NBCU To The Rescue

Plus, How Google kept a 20% ad commission

October 01, 2024

Welcome to The TV Room. Your weekly digest of television, streaming, and digital media insights that matter.

This week we're covering:

  • 📺️ NBCUniversal Unveils Creative Gateway

  • 🚀 Roku launched Roku Ads Manager

  • 🎥 Creative Spotlight: Firehouse Subs - “Hot Sauce Bar”

  • 💰️ Why Google Kept a 20% Ad Take

NBCU Tackles the Creative Ad Delivery Headache

NBCUniversal is tackling a major streaming challenge: the inefficient, manual ad creative delivery process.

With its launch of Creative Gateway, NBC seeks to simplify and automate ad delivery, enhancing efficiency for marketers and boosting the effectiveness of streaming campaigns.

The streaming ad creative supply chain is chaotic, with assets coming from everywhere: social media, AI generators, and more. Manual processes like emails and spreadsheets are no longer cutting it, especially for high-stakes live events like the Olympics.

Here’s how it works:

  • Creative Gateway integrates directly with ad tech partners like XR Extreme Reach via APIs.

  • It ingests creative info, checks video specs, and uses machine learning to match creatives to campaign line items.

  • The goal: "fully automate all creative delivery," says Ryan McConville, NBCU's EVP of ad platforms and operations.

The ad industry has long pushed for a unified creative taxonomy. In June, IAB Tech Lab introduced its Ad Creative ID Framework to tackle critical challenges like frequency capping and cross-platform reporting, marking a huge step forward for standardization.

Expect creative identity to take center stage in video advertising conversations, especially as generative AI further complicates the landscape. The push for automation and standardization in ad delivery is only intensifying.

Read More:

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TV Industry Updates

  • One-stop solution: Roku launched Roku Ads Manager, a self-service CTV ad platform, offering marketers a comprehensive buying solution.

  • Viewer shifts: CTV viewers are watching more, with daily viewing hours up 5% year-over-year.

  • Rebounding revenue: Publishers saw ad revenue growth in early 2024, with larger deals and more RFPs.

  • Emmy ratings rise: The 76th Emmys on ABC scored its highest ratings in three years, reaching 6.87 million average viewers.

Stay up to date on the latest in TV advertising by joining our Slack community!

Creative Spotlight: Firehouse Subs - “Hot Sauce Bar”

Firehouse Subs launched a darkly comic campaign announcing the return of its Hot Sauce Bar, showing exaggerated reactions to its absence in everyday settings.

The Details:

  • The campaign featured three TV spots with exaggerated reactions to missing hot sauce bars in a restaurant, a home for sale, and a wedding.

  • It humorously parodied superfans’ demands for the Hot Sauce Bar's return, which had been removed during Covid.

  • Created by Orchard, the ads continued Firehouse Subs' comedic marketing approach.

  • The campaign spanned national TV, social media, out-of-home, digital ads, and in-store plaques honoring superfans.

What We Loved: The campaign masterfully tapped into consumer passion for a key product feature, turning it into entertaining content that celebrated loyal customers.

Marketing Mix

  • Ad copy frameworks: The 5 ad copy frameworks to stop the scroll, drive clicks, and convert purchases.

  • Google's ad dominance: Uncover how Google kept a 20% ad commission, a key issue in the DOJ's antitrust case.

  • Marketing automation: 3 ways to optimize marketing automation through data, strategy, and execution.

  • Content repurposing: 8 ways to transform webinars into blog posts and use case studies for employee advocacy, maximizing content mileage.

  • Publicis' commerce push: Publicis acquired Mars United Commerce for $600 million, strengthening full-funnel marketing after its Influential purchase.

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