The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon is jumping into the metaverse as part of a deal with sponsor Samsung.
Viewers of Wednesday nights episode of NBCUniversal’s late-night show will be urged to head to Fortnite, where they will be able to play games and visit locations, including the Tonight Show writers’ room and a Samsung store. Gamers can help Jimmy Fallon get to Studio 6B, race up 30 Rockefeller Center or play pong on rooftops along the New York skyline.
Fallon teased the Tonight at the Rock interactive experience last week’s shows. The games launch Tuesday and Wednesday’s Tonight Show features a major integration that explains what viewers can find in the immersive experience, which is enabled by Samsung’s Galaxy products.
Samsung has had several high profile integrations with the Tonight Show including a Five-Boroughs edition of the show, a Tonight Show festival of films shot on Samsung phones and a post-Super Bowl campaign.
“At Samsung, we’re always looking for opportunities to give users one-of-a-kind experiences with their Galaxy devices,” said Janet Lee, senior VP of mobile experience at Samsung Electronics America. “Tonight at the Rock empowers fans with a unique social adventure right in the heart of 30 Rock, all enhanced through in-game Samsung power-ups made possible by the Galaxy ecosystem. We are so excited to offer late night fans the first ever interactive Tonight Show gaming experience, in a way that honors our longstanding creative partnership.”
NBCU has been rolling out new ad formats and executions as it tries to reduce commercial clutter and make its programming more watchable. There are billboards for Samsung and Tonight Show branding inside the Fortnite experience.
“We’ve been collaborating with Samsung on unique, engaging integrations for over the past few years to bring Tonight Show audiences first-of-its-kind experiences they can’t connect with anywhere else,” said Mark Marshall, president, advertising and partnerships, NBCUniversal. “Now, we are transforming with our partners as the industry dives further into tech enabled activations such as metaverse platforms redefining interactive advertising within iconic pieces of IP like NBC’s late night slate.”
As part of the experience, Fallon appears in the game, along with virtual versions of 30 Rock and other New York locations.
“At NBCUniversal, innovation happens at the intersection of creativity and technology. We’re focused on creating unique opportunities for our partners across NBCU's vast portfolio of iconic IP that tap into the latest consumer and cultural trends,” said Sari Feinberg, senior VP, marketing, creative partnerships, advertising & partnerships, NBCUniversal. “For the first-time in NBCU partnership history between The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and Samsung, brings an entirely new, interactive gaming experience to fans in the metaverse and at the same time provides a great platform to showcase Samsung in a new creative way.”
The games will be available in Fortnite, which is playable for free across PC, Android devices, Consoles including xBox, PlayStation and Nintendo Switch, and many browser-enabled devices.
The experience was by Momentum, and is not sponsored, endorsed or administered by Epic Games, the creator of Fortnite, NBCU said.
"Partnering with the iconic Tonight Show, the genius of Jimmy Fallon, and the talented NBCUniversal, Epic and Samsung teams to innovate as we have is a dream opportunity," said Jason Alan Snyder, chief technology officer, Momentum Worldwide. "We are proud to continue evolving our metaverse practice with the Tonight Show by pushing the limits of creative storytelling for brands in Fortnite. The individual games are leading-edge technologically and have been designed to unite people worldwide through community building.” ■
