Good morning! Testimonies begin in Diddy’s sex trafficking trial, hand sanitizer brand Touchland to be acquired, and Fortune’s Nina Ajemian reports from NBCUniversal’s Upfront presentation—where execs are promising a studio that’s bigger and better than ever.
– Upfront and personal. In between Seth MacFarlane dissing competing streaming services in a glitzy musical number and Snoop Dogg rapping “Drop It Like It’s Hot,” NBCUniversal painted a vision of an unforgettable year ahead for the legacy studio during its annual Upfront presentation yesterday at Radio City Music Hall.
Donna Langley, chairman of NBCUniversal entertainment and studios, is the only woman to run a legacy Hollywood studio. She made the pitch that NBCUniversal’s best days are ahead of it—as it approaches its 100th anniversary in 2026. NBCUniversal made $3.76 billion at the global box office last year. “At a moment when attention is being pulled in multiple directions, our ability to collaborate across the company and work together towards a common goal is our superpower,” Langley said. “And, that starts with our franchise-first strategy, investing in durable stories and brands that inspire fans everywhere in a multitude of ways.”
At the Upfront, longtime NBC talent Tina Fey and Amy Poehler announced a TV special celebrating the network’s centennial. NBCU showed trailers for new TV shows, like All Her Fault with Sarah Snook and Dakota Fanning and The ‘Burbs with Keke Palmer. Wicked director Jon M. Chu screened the trailer for the highly anticipated Wicked: For Good, with the first installment grossing $754 million in box offices worldwide since its opening in November 2024. Plus, he announced that Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande will perform songs from the musical in a live TV special in November, which will air on NBC and stream on Peacock.
Despite the looming spinoff of the media company’s cable assets—which will form a new company called Versant (and give Langley even more responsibility)—NBCU is still selling its entire portfolio to advertisers. Before the presentation, I spoke with Alison Levin, president of advertising and partnerships, about how she has been thinking about advertising at NBCU.
Levin joined the company in 2023, after serving as VP of global ad revenue at TV streaming company Roku. Now at NBCU, she oversees agency partnerships, client diversification, and “verticalization,” or focusing marketing on a specific industry. Part of her job is to translate that corporate-speak for consumers. “Consumers have a relationship with IP, not delivery mechanism. You wake up, and you think about that funny clip you watched on SNL, but you’re not like, ‘Did I watch it on linear or did I watch it on Peacock?’” she says.
Levin is also thinking about live sports and how to maximize their advertising potential. NBCUniversal used programmatic advertising for the first time at the Olympics last year, which was a “testing experiment” for future live events, she says. Starting in 2026, NBA games are coming to NBC and Peacock, with Michael Jordan joining as a special contributor on coverage. Langley told advertisers yesterday that NBA games would “create a halo effect around the entire entertainment schedule.”
Beyond the content slate, the events calendar will keep NBCUniversal and its advertising team busy next year. Sunday Night Football goes straight into Bravocon (the annual festival for Real Housewives fans), which is followed by the Rockefeller tree lighting, the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, the Super Bowl, NBA All-Star, and the World Cup.
“It’s such an incredible opportunity for advertisers to tell their stories on the largest stage there’s ever been,” says Levin.
Nina Ajemian
nina.ajemian@fortune.com
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