NBC Universal’s television strategy: It’s all in the brand differentiation (and product integration)

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Page Six this morning claims that NBC Universal President Jeff Zucker and his boss, General Electric CEO Jeffrey Immelt held a “top-secret meeting” on an unnamed date with some CNBC on-air staff. The purpose? According to one person “familiar” with the meeting (which does not necessarily mean “in attendance”), concerns were raised by the execs that CNBC had become too “anti-Obama.” While this meeting may or may not have had such an agenda (CNBC’s press people denied it entirely), what is clear is that management is working harder than ever to define and differentiate -- and, along the way, thereby recession-proof -- the individual networks under the NBC Uni umbrella.

This certainly goes for CNBC, and even NBC, as Scott Collins wrote Wednesday: “In recent days a bit of life has stirred in the old peacock.” With Jeff Gaspin’s arm of Uni television -- primarily USA and SciFi -- settled and rebranded and quite profitable, the rest of the portfolio is now being similarly brought in line. NBC Uni has “a laser focus on the audience to which we speak for each of those five brands,” said Lauren Zalaznick this week, referring to the products she oversees in the “women and lifestyle” category, particularly Bravo and Oxygen. “They’re very distinct -- we blend them and bridge them when it suits the consumer, or the advertiser. We separate them when we need to make a very clear statement and we send them off in very innovative directions to keep them distinct and keep them strong.”

Zalaznick also said she was “very proud” of an article that recently ran in the New York Times that touted Bravo’s product placements. (Sorry, brand extensions!) Even though this is just the beginning of how TV will interact with advertising, already product integration into programming may extend too far for some viewers. (Update: The preceding sentence was clarified to distinguish between brand extensions and on-air advertising integration.) Doree Shafrir, a reporter at the New York Observer, Twittered this morning, after watching Bravo’s “Real Housewives of New York” last night, that she “felt like I was watching a Zarin Fabrics commercial” because the “Bravo product placement factory was in overdrive.”

In any event, these dual and complementary schemes -- integrating advertising opportunities more deeply into TV and online media, while also sending a clear message to advertisers that highly segmented demographics are easily targetable at will -- are clearly now the primary strategy focus for NBC Uni execs. For now, this can only be less true at CNBC and MSNBC, a less sexy market for advertisers than “lifestyle” -- and where the primary strategy, exemplified by Rachel Maddow, seems to be that old Tina Brown formula: Eyeballs follow the buzz. Consider the numbers from last November: Maddow was pulling in 672,000 viewers in the 25-54 demo; meanwhile, the premiere of “Top Chef” that same month did 1.87 million viewers in the 18-49 demo alone -- a number which just about matched Maddow’s total average viewership that month.

Over the last two days, a relaxed but watchful Zucker has been in front-row attendance at both Bravo’s upfront presentation on Tuesday morning and at Oxygen’s on Wednesday. The young Oxygen General Manager Jason Klarman, now only 15 months into his job, seemed so relieved when his upfront presentation went off without major hitches that, afterward, he seemed as giddy as a man who’d just climbed a mountain. The big boss drifted away, apparently satisfied. When I asked Zucker why he had come down from 30 Rock to appear at both upfronts, Zucker merely said: “Why not?”

-- Choire Sicha