Comprehensive SWOT Analysis of NBC – The Big Three American Television Network

Quick Stats on NBC

Founder	David Sarnoff
Year Founded	1926
Origin	United States
No. of Employees	50,000+
Company Type	Public
Market Cap	$1.518 Billion (2021)
Annual Revenue	$10.85 Billion (2020)
Net Income/ Profit	N/A

 

Products & Services by NBC

• Radio
• Television
• Television Programs 
• Paid Subscription
• Network

Competitors of NBC

• CNN
• Grasswire
• KompasTV
• AAJ NEWS

Now that we understand the company, let’s dig into the SWOT analysis of NBC.

SWOT Analysis of NBC

SWOT analysis is a simple tool that can help you analyse what your company is doing better now and then plan for a successful future. SWOT can also expose business areas that delay you, which your competitors can take advantage of and may exploit you if you do not protect them.

To better understand the SWOT analysis of NBC, refer to the infographics image below.

Below is an explicit guide to the SWOT analysis of NBC.

Strengths of NBC

A company’s strength is a competitive advantage that allows a company to win, generate value and gain efficiency. NBC’s strengths are as follow:

• Enormous Stations: The network has a national reach of 88.91% of all households in the United States. NBC has 12 owned and operated stations and is currently pending affiliation agreements with 223 additional television stations encompassing 50 states.
• International Broadcasting: NBC broadcasts its shows and programs in almost every nation on the globe. Its English shows, news, kids programs, and video on-demand services are famous among people.
• Strong Cash Flow: As NBC is a multinational company. It has a huge international presence so they have a huge cash flow. Their revenue is in the billions. They have a good amount of profit. Due to the strong cash flow, they have sufficient resources and so that they can expand their business.
• Strong Distribution of Network: As a successful international company, they have many companies that are a huge market for the divisions. They have a strong network of distribution that helps the company such as NBC entertainment and NBC news.
• Good Returns on Capital Expenditure: NBC has a successful track record and builds reliable trust among international consumers. They also have a successful record of merging and acquisition of big firms.

Weaknesses of NBC 

The area where the brand or company needs an improvement or there is a chance to improve and make it big and help the company to grow faster by finding out the incapabilities and weak points are referred to as weaknesses. Following are some of the weaknesses of NBC:

• Changing Trends: As an international mass media company, they have to change according to the local market. they have to tackle the care of local consumer behaviour.
• Organization Structure: NBC is compatible with the current business model and so that it has some limits with the expansion of the segments. Time Warner suggested that NBC has failed to gain strong footprints in space. As compared to the competitors they have high inventory so they have to invest more capital in the firm and ]the longer run, it can affect the company. 
• Mostly Dependent on Advertising: One of the weaknesses of NBC mostly depends upon the advertising, affiliate, and subscription fee, which gained almost 70%of the total business as per the 2014 report. They can be improved by growing and developing a large broadcasting network
• Age Group: Their target group is mostly adults, the age category between 15-35 years. The viewers of overreliance on NBC entertainment are down by 6%. Because they are over-reliant on reality shows.

Opportunities for NBC

Opportunities means the aspects of the ground where brands can have the avenue that surrounds the environment to grow and make more profit or returns. Following are some of the opportunities for NBC:

• New Market: There is a great opportunity for NBC as there is the availability of new markets opening up. The world is going under globalization and many governments are adopting new technologies. Due to the government agreement as there is free trade that gives new opportunities to NBC. 
• Growing Economy: One of the great opportunities for NBC is the growing economy. There is a rising economy that brings the international mass media company NBC with new customers. They can gain new customers with a good strategy. They have captured three separate businesses as a result they have a huge broadcast in countries like India. 
• International Growth: As a multinational mass media company, NBC is constantly looking for a new market to grow internationally. They have a huge stake in India and Latin America. 
• Consolidation: Over the years they have established many companies such as NBC entertainment and NBC news. For the growing business, they have to arrange funds they need for support for the operations and shareholders friendly initiatives and the company mainly depends upon acquisitions and merging.

Threats to NBC

Threats referred to the factor in the environment of the business that put a hurdle to the brand to grow. It slows down the growth of the business. Following are some of the threats for NBC:

• Strong Competition: One of the biggest threats of the international mass media company, NBC is the strong competitor. One of the biggest competitors is Netflix. As Netflix has huge popularity and is the biggest streaming platform and it is also user-friendly and consumers prefer the platform. 
• Online Platform: One of the biggest threats to the broadcasting television company is the online platform. As many users are preferring online platforms over television.
• Criticism & Controversies: The NBC television network has been charged for tolerating a culture of sexism and sexual harassment among its employees and also of protecting up blunders committed by major figures in the company through force campaigns against victims that have widespread use of non-disclosure agreements.
• Currency Fluctuations: As an international mass media company, NBC has to consider the fluctuations in the currency of different countries.
• Changes in the Policies: They have an international market, if the government changes its policies they have to change it according to the respective country’s lawsuit.

With this, we have reached the end of the SWOT Analysis of NBC. This analysis helps the company to know where it stands in the market and understand its weaknesses and create proper strategies to improve in the future.