Good morning! Testimonies start in Diddy’s intercourse trafficking trial, hand sanitizer model Touchland to be acquired, and Fortune’s Nina Ajemian reviews from NBCUniversal’s Upfront presentation—the place execs are promising a studio that is greater and higher than ever.
– Upfront and private. In between Seth MacFarlane dissing competing streaming providers in a glitzy musical quantity and Snoop Dogg rapping “Drop It Like It is Scorching,” NBCUniversal painted a imaginative and prescient of an unforgettable 12 months forward for the legacy studio throughout its annual Upfront presentation yesterday at Radio Metropolis Music Corridor.
Donna Langley, chairman of NBCUniversal leisure and studios, is the one lady to run a legacy Hollywood studio. She made the pitch that NBCUniversal’s finest days are forward of it—because it approaches its a hundredth anniversary in 2026. NBCUniversal made $3.76 billion on the world field workplace final 12 months. “At a second when consideration is being pulled in a number of instructions, our capability to collaborate throughout the corporate and work collectively in the direction of a standard objective is our superpower,” Langley mentioned. “And, that begins with our franchise-first technique, investing in sturdy tales and types that encourage followers in all places in a mess of the way.”
On the Upfront, longtime NBC expertise Tina Fey and Amy Poehler introduced a TV particular celebrating the community’s centennial. NBCU confirmed trailers for brand new TV reveals, like All Her Fault with Sarah Snook and Dakota Fanning and The ‘Burbs with Keke Palmer. Depraved director Jon M. Chu screened the trailer for the extremely anticipated Depraved: For Good, with the primary installment grossing $754 million in field workplaces worldwide since its opening in November 2024. Plus, he introduced that Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande will carry out songs from the musical in a reside TV particular in November, which is able to air on NBC and stream on Peacock.
Regardless of the looming spinoff of the media firm’s cable property—which is able to type a brand new firm referred to as Versant (and provides Langley much more duty)—NBCU continues to be promoting its whole portfolio to advertisers. Earlier than the presentation, I spoke with Alison Levin, president of promoting and partnerships, about how she has been eager about promoting at NBCU.
Levin joined the corporate in 2023, after serving as VP of world advert income at TV streaming firm Roku. Now at NBCU, she oversees company partnerships, consumer diversification, and “verticalization,” or focusing advertising on a selected business. A part of her job is to translate that corporate-speak for customers. “Shoppers have a relationship with IP, not supply mechanism. You get up, and you concentrate on that humorous clip you watched on SNL, however you are not like, ‘Did I watch it on linear or did I watch it on Peacock?’” she says.
Levin can also be eager about reside sports activities and the way to maximize their promoting potential. NBCUniversal used programmatic promoting for the primary time on the Olympics final 12 months, which was a “testing experiment” for future reside occasions, she says. Beginning in 2026, NBA video games are coming to NBC and Peacock, with Michael Jordan becoming a member of as a particular contributor on protection. Langley informed advertisers yesterday that NBA video games would “create a halo impact across the whole leisure schedule.”
Past the content material slate, the occasions calendar will maintain NBCUniversal and its promoting staff busy subsequent 12 months. Sunday Evening Soccer goes straight into Bravocon (the annual competition for Actual Housewives followers), which is adopted by the Rockefeller tree lighting, the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, the Tremendous Bowl, NBA All-Star, and the World Cup.
“It is such an unimaginable alternative for advertisers to inform their tales on the biggest stage there’s ever been,” says Levin.
Nina Ajemian
nina.ajemian@fortune.com
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