Media companies are rethinking how they package live programming and sell video ads as they push back on measurement metrics that undervalue premium inventory.

Advertisers are relying on measurement signals that can distort value, even as live programming becomes more important than ever for delivering scale and attention, said Mark Marshall, chairman of global advertising and partnerships at NBCUniversal, at EMARKETER’s Ad Buyer Summit in a panel moderated by our analyst Ross Benes.

Mark Marshall speaking at EMARKETER's Ad Buyer Strategies Summit

The industry has become too comfortable treating all video impressions as interchangeable, even as viewer attention varies dramatically by platform and programming, said Marshall.

“The number one show on FAST channels is ‘Little House on the Prairie,’ which I love,” he said. “I don't know if that's getting you the same engagement as a Sunday Night Football unit.”

Live inventory drives new ad strategies

For NBCUniversal, that attention difference is shaping pricing strategy and ad delivery.

Instead of running the same ad load across every platform, NBCU uses digital ad insertion to tailor inventory by distribution channel and expand the number of advertisers for live events.

“If you're watching Sunday Night Football on NBC, you're seeing a different ad load than if you're watching the same show on Peacock,” Marshall said. “The intention of doing that was to expand the number of advertisers and be able to have addressability come into play.”

The strategy opens premium sports inventory to smaller advertisers that can’t afford a national TV buy.

“We've brought in 550 new advertisers this year, and a lot of them have come through that door,” Marshall said.

When measurement distorts value

Marshall criticized Nielsen, which NBCUniversal called out in the Wall Street Journal in April for devaluing media companies.

Nielsen’s Gauge report, its monthly snapshot of TV viewership, “really isn’t set up for advertising,” said Marshall. The report includes non-ad-supported viewing environments, which can mislead audience value and media performance signals.

“You could have devaluation of a media company if you're not getting credit for the actual audience you're delivering,” he said.

Linear still dominates premium video ad impressions

Despite the industry’s focus on streaming growth, most ad impressions still come from linear TV. Even streaming-heavy events like the Olympics still skew heavily toward traditional TV viewing, said Marshall.

That reality helped drive NBCUniversal’s launch of its Performance Insights Hub, which combines linear and digital reporting into a single dashboard.

“Most of the dashboards that sit at an agency are just digital, and you're missing three quarters of the premium video ad impressions in that,” he said.

NBCUniversal bets on habitual viewing

NBCU is increasing recurring live programming as it tries to simplify viewing habits. Between Sunday Night Football, baseball, and basketball, the media company will air sports nearly every week in 2026, according to a press release.

“[It’s] really hard for fans to find live sports,” said Marshall. “We want to be able to plant a flag on Sunday nights where sports fans know they can come and see one of the big three sports there.”

The media company is applying the same thinking beyond sports. Marshall pointed to the Peacock series “Love Island” as an example of entertainment programming built around consistent viewing habits rather than binge releases.

“It’s hard to get people to sign up and say, ‘Come back every Thursday night at 8 p.m.,’” he said. “It’s getting harder and harder to do that as the bingeing relationship has started to take hold.”

Watch the full session

We prepared this article with the assistance of generative AI tools and stand behind its accuracy, quality, and originality.

This was originally featured in the EMARKETER Daily newsletter. For more marketing insights, statistics, and trends, subscribe here.