The Upfront Tipping Point

The 2015-16 TV Upfront is finally over and in the books. It was accompanied by the usual cacophony of voices predicting, once again, the “end of days.” Much of the rationale for these predictions is based on flawed assumptions by people who have no first-hand knowledge of the TV buying process. But just as the stock market forecaster who each year predicts a coming catastrophe will eventually be vindicated when the market does crash, so the Upfront Apocalypsers might finally have their day. To be clear, the Upfront will not disappear next year or the year after. However, when the TV historians look back, this year may be viewed as the tipping point … the year when the Upfront started to lose its mojo.