NBCU’s Jeff Shell Keeps Cards Close To Chest On Rumoured Netflix Ad Deal, Talks Up Apple News Partnership – Cannes Lions

deadline.com:

If there is any blossoming romance between Netflix and NBCUniversal amid speculation the former is looking for an ad sales partner, the latter’s CEO Jeff Shell wasn’t spilling the beans Wednesday when he sat down for a discussion at the Cannes Lions event.“I’m not going to comment on any conversations we may be having or have had,” he said calmly when questioned by CNBC’s Julia Boorstin, though he couldn’t resist adding: “I’m not surprised that some of our SVOD partners are getting into the ad business — that’s where the money is.”The question followed reports that Netflix has been in talks with NBCU, Google and Roku over possible ad sales partnerships as the SVOD service gears up to launch an ad-supported tier some time next year.More openly, Shell referred instead to his company’s partnership with Apple, which sees NBCU sell ads for the tech giant’s Apple News service, noting: “We spend a lot of money on our content and our whole goal is to find partners, [so] I’m very proud of the Apple News partnerships.

It started out on the domestic [platform] and it’s been so successful they gave us international as well.”Earlier this week, it was announced NBCU would sell ads for Apple News and Apple Stocks in the UK.NBCUniversal Boss Jeff Shell Says Netflix “Noise” Helps “Validate” Peacock’s Path; Streaming Outlet Adds 4M Paid Subscribers In Q1Shell added, just in case any prospective partners might be listening, that “the ad business is not something you just fire up — we’ve been in it for decades and decades.

It’s increasingly about data and systems. We use a first-party data network, which brings huge insight into how people are using our products.”Shell has been at the helm of Comcast’s NBCU for two extraordinary years,