The giant media company announced on April 6th that they will reduce the amount of commercials and have room for more interrupted content.
Even though there is a surge in TV viewership, advertisers are pushing back on commercials because of the pandemic. Some industries struggle to maintain relevancy and it might even be more damaging to their brand to promote themselves, because they could come off as offensive. As these marketers struggle to shape their messaging in a relevant and respectful way, NBCUniversal is helping them by limiting the commercial time and offering their creative services teams as a resource for a waived fee.
Some of the channels that will hold more uninterrupted content are MSNBC, NBC News, CNBC, and Telemundo. During primetime, they will substitute some commercial time with clips from their comedy late-night shows. NBCUniversal also plans to hold (almost) commercial-free movie nights for families.
As most states continue to enforce social distancing measures, many businesses where many people gather are shutting down. This includes movie theaters. Which is why NBCUniversal will be offering new movies on-demand for you to watch at home instead.
Jeff Shell, CEO of the company, said in a statement “we wanted to provide an option for people to view these titles in the home that is both accessible and affordable.” He says this is a better option compared to having to delay or release the films in the “challenged distribution landscape” we are currently living in.
Starting with Trolls World Tour (a Dreamworks film, which is a company under Comcast), those subscribed to Comcast Cable and Sky as well as other affiliated on-demand services will be able to rent “Now Showing in Theaters” films for $19.99 and for a period of two days. Other movies that will be released on-demand are The Invisible Man, Emma and The Hunt.
This somewhat of a power move might spark a change in the TV and film industry during the coronavirus era. Disney, one of the other media beasts in the world, also took a similar initiative by making Frozen II available for streaming on Disney + three months ahead of schedule.
As people stay quarantined in their homes, it seems like a pretty smart move for these companies to make money by focusing on their streaming services. Additionally, it wouldn’t surprise me if other media companies continued to drive a lot of its focus towards their digital and streaming services and products within the next few months. Pandemic or not, this all might translate into a significant market shift for advertisers, as they have to move in the direction the audience is consuming media inside their homes. However, this also poses a challenge for movie theater companies as well as their employees, who have not been able operate or provide their movie-going experience.
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