NBC/Uni Expects to Book $4 Billion In Advertising

Looks like yesterday's announcement between NBC and Group M is just the beginning. At an investor conference today, NBC Universal President and Chief Executive Jeff Zucker said that his company expects to book about $4 billion in advance advertising commitments for the 2007-2008 season across all its media properties, up slighlty from last year. According to Reuters, Zucker said that NBC's last-place audience ratings were factored into the earnings. "We've already taken a big hit," he said. "It's already in those numbers and we believe there is only upside going forward." But his big message to Wall Street is that the performance of the once-dominant Peacock no longer drives the bottom line of NBC Universal, according to Variety. Cable TV has become the biggest and most-important part of the NBCU's media portfolio.The company expects to post nearly $1 billion in revenue from its digital properties, such as Internet entertainment sites this year, and plans to see digital revenue growth of almost 50 percent in 2008. Meanwhile, NBC Television Studio is changing its name to further reinforce its mission of cross-platform programming. It will now be called Universal Media Studios. "NBC Universal is the premier content company on the planet, and this name change reflects our TV studio's natural evolution as digital distribution expands and more platforms need premier ideas and programming," NBC co-chairman Ben Silverman said.