By Sahil Patel Updated Feb. 26, 2020 6:02 am ET Comcast Corp.’s NBCUniversal is launching a new streaming advertising business for its local TV stations group as viewers and advertisers continue to shift to internet-connected programming.
Ad agencies have shifted as much as 10% of their local TV budgets to local streaming TV, Mr. Comerford said. That doesn’t include advertising by local businesses buying directly. The TV stations group won’t be selling any inventory on Peacock, NBCUniversal’s coming streaming service, in its first year because its ad time is already sold out, said a person familiar with the matter.
TV network giants are beginning to invest in local streaming businesses. ViacomCBS Inc., for instance, offers local offshoots of its CBSN streaming news channel. Ad time on these local versions is sold by CBS local stations.NBCU Spot On is tasked with grabbing a “chunk” of local ad dollars that are flowing into streaming platforms, Mr. Makhijani said. “We think this is going to be the fastest-growing part of the division,” he said.