- Benchmark analyst Matthew Harrigan reiterates Comcast Corp CMCSA with a Buy and a $49 price target.
- The re-rating follows Monday's NBCU upfront market presentation.
- The analyst expects interim ad head Mark Marshall to reiterate an integrated selling approach across the NBC network and linear cable channels with accelerating Peacock complementarity.
- Unsurprisingly, Marshall expressed optimism in press comments last week on the migration of dollars back to linear TV and streaming from social. Marshall cited NBC and Peacock's ability to deliver 159 million people monthly with only 10% duplication, commanding significant appeal in a fractured market.
- Despite positivity toward the upfront market, he recognized the importance of real-time marketing to address programmatic needs.
- Sunday Night Football and the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics should be prominently featured, given a better time zone relative to Tokyo and continued unique reach across critical demographics.
- The distribution partnership with Twitter will also command curiosity.
- Comcast purposely timed the presentation before the Friday departure of ad-sales chairman and new Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino. Harrigan expects near-total continuity from the NBCU ad team despite the management changes (including former NBCU CEO Jeff Shell's absence).
- The upfront market remains uncertain given macro uncertainties, including the U.S. debt ceiling, with many corporate budgets not finalized and buyers (surprise) projecting a significant reversal from 2022's 5.8% increase in linear TV commitments to $20.1 billion per Media Dynamics.
- The superior reach of NBCU is essential to marketing a movie release tally beyond pre-pandemic levels, with 60 auto and 32 pharma product launches in the following advertising year. The 4Q alone will feature 16 major films, 17 auto launches, and 10 pharma releases – an unprecedented new product cycle. All of these necessitate building brand equity.
- Price Action: CMCSA shares traded higher by 0.01% at $40.21 on the last check Monday.
© 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
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