Condé Nast has joined the premium advertising network formed last year by NBCUniversal and Vox Media, promising marketers a total digital footprint reaching more than 200 million consumers online.
The ad program, dubbed Concert, could get even more interesting to Madison Avenue if two digital players that NBCU has invested in — BuzzFeed and Snap, parent of Snapchat — decide to throw in as well.
An NBCU rep said the media conglomerate is not in discussions currently with BuzzFeed or Snap to join Concert, “but that doesn’t mean we won’t in the future.”
Last week NBCU chief Steve Burke, in a memo to staff announcing the company’s $500 million stake in Snap, played up the Peacock’s digital media investments of $1.5 billion in the last 18 months. That has included $400 million in BuzzFeed and $200 million in Vox.
The three existing Concert partners, citing comScore data, claim they already have the ability to reach 99% of millennials in the U.S. As part of their partnership, Condé Nast, NBCU and Vox have jointly developed two new ad products, focused on mobile video and branded content. In addition, Condé Nast is providing its Spire behavioral data-tracking platform to Concert, which pairs online and offline purchase data to optimize campaigns in real time.
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“Through this partnership, we and Vox Media are thrilled to join with Condé Nast – another like-minded premium content company – to not only deliver that quality content, but also reach over 200 million consumers like never before,” Linda Yaccarino, NBCU’s chairman of advertising sales and client partnerships, said in a statement.
NBCU said examples of campaigns run through Concert include: TD Ameritrade, which targeted sports fans across NBC Sports and Vox’s SBNation in the fourth quarter of 2016; and Campbell’s, which recently launched a program aimed at foodies across NBC’s “Today” show, Bravo and Vox’s Eater.
