audiences, showing strong lower-funnel performance.
“We had a client who said at [NBCU’s cable network fan-focused convention] BravoCon that some of the activations they did with us not only drove upper funnel brand awareness, but it also drove ROI all the way through the purchase funnel,” Levin said “People actually bought products at their local retailer because of these campaigns.”
AI-powered contextual targeting debuts
NBCUniversal unveiled Contextual Targeting in LIVE, an AI-powered tool that continuously scans live programming to ensure ads automatically align with relevant moments as they unfold in real time.
Initial video-on-demand beta tests showed significant engagement and favorability increases. A luxury brand beta campaign achieved 27% higher creative enjoyment versus baseline, 14% agreement that surrounding content enhanced brand message, 10% higher unaided brand awareness, 38% improved perception as environmentally responsible, and 56% higher search engagement versus competitive streaming.
“This capability gives advertisers greater efficiency, agility, and precision, optimizing every second of live media investment to reach audiences at the exact right moment of authentic connection,” according to NBCUniversal’s announcement.
Enabling real-time optimization
The Performance Insights Hub provides advertisers of all sizes with unified views of campaign delivery, audience insights, and full-funnel in-flight performance across both streaming and linear inventory.
“What really makes this platform unique is two things,” Levin said. “One, we’re working with third party partners to understand and validate all of the measurement and attribution and it’s fully transparent. And the second is that it’s not just streaming, but it’s also linear, which we know is the key to driving maximum reach as a combination of both.”
Built on NBCUniversal’s One Platform Tech Stack, the hub integrates first- and third-party data through standardized schemas with partners including Dynata, EDO, Kochava, LiveRamp, MarketCast and VideoAmp, with upcoming integrations for foot traffic, purchase data, and category-specific CPG and pharma measurement.
Expanded engagement
NBCUniversal introduced Arrival Ads on Peacock, creating high-impact visibility on user profile pages as the first impression when viewers enter the platform. The company is also expanding Peacock’s Pause Ads into real-time ad marketplaces through Programmatic Guaranteed deals.
Pause Ads have driven 68% lift in ad memorability and 106% lift in foot traffic for advertisers, making NBCUniversal the first major premium AVOD publisher to offer full-screen programmatic pause advertising, Levin said.
Democratizing Olympic access
Building on 2024 Paris Olympics momentum, NBCUniversal is enabling programmatic access to Milan Cortina Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games coverage through partnerships with Amazon DSP, FreeWheel DSP, Google Display & Video 360, StackAdapt, The Trade Desk, Viant, and Yahoo DSP.
During the Paris Olympics, 90% of advertisers activating programmatically were first-time Olympic advertisers, bringing new clients to the platform, she noted.
Universal Ads will serve as the first-ever exclusive ads manager for NBCUniversal’s Milan Cortina coverage, offering additional investment opportunities.
“For us, our mission has always been to create a performance ad platform for our clients,” Levin said. “As we move into our 100th year, our goal remains the same to help support our marketers and drive a performance ad platform, but we’re continuing to evolve the products that we’re offering them to do that.”
