Comedian Seth MacFarlane kicked off this year’s upfronts week at Radio City Music Hall with a sequined and feathered song-and-dance number lampooning streamers of all stripes.
“It’s awful sad, but it all went bad when they changed their stupid name from HBO,” MacFarlane sang about Warner Bros. Discovery’s Max to attendees at NBCU’s official presentation to advertisers in New York on Monday.
The musical number, which promised that “NBCU has the shit you are after” during its chorus, was certainly not on our 2025 NBCU upfront bingo card—nor was ad sales chief Mark Marshall being lowered to the stage for his grand entrance (in pink sequins, no less) like Glinda does in the wildly successful Universal Pictures musical Wicked.
“I just want everyone to think about over the next couple of weeks, when you’re allocating where you’re going to put your dollars, there’s only one ad chief that was in the rafters of Radio City, risking his own life,” Marshall said to the crowd soon after his dismount.
Jokes aside, the two-hour presentation, which featured additional musical numbers, sizzle reels, and stand-up routines, centered on emphasizing the quality of NBCU’s programming, including in live sports and entertainment, as well as its scale, which Marshall said will grow to reach 286 million people every month, 95% of which is with advertising. (Nearly all—99% —of ads seen on NBCU are seen to completion, he also boasted.)
“This is the best collection of content anywhere every day,” Marshall said. “This is the canvas to tell your brand story.”
NBCU parent company Comcast’s planned spinoff of its cable assets into a new company, which was just recently dubbed Versant, won’t pose major challenges for ad buyers for now; just days ahead of the presentation, NBCU reached an agreement to handle ad sales for Versant for the next two years. Those ads will still be able to be purchased on NBCU’s ad tech stack One Platform, Marshall noted, and buyers can still work with the same NBCU team to do so.
That didn’t stop comedian and late-night host Seth Meyers from taking a swipe at the name—and needling a few more competitors. “Remember to ask your doctor if Versant is right for you,” Meyers joked. “There are no good names left. Imagine being jealous that someone beat you to Tubi.”
No worries
NBCU’s presentation, which typically sets the tone for the rest of the week, was a flashy and optimistic affair, complete with expected show announcements and special guests. Comedians Tina Fey and Amy Poehler joined the event to highlight new projects, as did Tiffany Haddish, Reba McEntire, Tracy Morgan, Daniel Radcliffe, and Domhnall Gleeson. Director Jon M. Chu made a cameo to share a sneak-peek trailer for Wicked: For Good and announce that a Wicked live special featuring Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo singing tunes at Los Angeles’s Peacock Theater will air on NBC ahead of the movie’s release this November. The Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon made an appearance to talk about his marketing reality series On Brand, which has already inked deals with nearly a dozen advertising partners.
On the unscripted side, NBCU emphasized sports, tapping Michael Tirico to highlight the upcoming Winter Olympics, the 2026 World Cup, Super Bowl LX, and NBA All-Star Weekend. (Peacock will have over 7,500 hours of sports programming in the next year, Marshall said.) Musician John Tesh, who wrote the iconic “Roundball Rock” NBA on NBC basketball theme, conducted an orchestral performance of the jingle, which is returning as NBA games come back to NBC; basketball legend Michael Jordan is joining as a special contributor. There were other major live moments highlighted, too, like the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and live specials from the ever-expanding reality television Bravo-verse, which will culminate with a Bravocon convention hosted in Las Vegas in November. The vast live options seems to be a point of pride for the broadcaster: Nearly 40% of all “big event” viewership will be on NBC, Marshall said, and live events draw 21% more engagement.
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NBCU wouldn’t be complete without its Spanish-language network Telemundo, which is getting a handful of new scripted series, an unscripted reality show based off Miss Universe, and—perhaps most importantly—the Spanish-language rights to next year’s World Cup. “Latinos are driving US population growth, cultural influence, and economic power,” actress and show host Jacqueline Bracamontes said onstage. “Telemundo is where this powerhouse audience connects.”
Marshall took a moment to nod to the continued economic turmoil spurred by ever-changing tariff policies and less-than-positive consumer sentiment; news of the US-China’s trade deal was announced right before the show, which Marshall joked was “part of our event.” More seriously, he emphasized that brands shouldn’t back down from ad spend, which other advertising leaders have also urged.
“We want to make sure that everyone is aware of the one thing that we have learned: brands who stay on the air are 98% more likely to retain their customers,” Marshall said.
All for one
A central message at the top of the presentation was one of company-wide unity. “You’ll see how NBCUniversal is leading into our strengths as a unified company, strategically pulling all of the levers at our disposal to broaden the reach of our offering, connecting our customers with your audiences,” NBCU entertainment and studios chairman Donna Langley said onstage.
There was also a message of legacy. Coming off of an aggressive promotion of Saturday Night Live’s 50th anniversary that culminated in a weekend-long celebration, NBCU is gearing up to do it again to celebrate the broadcaster’s 100th birthday with “a year-long celebration that you’re all invited to,” Marshall said.
(Whether or not that 100-year celebration will resonate with NBCU’s youngest fans remains to be seen. “NBC is 100 years old, so that’s something you can sell the 18 to 49 demo on, right?” Meyers joked.)
As companies like Netflix and Prime Video more recently embrace the advertising world, Marshall also emphasized that NBCU’s commitment to advertisers is long-term. “Our opinion has been, and always will be, ads are God’s gift to the world,” he said. “From the beginning, we always put the advertisers at the center of everything we do.”
Meyers may have put it even better. “You guys, everything is for sale,” he joked. “The second part of Wicked is set to premiere later this year, and I’m just saying for the right price, she could fly a Swiffer. They can melt her with Aquafina water. We will do the reshoots. The industry’s in flux. We’re open to a lot.”