The upcoming new streaming service Peacock will give NBCUniversal a shot at reinventing TV advertising as we know it.
That’s the word from NBCU’s Linda Yaccarino, chairman of advertising and partnerships, who is already talking with marketers about innovating in ways they couldn’t do on the company’s linear TV assets.
For the first time ever, there is an opportunity to bring a product to a market that is data-driven on a current-day technology platform fueled by great content but its not paralyzed or handcuffed to any legacy whatsoever,” she said on the latest episode of the Variety podcast Strictly Business. “I don’t have to a conversation about a C3.”
Listen to the podcast here:
NBCU will also take a cue from its move in recent years to lighten the advertising load on TV by doing same for Peacock, which is scheduled to launch in April partly free (for pay-TV subscribers to parent company Comcast).
“You can rely on Peacock to have the lightest load of any ad-supported streaming platform that’s out there right now,” said Yaccarino. “That’s the plan. Things can change, but that’s the plan.”
Yaccarino was joined on the podcast by Mike Chapman, global lead for the media and entertainment strategy practice at Accenture (disclaimer: this episode of Strictly Business is sponsored by Accenture). He echoed the notion that Peacock represents an opportunity to do things differently in a way that would give the programmer more information about the users they are trying to target than ever before.
“It’s not just about changing the delivery method to the consumer,” said Chapman. “It’s about changing the experience and the data capture that you get.”
“Strictly Business” is Variety’s weekly podcast featuring conversations with industry leaders about the business of entertainment. Past episodes include conversations with Discovery CEO David Zaslav and Dana Walden, co-head of 20th Century Fox Television and Fox Television Group. A new episode debuts each Wednesday and can be downloaded on iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, Stitcher and SoundCloud.
