NBCUniversal CEO Steve Burke is finding out that sometimes the stench of spending 10 years in the ratings basement cannot be deodorized in a single season.
Burke, who claims his Peacock Network is poised to finish the TV season as the overall ratings winner — as well as in the morning, evening news and late-night categories — will still have to live with a Madison Avenue discount when it comes to grabbing his share next month of the $9 billion in upfront ad spends.
The discount is tied to NBC’s recent poor performance.
Still, the 55-year-old TV executive thinks he deserves more because NBC brings in more young viewers than its rivals.
“We’re in an 18-to-49-year-old business,” Burke told the media at a lunch Monday on the 51st floor of NBCU headquarters at 30 Rockefeller Center.
Burke has said that NBC is 15 to 20 percent behind rivals, but he wants to close the gap now that the network is on a firmer footing this season — thanks to shows such as “The Blacklist” and “The Voice” as well as the NFL and the Winter Olympics.
The media briefing — the first upfront media event in three years — was held in a room lined with black-and-white photos of former NBC executives Grant Tinker, David Sarnoff, Brandon Tartikoff and others from the Peacock’s golden years.
But after NBC fell from first to fourth place in 2004-05 as “Friends” and “Frasier” ended their runs, Madison Avenue decided it no longer wanted to a pay a premium.
The decade-long drought has made it tough for NBC to keep up with the annual percentage increases levied by other broadcasters. The network was acquired by Comcast from General Electric in 2010.
NBC earned $89,156 per 30-second spot in the first quarter of 2014.
That’s far behind Fox, which earned $156,435 per spot; CBS, which tallied $109,792; and ABC, which earned $97,230, according to data provided by Sqad.
Burke, flanked by ad sales chief Linda Yaccarino and chief researcher Alan Wurtzel, noted that NBC’s programming — NFL and Olympics included — had a 30.5 percent share of the broadcast network market in the advertiser demo of 18-to-49-year-olds. CBS came in second, Fox third and ABC in last place, he said, with just 19.7 percent season to date.
The aim is to change the conversation around demographics when it comes to who places first in the morning, Burke said.
The exec said there was a more positive attitude at “Today,” where the anchors are “talking about their jobs in completely different terms.”
“Today” earned a 1.2 rating in the 18-to-49 demo and $500 million in ad revenue, just nipping ABC’s “Good Morning America” and its 1.1 rating in the C3 commercial currency that advertisers trade on.
Burke admitted that “GMA” is No. 1 in total viewers — but “we sell on 18-to-49, and we’ve been No. 1 virtually every week.”
News shows are typically bought on a slightly older 25-to-54 demo — where “GMA” wins handily: 1.74 to 1.65.