NBC ramps up out-of-home TV ad sales
NEW YORK, Jan 16 (Reuters) - NBC Universal, ramping up sales of TV commercials beyond living rooms, on Wednesday made its first ever industrywide pitch to top marketers like General Motors Corp GM.N and GlaxoSmithKline Plc (GSK.L) on advertising in taxis, hospitals, stadiums and elsewhere.
As TV networks face more competition for ad dollars, the General Electric Co (GE.N) unit showed dozens of marketing executives 10 alternative "out-of-home" locations that it said would rack up some 3 billion advertising impressions over the year.
The venues include commuter trains, schools, gas stations and supermarkets, some of which NBC Universal has previously sold and others that it will roll out shortly. The company also added fitness centers and colleges to its roster on Wednesday.
NBC Universal modeled the presentation at its Rockefeller Center headquarters in New York after similar pitches to TV advertisers each spring, an annual event known as the upfront.
Out-of-home, also known as outdoor, is the second fastest growing advertising outlet after the Internet.
While NBC Universal has sold spots at locations like gas stations and taxis, the deals have been relatively limited.
Using stars like Tina Fey, Jim Cramer and Jay Leno and John Madden, NBC has created short segments to run on screens. The segments could be made up of local news, weather, sports scores, trivia or entertainment. Advertisements would then run between clips, much like TV.
"You've got to make people want to watch the screen," said Mark French, head of the division selling the out-of-home advertising space, NBC Everywhere.
In the case of commuter trains, for instance, the clips will appear on screens at platforms and in cars. Two-and-a-half minute content clips customized for the trains will be broken up by 30 second advertisements.
Beyond the advertising revenue, French said the content clips also help to promote NBC TV shows, and keep customers entertained while they pump gas or check out at the grocery store.
"People feel like they are waiting in line for a shorter period of time," French said.
NBC Universal declined to discuss sales targets, but French said his division was looking at "an aggressive number."
NBC Universal is majority owned by General Electric.
(Reporting by Paul Thomasch, editing by Richard Chang)
