NBC ‘Nightly News’ to experiment with single sponsor

Coming this Monday, NBC Nightly News will feature just three commercials from the same advertiser, Philips Electronics. “By taking the interruptions out,” said Eric M. Plaskonos, director for brand communications at Philips, “it’s our demonstration of the gift of simplicity.” That means the newscast will end up with an extra 5 minutes and 45 seconds (the Philips spots will total just one minute and 15 seconds), which NBC News will fill with more coverage. “We’ve had a recent request to do something similar” from a second advertiser, said John R. Kelly, senior vice president for NBC News Networks. “We’re quite interested.”