Upfronts season is officially upon us, and this morning, NBCU talent and execs kicked off the week by taking the stage at Radio City Music Hall to make their official pitch to advertisers. And while a cloud of economic uncertainty looms over NewFronts and upfronts this year, it’s nothing the industry hasn’t seen before. “We’ve navigated uncertainty before,” Gina Reduto, NBCU’s EVP of strategy, told Marketing Brew. “We’ve endured recessions. We’ve made it through the pandemic.” For media giants including NBCU, resilience is part of the game. This year, TV networks that have worked to rearrange their businesses around streaming are heading into what could be a challenging upfronts market, where economic volatility coupled with tariff-related business challenges stand to threaten top-of-the-funnel marketing efforts. In the past few months, NBCU has teased new ad products, introduced new programming, and brought on its first dedicated streaming ad sales exec, and this week is all about emphasizing how its content coupled with measurement can help brands stand out with consumers. Ahead of NBCUniversal’s presentation on Monday, Marketing Brew chatted with Reduto to talk about the company’s advertising priorities leading into and beyond upfronts. What tariffs? Economic uncertainty is high at the moment, Reduto said, and the Trump administration’s changing tariff policies have thrown marketing plans for many goods affected by the new taxes into disarray. While brands may have the impulse to focus on bottom-of-the-funnel marketing, Reduto noted that leveraging premium video can support long-term brand-building that makes “existing media work harder.” Like other TV companies, NBCU is emphasizing that measurement and attribution tools could help advertisers feel more confident about their investments at a time when uncertainty is high. Continue reading here.—JS | 
