TELEVISION UNPLUGGED? The Verdict On This Year's TV Upfronts - MediaBizBuzz for June 2

IT39S NOT TV IT39S VIDEOThink of it as the Big Bang of Video We continue to expand from the first broadcast network in the 192039s to a galaxy of offerings including online platforms like Veoh Joost Fancast Hulu and Blinx In deference to Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch both of which had forecast a bearish market for the TV Upfronts scuttle over the weekend held that ABC was about to ink a pair of deals with Starcom and Zenith Media Word is that it39s getting 810 above last year39s rates Perhaps despite the slowdown a rising tide will lift all boats and we39ll see the 91B market achieved in 2007 Not that it39s a cakewalk As we veer towards February 2009 some 25 million folks are illequipped for the digital transition And long before that at the tip of our nose is an impending SAG strike Still at this moment in time it remains accurate to say that television remains the most valuable advertising medium The Verdict On This Year39s TV Upfronts Television is in an upheaval The 100day Writers Strike Viewer erosion The 2009 transition to digital This year39s Upfronts the broadcast TV industry39s annual fete for advertisers and the press reflected equal parts PostApocalypse terror and New Frontier opportunity While the bar was set low the presentations offered wildly with a few cable outlets crashing the party for the first time JackMyers Media Business Report provided realtime coverage this column attempts to get a handle on the evolving mediascape When network stalwarts like Lost and American Idol returned after the Writers Strike their ratings took a drubbing Compared to last year at that time some six million viewers went AWOL While many were lost to World of Warcraft or allyoucantext mobile plans doubtless more than a few made their way to cable which saw a banner year in ratings overall up 9 Cable took full advantage this year of broadcast39s decline in influence kickstarting the Upfronts If the strike revealed one single flawed strategy of the networks it was their overreliance of the traditional SeptemberMay programming strategy A year round permanent campaign first pursued by adsupported and premium cable helped Fox dethrone CBS as the 1 network and provided a deeper bench than its four rival broadcast networks Poststrike the networks are allabout 52week strategies and in the case of NBC 65week Each of the networks had an idiosyncratic take on what it meant to be current in the digital age the continuum ranged from NBCU39s Carnivalesque Experience to ABC39s strictlybusiness affair Jack Myers has been a Hall of Famer when it comes to putting bets on the Upfronts With the passage of time his body of forecasts are all the more impressive In this year39s TV Upfront Economic Forecast however he declined to focus on the granular marketplace instead sizing up the broader picture His bottom line quotThe next generation of Upfront buying and selling relationships will incorporate network review of advertisers39 creative strategies and an analysis of which advertising messages are most complementary to each network39s program content and which are most effective in holding audiences through commercial breaksquot seems to be already upon us in the context of several presentations this year Ed Martin covered the lion39s share of Upfronts If Jack Myers has offered apt guidance from the business side Martin39s nearly twenty years of industry experience permits him to likewise discuss the Upfronts from an historical perspective As he opined just as Upfronts were to begin quotThe question on everyone39s mind is not what shows will be on the networks39 fall schedules but how will they present this information to advertisers and the pressquot THE BIG FIVEamp160NBCU opened the Upfront week with as Martin termed it the quotMother of All Upfrontsquot While it had little to show in the way of fall content it had talent representing all of its platforms including the NBC Sci Fi iVillage Oxygen Bravo and Universal While offering little in the way of breaking news it was an effective showcase of NBCU39s phalanx of properties There was one announcement that perked up a few ears WNBCTV would be repositioned as a 24 hour newstation a rival to NY1 Our Charlie Warner took umbrage that its owners weren39t looking to serve the community better As the week wore on and asceticism become the order of the day the event was memorable for its Weimarera excess CBS struck a middle ground for the Upfronts While downscaling from previous years ie cancelling its Tavern on the Green party its presentation at Carnegie Hall included actual clips of shows The network also revealed a partnership with EQAL the folks who gave the world Lonelygirl15 and Kate Modern Soon after came news of its 18B acquisition of Cnet not exactly YouTube but definitely a play at building on its superdistribution strategy of quotfollowing the userquot as well as buying a younger demo ABC offered as promised a sober affair While the Net looked forward with a new Advertising Value Index dissembled by Jack Myers announcing that it would bring In The Motherhood to television from MSNcom where it has run up 21M views and will shortly enable online viewers to embed shows like Desperate Housewives in their blogs it took a backward stance in envisioning On Demand as an opportunity to disable fastforwarding That ship has sailed If CBS and ABC offered content The CW in a wink to its target demo had style in spades Its Upfront offered libation and libido to ABC attendees who were looking to loosen their neckties after Avery Fisher Hall Nina Spezzaferro our 1824 expert covered the event including the announcement that The CW would essentially be outsourcing its Sunday night programming to Media Rights Capital Fox was able to leverage its two Buzzy fall shows offerings from name brands Joss Whedon and JJ Abrams for maximum effect While ABC has suggested that it will increase commercial minutes on its webcasts Fox touted its RemoteFree Initiative that would limit commercial breaks to five minutes per hour While not as Bling as NBC the City Center event unified style and substance and for many was a return to the Upfronts of old CABLE FLIPPING THE SCRIPTamp160Cable39s presence at the Upfronts for many firsttime outings was striking in just how well they balanced programming integrated advertising and innovative initiatives Turner had the Chutzpah to slot itself in not preceding Upfront week proper Its presentation argued that while broadcast had been the gold standard for scripted television and cable was where you went for quotmen in tightsquot and talking cars named Kitt that times have changed It39s on broadcast network that you39ll find American Gladiators and a Knight Rider remake while cable and Turner in particular has attracted the likes of Holly Hunter and Kyra Sedgwick to series television Not only did it dangle catnip to the ad industry in the form of a new series Truth In Advertising but it described a new program TV in Context that would marry ad spots with relevant scenes If Turner was on its game MTVN was On Fire Not only did it offer an AList roster of talent but it integrated them into its branded entertainment presentation Just prior to the Upfronts Nina Spezzaferro spoke with the network on working with Unilever and PepsiCo on such offerings as the microseries Fresh Takes Onstage Stephen Colbert in character was the perfect choice for this missive quotDoritos and I broke down the outmoded barriers between the advertiser and the content that has for too long filled the useless holes between itquot Most strikingly MTV accepted responsibility not just for its content but for the quotentire length of playquot That level of commitment has served it well Viacom39s ad revenues were up 8 last year MTVN39s Spike has been likewise groundbreaking in some cases acting as an agency and producing creative for the client like Random Acts of Cheetos Aside BET39s lackluster Upfront was all the more disappointing given MTV39s stellar event Univision had to be included among everyone39s Upfront favorites It offered a mix of entertainment and a compelling proposition that the Hispanicmarket was untapped and represented value for advertisers Bravo39s Upfront not only epitomized the dynamic audience growth of cable but it was a leading example of a network exploring cuttingedge crossplatform extensions If Lifetime had any substantive news it was largely overshadowed by its poaching of Project Runway from Bravo Perhaps it was the Zeitgeist but there was a flurry of announcements coinciding with the Upfronts HBO39s addition to iTunes which saw Apple at last add flexibility to its pricing structure PBS39 partnership with The Platform which will enable it to syndicate and share video with hundreds of local affiliates

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TELEVISION UNPLUGGED? The Verdict On This Year's TV Upfronts - MediaBizBuzz for June 2

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Jerry Weinstein

"About That with Carl Mayer:" Shukmei Wong (Episode 13: Growth in Online Sports Betting) - By Carl Mayer

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TELEVISION UNPLUGGED? The Verdict On This Year's TV Upfronts - MediaBizBuzz for June 2

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