NBCU Leans On Legacy For Upfront: Is This The Future For TV?

“Our legacy is in trouble.” “Our legacy – what is it?” “It used to be the foundation of the TV business but that’s not important now.” – An imaginary TV business conversation (inspired by the legacy movie Airplane!)

NBCUniversal proclaimed “legacy” as its byword as it kicked off the annual broadcasting television advertising upfronts. Upfronts themselves represent legacy, historically the week when marketers and networks begin the negotiating dance over the major advertising commitments for the next year.

Perhaps the most “legacy” things about NBCU’s annual upfront presentation may have been (a) that it still takes place in Radio City Music Hall, as iconic a performance venue as the media business has in the U.S.; and (b) that it took place at all – CBS’s upfront presentation has been gone for years now.

NBCU’s chest-thumping about legacy is a worthy man bites dog story given the rise (and seeming fall) of Peak TV, the daily content deluge on social media platforms and an advertising marketplace fixated on “real-time,” “AI-native,” “performance marketing” deployed to “precisely target niche audiences.” It might be the ultimate play for authenticity in a world today where chart-toppers are here and gone (what did I just watch on Netflix?) and there is little transparency in much of digital advertising.

In line with 21^st century custom and practice, NBCU, led by its Chairman of Advertising Mark Marshall, dedicated part of its presentation to the prescribed set of new data analytics tools and dashboard capabilities for its brand advertisers. But those felt more like checking a box. NBCU’s presentation was far more about the “show” in show business, and it wore its heart on its sleeve rather than hiding it under a green eyeshade (talk about a legacy reference).

What’s a legacy?

NBCU’s Marshall said it best himself when, rather than deflecting the definition of NBCU as “legacy TV” he declared: “[L]egacy is not a word we shy away from. It’s our superpower. And we’re proud of our legacy because our legacy includes working with all of you [advertisers].”

Marshall’s lean-in makes great sense for NBCU, but what exactly is legacy in the tumultuous world of today? To some degree, to paraphrase the late Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart, “you know it when you see it.” Stewart was actually trying to define obscenity, but you get the point. Today Show host Savannah Guthrie – and it was wonderful to see her live and smiling – talked about NBC’s long-time role as an “influencer,” which she noted “must be built over time.” And The Tonight Show’s Jimmy Fallon observed that people often focus on what’s new but “it’s nice being a contributor to something that has been a part of people’s memories for a long time.”

How does NBCU define its legacy?

There’s no cognitive dissonance in pairing NBCU with legacy, but in TV it’s not as easy as you think to nail it. It’s not about the “platform” as NBCU today, with broadcast, cable, streaming, a movie studio and theme parks, little resembles the company of its birth. NBC is celebrating its 100^th anniversary this year and the company began in 1926 as a radio network. Yet GE sold the radio operations 40 years ago almost as soon as it bought it. There are a handful of broadcast networks today, but is there a warm and fuzzy feeling from advertisers or consumers over transmitter towers and FCC regulations?

Movies are certainly a legacy business and NBC purchased Universal Studios in 2004. But despite plenty of legacy movie titles from Frankenstein to Jaws to Jurassic Park to Schindler’s List to Despicable Me, the studio itself doesn’t have the brand cache of Disney or Warner Bros. in the eye of the public.

Of course, the upfronts are all about TV – however we define that today – but even there it isn’t a simple equation to describe what NBCU, or any legacy network brings to that table. The NBC broadcast network has been home for some of the most iconic shows in TV history, featured throughout the upfront presentation, from Howdy Doody to I Dream of Jeannie to The Office. But NBC itself did not actually produce these shows, and NBC doesn’t even own “NBC shows” such as Friends, Seinfeld and ER.

We comfortably think of the stars on the upfront stage such as Tiny Fey, Tracy Morgan and Jane Krakowski as “NBC stars” but we haven’t had a studio system in more than half a century. Actors have long been non-exclusive and take their wares to the highest bidder with the best content. Can anyone own Jamie Lee Curtis (the producer of a new NBC show)?

In the end, NBCU’s legacy is very much as Potter Stewart tried to tell us – you know it when you see it. Maybe the authenticity is in large measure about effective packaging. Who brings you all these things that “engage” audiences (in today’s advertising parlance), trigger warm memories, and contemporarily connect with genuine human emotions? That’s the NBC special sauce. How much more advertisers spend with NBCU and its legacy given the sea of media choices is the evergreen challenge.

Legacy has its limits

Sports was of course front and center for NBCU’s upfront, as the company remains the TV and streaming home of the Olympics, the NFL, NBA, the Kentucky Derby and Major League Baseball. But how far does legacy extend here? The clips NBC rolled out for the return of baseball and the NBA to the network included Hank Aaron in 1975, Kirk Gibson in 1988 and Michael Jordan from the 1990s. Those still mean a lot to many but try selling my grad students on any of these (OK, Jordan’s shoes still might win). Leveraging legacy does have a shelf life.

The upfronts also created a bit of an awkward first public stage-sharing between NBCU and its spin-off Versant Media. NBCU’s ad sales folks now represent the Versant cable properties – including CNBC, E! and USA. These networks and their programming were represented on stage but did feel a bit like a homework assignment for NBCU. Morning Joe’s Joe Scarborough even referred to the company as “Ver-SAHNT” and how much legacy can you sell for MSNOW, which wasn’t able to keep its MSNBC name? It’s a work in progress – you can only stuff so much legacy in a box.

NBCU’s legacy of comedy includes laughing at itself

One of the joys of the NBCU upfront – and an important part of its authentic legacy – was comedy. Not just its history of sitcoms and late-night programming, but an ability to poke fun at its own corporate imagery. David Letterman was famously withering towards his NBC bosses – long before they chose Jay Leno over Letterman in the legendary battle to succeed Johnny Carson. SNL began poking fun at NBC from the beginning, mocking its limited network budget by offering George Harrison and the Beatles a total of $3000 on-air to reunite on the show (“You can give Ringo less if you want”).

The upfront didn’t refrain from NBC poking fun at itself, including Seth Meyers as the wrap-up, noting among other things how great the last year was with the Super Bowl and the Olympics and that “it’s too bad we have to sell [you] this upcoming year.” Not as snarky as Jimmy Kimmel towards ABC, but tongue planted firmly in cheek throughout.

And it shouldn’t go unnoticed how prominent a place the show 30 Rock had in the presentation, including a dazzling Broadway-style number with Jane Krakowski and Tracy Morgan (briefly). That show was hilariously ruthless not only in poking fun at the leadership of the NBC network, but of its corporate parent Comcast, which in the show carried the fictional but hard-to-miss name of “Cabletown.” Can you imagine a show on Amazon Prime mocking the office politics of Jeff Bezos? Yeah, didn’t think so. Legacy doesn’t always have to mean reverence and particularly in our fraught times that is indeed a welcome attribute.