Sophie Blake
NBCUniversal is expanding its advertising capabilities by partnering with Walmart to incorporate the retail giant’s consumer data into its live sports programming. The move, unveiled at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, aims to enhance audience targeting and performance tracking for advertisers across NBCU’s sports content.
Beginning in the fourth quarter of 2025, selected advertisers will be able to tap into Walmart Connect’s shopper insights to fine-tune campaigns running across NBCUniversal’s linear and streaming platforms. The enhanced targeting will be applied to major live sports properties including the Winter Olympics, NFL coverage, the Premier League, and the NBA.
The collaboration follows a joint test campaign conducted in late 2024, in which Walmart reported a 4x return on ad spend, a 10% increase in ad recall, and a 5x higher QR code scan rate compared to its internal retail benchmarks. These results prompted NBCU to expand the offering for broader advertiser use.
Mark Marshall, NBCUniversal’s chairman of global advertising and partnerships, emphasized the value of combining the reach of live sports with measurable retail outcomes. “Live sports provide immediate audience scale. With Walmart data, we can now link that reach to real-world sales and engagement metrics,” he said during the announcement event.
This initiative builds on the existing relationship between NBCU and Walmart, which previously launched commerce-driven programming such as Must ShopTV alongside content like Below Deck Mediterranean.
The announcement also coincides with other NBCU promotions at Cannes, including the reveal of Today Fan Fest — a new series of live events tied to the Today Show brand. The week-long event, set to launch in October, will feature fan engagement experiences, music, exclusive interviews, and curated shopping opportunities.
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