The Upfront: Still a Big Deal - Michael Kassan

It's good to be a first mover. It's better to be the prime mover.
Sharing is good. Watching is better.
And what part of the phrase "discounted pricing" did we not understand?
What do all three of these statements have in common? They're all reasons why I love the Upfront.

The Upfront season is officially upon us, as we know from the uninterrupted string of parties and presentations on our calendars this week, because there's a run on shrimp and cocktail sauce, and Les Moonves has made his annual the-networks-are-going-to-clean-up-this-year prediction. These things are to the Upfront what a rooster is to daybreak. And the pundits appear to be siding with Les this year—Upfront 2011 could be epic.

The most refreshing part of this year's Upfront season is not the prospect of a $10 billion marketplace and its inevitable byproduct, delightfully over-the-top melodrama and excitement. It's that, blessedly, for the first time in several years, nobody is claiming that the Upfront is dead, going to die, or has outlived its usefulness. Just like television itself, the Upfront is too big to die. And that's good for everybody's business.

As marketers, media companies and agencies settle into a less hysterical and more productive relationship with digital technology, as we've learned to dump the bathwater without bothering the baby, television has righted itself, and the Upfront with it. All of us, buyers, sellers and viewers alike, are gratefully returning to our originally scheduled programming, which is:

Television remains by far the most effective channel in our amped-up, hyped-up, bulked up media world—the prime mover;

Emerging media, particularly social networks, are extraordinary cultural phenomena and communications tools but their ability to amplify sharing can't replace television's knack for delivering what people want to watch, and the persuasive punch that accompanies great storytelling (by the content, in the content, or in TV ads themselves).

The Upfront's deceptively simple proposition—buy early and we'll give you a deal—is a primeval business truth. Getting something cheaper in exchange for purchasing right now was probably how the first mastodon steaks in history were bought and sold. And the concept remains as relevant to buying time and space as it is to buying toothpaste or Snickers.

What's more, every spring, the Upfront shines a spotlight on our brightest stars and our biggest issues. Whether the subject is digital technology, metrics, time-skipping, viewer erosion, social networks, is Ashton for Charlie a good trade for Two and a Half Men (Ashton can field; now we'll find out if he can hit),or how high will The Voice take NBC (It's a home run for Comcast in it's first at bat; now we'll see if it's a one-shot or the start of a comeback), each Upfront gets us buzzing about that year's opportunities and challenges, and the state of the industry in general. And built into every Upfront deal are learnings that expand far beyond the screens. Our favorite annual business bazaar also functions as a living laboratory for integrated marketing that produces all sorts of fascinating gambits that mix and match media platforms.

With all of the developments making news in our business today, this year's Upfront could be even more impactful. Perhaps a new program format will hit critical mass. Maybe a smart new way to magnify television's reach across all the different ways in which it's viewed these days will emerge. Perhaps we'll witness the birth of a new approach to measuring TV's effectiveness. Or a branded integration play we've not seen before.

One thing we do know: in a marketplace or an ecosystem, when the economy booms or lists, the Upfront doesn't merely survive, it thrives. And it does so not because of inertia or nostalgia but because it's a damn good idea.

And those never get old.

Michael E. Kassan is Chairman and CEO of MediaLink, LLC, a leading Los Angeles and New York City-based advisory and business development firm that provides critical counsel and direction on issues of marketing, advertising, media, entertainment and digital technology. Michael can be reached at michael@medialinkllc.com

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