Sign in Subscribe
Video

NBCUniversal unveils live sports ad tools that measure real-time ROI

NBCUniversal launches LIVE Total Impact, AI contextual targeting, and Performance Insights Hub on December 17, 2025, introducing cross-platform measurement and attribution.

Luis Rijo

• 13 min read
NBCUniversal unveils live sports ad tools that measure real-time ROI

NBCUniversal revealed a comprehensive suite of advertising technologies on December 17, 2025, designed to connect live event viewership with measurable business outcomes across its entire media ecosystem. The announcement, made ahead of the 2026 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, introduces three primary products: LIVE Total Impact for cross-platform engagement extension, AI-powered Contextual Targeting in LIVE for real-time content alignment, and the Performance Insights Hub for unified campaign measurement.

LIVE Total Impact represents the first cross-platform tool designed to leverage real-time viewership from live tentpole moments and extend that engagement across NBCUniversal's full ecosystem. The product emerged from a successful beta test during Sunday Night Football, where telecom and retail brands saw measurable improvements through targeted re-exposure across NBCU platforms. Following the beta, NBCUniversal will expand LIVE Total Impact to advertisers across Super Bowl LX, the Milan Cortina Olympic Winter Games, NBA All-Star Weekend, and additional live events throughout 2026 including the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

The beta test with a leading telecom brand delivered specific results that demonstrate the tool's capabilities across the marketing funnel. The campaign achieved a 10% lift in awareness and memorability compared to control groups. Search engagement increased 77% versus competitive streaming benchmarks, while website visitation reached 1.8 times greater than industry benchmarks. Retargeted viewers exposed to in-game advertisements visited the website 6.8 times more than those who were not exposed, demonstrating strong lower-funnel impact according to NBCUniversal's data.

Mark Marshall, Chairman of Global Advertising and Partnerships at NBCUniversal, characterized the announcement as building on the company's legacy as NBC approaches its 100th year. "Our company was built on innovation, and as we enter into NBC's 100th year, we are pairing the strength of our storytelling with the power of our technology to enhance the consumer experience and prove real-time impact for brands," Marshall stated in the announcement.

The second major product, Contextual Targeting in LIVE, enables advertisers to target live programming in real-time using AI-powered technology that continuously scans content to ensure advertisements automatically align with relevant moments as they unfold. Initial video-on-demand beta tests showed brands experienced significant increases in engagement and favorability, demonstrating how artificial intelligence can match brand messages to relevant themes and boost audience interaction.

An early beta with a luxury brand aimed to boost awareness and strengthen the brand's association with campaign messaging. The beta campaign drove 27% higher enjoyment of the creative versus baseline measurements. Agreement that surrounding content enhanced the brand's message reached 14% above baseline, while unaided brand awareness increased 10% versus baseline. Perception of the luxury brand as environmentally responsible rose 38%, with search engagement 56% higher versus competitive streaming benchmarks according to the company's measurements.

By automating brand suitability and real-time context, the capability provides advertisers with efficiency, agility, and precision, optimizing media investment to reach audiences at moments of authentic connection. The technology addresses challenges in live sports advertising that have emerged as streaming platforms expand real-time targeting capabilities.

The Performance Insights Hub represents NBCUniversal's proprietary intelligence platform providing advertisers of all sizes with a unified view of campaign delivery, audience insights, and full-funnel, in-flight performance. Built on NBCUniversal's One Platform Tech Stack, the hub integrates first- and third-party data through standardized schemas and automated workflows with partners including Dynata, EDO, Kochava, LiveRamp, MarketCast and VideoAmp, with upcoming integrations to support turnkey outcomes measurement for foot traffic and purchase data, plus category-specific integrations to power consumer packaged goods, pharmaceutical, and additional sectors.

This tool moves marketers beyond static post-campaign reporting, enabling in-flight reporting and insights that improve performance across awareness, engagement, and conversion metrics. The approach aligns with broader industry trends toward unified measurement platforms that provide cross-platform attribution capabilities.

NBCUniversal also announced Arrival Ads on Peacock, described as a first-of-its-kind presence on users' profile pages that allows brands to own the first impression as viewers enter the platform. As one of Peacock's most valuable placements, Arrival Ads create high-impact visibility across nearly all daily active users, surrounding NBCUniversal's iconic intellectual property and cultural programming at moments fans show up most. These dynamic experiences mark what NBCUniversal characterizes as a step-change in platform innovation, with Peacock being the first streamer to offer this advertisement type in a premium ad-supported video on demand environment.

The company is expanding Peacock's premium Pause Ads into the programmatic marketplace, enabling advertisers to access this high-impact format through Programmatic Guaranteed deals. As the first major premium ad-supported video on demand publisher to offer a full-screen programmatic Pause Ad, NBCUniversal is bringing scale, flexibility, and automation to a placement that has already proven effective in direct-sold campaigns. Pause Ads have driven a 68% lift in ad memorability, while campaigns with Pause Ads have driven a 106% lift in foot traffic for advertisers according to company data.

Building off momentum from the 2024 Paris Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games, NBCUniversal is democratizing access to its most premium inventory by enabling its presentation of the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games programmatically. Through partnerships with Amazon DSP, FreeWheel Buyer Cloud, Google Display & Video 360, StackAdapt, The Trade Desk, Viant, and Yahoo DSP, NBCUniversal will open up private marketplace, biddable access for advertisers of all sizes to connect with highly engaged audiences tuning into the Games.

Following its successful launch at CES 2025, Universal Ads will serve as the first-ever exclusive ads manager for NBCUniversal's coverage of the Milan Cortina Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, offering advertisers additional opportunities to invest in NBCUniversal's coverage of the Games.

Beyond product announcements, NBCUniversal presented data demonstrating the performance of television for advertisers. The company and Walmart Connect expanded their partnership to provide first-of-its-kind in-flight measurement results for live sports programming for Haleon. Haleon launched campaigns for two brands in the fourth quarter—Sensodyne and Advil—both of which demonstrated performance across the marketing funnel.

Sensodyne's cross-platform campaign drove 200% ad likeability. Higher consideration manifested with 61% of product detail page viewers adding items to cart. Strong lower-funnel efficiency with high conversion volume of 55,000 units and transaction rate of 5.5% led to a $3.28 return on advertising spend. Advil's campaign saw 79% standard ad likeability, with higher consideration evidenced by 64% of product detail page viewers adding to cart. A clear path from consideration to conversion emerged with a 92% add-to-cart conversion rate, resulting in strong efficiency with $5.41 return on advertising spend.

NBCUniversal's partnership with Instacart continues to drive efficient returns and new customer acquisitions for marketers. A recent streaming campaign for a packaged food brand leveraged precise shopper targeting to deliver a 6 times return on every dollar spent and a 38% increase in sales from new brand buyers. Additionally, a recent data-driven linear campaign for a major household products brand leveraged the broad reach of NBCUniversal's linear ecosystem to drive a 55% increase in sales from new brand buyers and a 4 times return on every dollar spent.

Peacock is expanding its Live in Browse feature—where live content auto-previews on the Peacock home page—to additional sports properties in its robust portfolio, as well as into entertainment franchises including Saturday Night Live, NBC100, and the Tree Lighting at Rockefeller Center. Peacock offers an impactful placement for advertisers in Live in Browse where a brand's logo is surfaced directly within the live event preview on the homepage, creating a seamless path into premium intellectual property.

Early results show 8 in 10 viewers find Live in Browse engaging and say it makes them want to watch more live content on Peacock, while the current logo-only format delivers a 50% lift in ad recall. When paired with complementary sponsorship elements like pre-roll and billboards, Live in Browse drives even greater impact, generating up to 3.8 times gains in ad recall for advertisers versus unexposed viewers. With its prominent positioning on Peacock, Live in Browse reaches over 80% of users that visit Peacock on a given day.

At CES 2025, Peacock launched a new vertical video format, solidifying itself as a cross-screen platform with short highlights, previews, and exclusive clips inside its mobile app. Vertical video has been one of the largest drivers of frequency on the mobile app. To date, Peacock has seen sizeable growth since the early days of the platform with mobile viewership increasing 244% over the last four years. Short-form content consumed on Peacock via mobile has seen a 257% increase in viewership in just a year, with Bravo and Peacock's unscripted content as well as NBC's Late Night and Entertainment proving to drive users to engage with Peacock on mobile. Consumers on both mobile and television are watching twice as much as television-only viewers.

In 2026, Peacock's vertical video format will become available to advertisers, making it easier for brands to meet fans—particularly younger ones—wherever and however they watch. This development addresses shifting consumption patterns documented in streaming measurement data showing increasing mobile engagement among key demographics.

Since launching during the 2024 Paris Summer Olympic Games, Multiview has become a fan favorite as viewers have embraced the dynamic viewing experience. Multiview has expanded to English Premier League and most recently the 2025 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, which marked the first time the feature was offered for a live entertainment special on Peacock. More than 10% of viewers watched this year's Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in Multiview. Multiview during the Parade also posted the strongest average minute audience versus other tentpole events offering Multiview within the last 12 months.

Additionally, the 2025 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade drove increased viewership to Peacock, with over 15% of viewership of the event on the streaming platform. The 2025 Thanksgiving Day Parade livestream now stands as Peacock's number one entertainment simulstream event to date. These performance metrics demonstrate the impact of live event streaming on overall platform engagement.

In October, NBCUniversal welcomed the National Basketball Association back to NBC and to Peacock for the first time ever with a series of new ad-supported product features, including Peacock Performance View and Peacock Scorecard. To date, the innovations are gaining traction with NBA viewers on Peacock, with tight integration between broadcast and product features driving nearly 20% to engage with these features, proving that new ways to watch and engage with the game are resonating strongly with both casual and avid fans. Both innovations have helped cement Peacock as one of the most innovative streaming services in the market, with over 80% of NBA fans who used the innovations feeling more positive towards Peacock because of the new features.

The announcement arrives as NBCUniversal approaches NBC's 100th anniversary. The company creates content that reaches 286 million people across the largest ad-supported footprint in the industry. From global sporting events and hit series to iconic entertainment franchises, its intellectual property fuels passion, loyalty, and cultural connection. As NBC enters its next century, it remains focused on uniting storytelling and innovation to build the future of media, marketing, and measurable impact.

The December 17, 2025 announcement positions NBCUniversal's advertising technology infrastructure alongside competitors in the programmatic CTV marketplace that have similarly emphasized measurement and attribution capabilities throughout 2025. The Performance Insights Hub's integration with partners including VideoAmp and LiveRamp reflects industry-wide movement toward data collaboration frameworks that enable privacy-compliant measurement across publishers and advertisers.

For marketing professionals managing cross-platform campaigns, these tools address measurement challenges that have historically complicated attribution across linear television and streaming environments. The ability to track engagement from live events through subsequent platform interactions provides granular visibility into how premium content drives business outcomes. This measurement capability becomes particularly relevant as streaming advertising continues gaining market share relative to traditional linear television.

The programmatic accessibility of the Milan Cortina Olympic Winter Games through major demand-side platforms represents continuation of NBCUniversal's strategy to democratize access to premium inventory. This approach parallels Universal Ads' broader mission to simplify television advertising for performance marketers accustomed to digital platforms. By enabling programmatic access through partnerships with Amazon DSP, Google Display & Video 360, The Trade Desk, and other major buying platforms, NBCUniversal removes traditional barriers that prevented smaller advertisers from accessing tentpole event inventory.

The AI-powered Contextual Targeting in LIVE capability addresses brand suitability concerns that have complicated live programming advertising. Real-time content scanning enables dynamic creative alignment with appropriate moments as events unfold, reducing risk while maintaining relevance. This automation provides efficiency gains compared to manual content review processes, particularly for fast-moving live sports and entertainment programming where context shifts rapidly.

The Performance Insights Hub's emphasis on in-flight measurement rather than post-campaign reporting enables optimization during active campaigns. This real-time adjustment capability aligns with programmatic advertising expectations where performance data drives budget allocation decisions within hours rather than weeks. Integration with measurement partners including EDO for television attention metrics and Kochava for mobile attribution provides comprehensive visibility across devices and platforms.

NBCUniversal's partnership expansions with Walmart Connect and Instacart demonstrate the value of retail data collaboration for closed-loop measurement. By connecting television advertising exposure to actual purchase behavior through retail partners' first-party data, NBCUniversal can demonstrate return on advertising spend calculations that previously remained opaque for television campaigns. The Sensodyne and Advil campaigns' documented performance metrics—including specific conversion rates, transaction volumes, and return on advertising spend figures—provide concrete evidence of television's impact on lower-funnel outcomes.

The Arrival Ads format on Peacock exploits a high-value placement that streaming competitors have not yet offered. By capturing user attention immediately upon platform entry, before content selection occurs, the format secures visibility that differs from traditional mid-roll or pre-roll placements. This positioning creates what NBCUniversal describes as owning "the first impression," analogous to homepage takeovers on web properties but adapted for streaming television interfaces.

Programmatic Pause Ads extend NBCUniversal's pause advertising capabilities beyond direct-sold campaigns into automated buying channels. The 68% ad memorability lift and 106% foot traffic increase documented for pause advertisements suggest the format's effectiveness stems from capturing viewers during natural content interruptions when attention remains high. Programmatic accessibility through Guaranteed deals enables buyers to incorporate pause inventory into broader campaigns without requiring separate direct negotiations.

The expansion of Live in Browse to entertainment properties beyond sports programming demonstrates NBCUniversal's strategy to apply successful sports innovations across its content portfolio. The feature's 50% ad recall lift and ability to reach over 80% of daily Peacock users positions it as high-impact inventory. When combined with complementary elements generating up to 3.8 times ad recall gains, the multi-touchpoint approach reflects sophisticated engagement strategies that leverage platform-specific features.

Peacock's vertical video format availability to advertisers addresses mobile consumption patterns that have driven 244% viewership growth over four years. The 257% increase in short-form content viewership within a single year indicates strong momentum, particularly among younger demographics accustomed to vertical video formats on social platforms. By enabling advertiser access to this format in 2026, NBCUniversal creates inventory aligned with mobile-first viewing behaviors.

The Multiview feature's performance during the 2025 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade—where more than 10% of viewers utilized the functionality—demonstrates audience appetite for enhanced viewing experiences. The feature's designation as the strongest average minute audience versus other tentpole events offering Multiview suggests entertainment programming may drive different engagement patterns than sports content, where Multiview originally launched. The 15% streaming viewership share for the Parade indicates successful migration of traditionally linear events to digital platforms.

NBA features including Performance View and Scorecard have achieved nearly 20% engagement rates among Peacock viewers, with over 80% of users who tried the innovations reporting more positive sentiment toward Peacock. This combination of functional utility and brand impact suggests that platform differentiation through features creates tangible value beyond content alone. The innovations position Peacock competitively against other streaming services as professional sports rights fragment across multiple platforms.

The comprehensive announcement encompasses both new advertising products and performance validation of existing capabilities. By releasing concrete performance metrics alongside new tool announcements, NBCUniversal provides evidence supporting its claims about premium video's value for advertisers. The specific numbers—such as 6 times return on advertising spend for Instacart campaigns and $5.41 return on advertising spend for Advil—offer benchmarks against which advertisers can evaluate their own campaign performance.

For agencies managing client investments across streaming platforms, NBCUniversal's expanded measurement capabilities address attribution challenges that have complicated television's integration into digital marketing strategies. The ability to demonstrate both upper-funnel impacts like brand lift and lower-funnel outcomes including website visits, conversions, and return on advertising spend provides the comprehensive reporting that performance-oriented clients demand.

The timing of the announcement ahead of CES 2026 positions NBCUniversal's innovations within the broader consumer electronics and technology context where advertising technology advancements receive significant attention. By framing these capabilities as technology-driven solutions rather than traditional media offerings, NBCUniversal signals its positioning as a technology company that happens to create content, rather than a content company experimenting with technology.

Timeline

Five Ws Summary

Who: NBCUniversal, led by Mark Marshall, Chairman of Global Advertising and Partnerships, announced the innovations. Measurement partners include Dynata, EDO, Kochava, LiveRamp, MarketCast, and VideoAmp. Retail partners Walmart Connect and Instacart participated in campaign measurement. Programmatic access partners include Amazon DSP, FreeWheel Buyer Cloud, Google Display & Video 360, StackAdapt, The Trade Desk, Viant, and Yahoo DSP. Beta test participants included unnamed telecom, retail, and luxury brands.

What: NBCUniversal unveiled LIVE Total Impact (cross-platform engagement extension from live events), AI-powered Contextual Targeting in LIVE (real-time content-aligned ad placement), Performance Insights Hub (unified cross-platform measurement), Arrival Ads on Peacock (profile page brand presence), programmatic Pause Ads (automated full-screen pause advertising), expanded Live in Browse (auto-preview live content with brand integration), and vertical video advertising availability. The company also released performance data from partnerships with Walmart Connect and Instacart demonstrating television's impact on sales outcomes.

When: The announcement occurred on December 17, 2025, ahead of the 2026 Consumer Electronics Show in January. LIVE Total Impact will expand to Super Bowl LX, Milan Cortina Olympic Winter Games, NBA All-Star Weekend, and additional 2026 events including Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Vertical video advertising becomes available to advertisers in 2026. Beta tests occurred throughout 2025 during Sunday Night Football and for luxury brand campaigns.

Where: The innovations apply across NBCUniversal's cross-platform ecosystem including NBC broadcast network, Peacock streaming service, and associated properties. Geographic availability spans NBCUniversal's distribution footprint reaching 286 million people. Programmatic access to Milan Cortina Olympic Winter Games will be available through major demand-side platforms. Measurement partnerships integrate data across NBCUniversal's One Platform Tech Stack.

Why: NBCUniversal aims to prove real-time impact for brands by combining storytelling strength with technology as NBC approaches its 100th year. The innovations address advertiser demands for transparency, agility, and measurable impact at scale. By providing cross-platform measurement, real-time optimization, and comprehensive attribution from awareness through conversion, NBCUniversal positions premium video as valuable for advertisers seeking business outcomes. The programmatic accessibility and measurement capabilities remove traditional barriers that prevented performance marketers from accessing television inventory while demonstrating television's effectiveness across the marketing funnel.