NBCUniversal is committing a surprising $1 billion of ad inventory ahead of the 2017-2018 upfronts for data-driven advertising. NBCU’s ambitious announcement is further proof of a growing need for broadcast networks to compete against the likes of Google and Facebook for advertising dollars. NBCU said its new ad inventory can deliver ads to targeted audiences in linear TV. It’s part of NBCU’s portfolio of data-oriented products and its multi-platform approach to advertising campaigns across broadcast and pay TV networks, digital properties and distribution partners. NBCU is offering multi-platform guarantees, instead of age and gender-based media buying which rule the world of linear TV advertising. NBCU is making a portion of its ad inventory available for marketers who want to more…