NBCUniversal will return to Radio City Music Hall for its 2026 upfront presentation on May 11.
“For over 100 years, NBC has defined the U.S. television landscape for generations of viewers,” NBCUniversal global advertising and partnerships chairman Mark Marshall said in a statement. “As we head into our centennial year, we’re not just celebrating our legacy – we’re setting the course for what’s next. We’ll showcase the future of advertising, content, and technology, highlighting NBCUniversal’s leadership in innovative ad solutions and tapping into the full power of our ecosystem to unlock new possibilities for brands, creators, and audiences.”
The presentation will spotlight the combined strength of NBCUniversal and Versant, whose collective reach in 2026 totals 286 million consumers. The companies struck an agreement to represent Versant though the next two upfront cycles earlier this year.
For the 2026-27 upfront season, the former will present the latter’s domestic networks and their associated digital content, including CNBC, E!, Golf Channel, MSNBC, Oxygen, SYFY and USA.
Telemundo will also make its return to the Tuesday evening slot on May 12 as it entertains clients at an exclusive experience in New York City ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
For the 2025-26 season, NBCU smashed records with a nearly 15% increase in ad commitments across its broadcast offerings, including news, sports and entertainment. It also touted its largest digital upfront and strongest sports upfront in history.
Peacock saw an over 20% year over year increase, representing nearly a third of the media giant’s total upfront commitments, while Versant saw a nearly 10% increase in clients investing in its brands.
The company’s new 11-year media rights deal with NBA contributed to a 20% increase in new clients compared to the 2024-2025 season and a 45% year over year increase in volume. Over 25% of NBCUniversal’s NBA advertisers will be new to broadcast this year.
NBCUniversal has nearly sold out all of its ad inventory for the NBA’s 2025-26 season, with almost 170 partners investing in the property. Over 20% of NBCUniversal’s NBA advertisers are new to the company, with nearly 10% of new investments into the franchise at large from first-time brands. More than 70% of NBCU’s clients are investing across broadcast and streaming, while over 30% of overall NBA investment has gone solely towards digital inventory. Investments in linear exceeded initial expectations by more than 20%.
In addition to the NBA, the Milan Cortina Olympics, Super Bowl LX and the FIFA World Cup drove record volume, outpacing all three of the property’s combined previous benchmarks. Telemundo experienced its best upfront to date, already exceeding the revenue for the previous World Cup.
Bravo represented nearly 20% of the company’s entire entertainment demand across broadcast and cable, BravoCon attracted record-breaking interest across all key categories and prompted returning sponsors to commit larger investments to secure category exclusivity and elevate creative activations.
The company brought in nearly $1 billion in programmatic advertisements and saw record revenue growth across categories including retail, restaurants, auto, travel, and financial services – with all of them growing by approximately 12%. NBCU also said nearly 60% of ad investments were being made against “advanced audiences.” It also generated 30% “net-new small-medium business (SMB) clients” during the upfront.
