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All Eyes Are On NBCUniversal This Month
Courtesy of NBC Olympics
NBCUniversal will broadcast three of the world’s biggest sporting events this month — the Winter Olympic Games in Milan and Cortina, Super Bowl LX, and the NBA All-Star Games — as part of its packed February lineup.
The Big Picture: NBCU’s sports lineup is an embarrassment of riches, ensuring the company will be at the center of conversation and ad sales all of February. And with its streamer, Peacock, stuck in neutral, February’s events could be a game-changer for signups.
Between The Events: The next 17 days may be the most important of the year for NBCU.
The Winter Olympics in Milan run from today until February 22, the Super Bowl is this Sunday, and the NBA All-Star Games are the weekend of February 13-15.
The events will air across NBC, USA Network, and CNBC, but the real focus will be on Peacock, which will include extended coverage and cutting-edge personalized content.
Advertisers have lined up to get in on all the action — 70% of Super Bowl advertisers also bought ads for the Olympics, according to Mark Lazarus, CEO of NBCU’s Versant.
Final Score: NBCUniversal has made sports coverage its marquee content in recent years, especially as it seeks to differentiate Peacock from rival streamers. The company has spent aggressively to acquire broadcast rights to the NBA, MLB, and FIFA. It also relaunched the NBC Sports Network to cover sports 24/7 and partnered with DraftKings on sports betting. So, yeah, NBC is playing to win.
Next Season: If NBCU can handle all the viewership traffic without a hitch and deliver a great experience for fans, Peacock may become the frontrunner for future sports rights.
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Today’s email was written by David Vendrell.
Edited by Nick Comney. Polled and Copy-edited by Kait Cunniff.
Published by Darline Salazar.