Ad Commitments For NBC's "SNF" Already Nearing Sales Revenue Total From '12

Coming out of the upfront selling season, NBC Sports Group has booked advertising commitments around "SNF" that make up 97% of the ad sales revenue that the network brought in for the top-rated series last year, NBC execs said. Last year at this time, that number was in the 75-80% range for total revenue booked in '11. NBC Sports Group Exec VP/Sales & Marketing Seth Winter credited NBC's robust sales performance to a hot sports market, particularly in the automotive and technology sectors. "Look at those major technology companies, like Microsoft, Samsung, Apple," Winter said. "These kind of companies are looking at sports as a significant platform to tell their story and sell their products." Winter also credited an internal change at NBC Universal with helping to drive ad sales. NBCU merged all network sales departments into one organization overseen by NBCU President of Advertising Sales Linda Yaccarino. "We can go to market, side-by-side, with properties like Esquire and CNBC and SyFy Channel --­ other male-oriented properties with upscale men that we can bring to an advertiser," Winter said. "The Golf Channel viewer and the CNBC viewer are very similar. Advertisers are looking for genres and sports sponsorships. But at the end of the day, they are looking for a particular type of viewer that we can deliver." In addition to "SNF," NBC Sports Group is selling the NHL, its new EPL schedule and the '14 Sochi Games. Once the upfront selling season ends, Winter's team will look to sell long-term sponsorships around "SNF." Winter said, "Right after the upfront, we'll be in the process of renewing a lot of these franchise sponsorships for the next three-to-five, some longer, year deals." He added, "This year, we started that other part of the process, that non-sponsorship, non-long-term part. We started it very early on because of the portfolio and the ability to ignite the marketplace more quickly."