Upfront Update: Scripps' Multi-Course Upfront Meal - Simon Applebaum

With six channels under the corporate umbrella of Scripps Networks witnesses to the company39s annual New York breakfast presentation could count on a lot to digest They appeared in a fair mood to digest both cuisine and channelbychannel information at least on this midApril morning in questionVenue Almost two months after playing host to the first upfront covered in this set of columns TVOne Cipriani39s was back in action The flexible atrium across from Grand Central Station looked far more stately this second time around perhaps too statelyrows of brown chairs instead of plush sofas and pillows On stage silos on either side showcased network logos and the overall quotBrands For Now Brands For Lifequot mantra Food from the inhouse chefs hit the spot again especially the bananahazelnut minicakes Grade BplusPresentation In earlier years Scripps rarely deviated from its upfront styleeach network39s chief executive delivers overview of past rating results current and future programming highlights illustrated by videos This time out the approach was modified in two effective ways Instead of a welledited opening montage of show clips the montage featured welledited feedback from viewers and show hosts demonstrating the appeal and impact of each service Second personalities from each net hit the stage to wax briefly about their work or fan reaction before passing the baton to their exec boss Favorite line from multishow Food NetworkCooking Channel host Bobby Flay quotIf you watch the last 10 seconds of that video where he does a brief shuffle behind the grill you39ll know why I turn down Dancing With The Stars every yearquot Runnerup line again from Flay quotGuy Fieri another multishow regular39s made an art form of eating every fried egg sandwich in Americaquot Grade ANews Value Twenty is the magic number for the majority of Scripps39 servicesas in at least 20 new series starting on Travel Channel Home ampamp Garden TV DIY Food Network and Cooking Channel over the next year That39s 100plus new shows on these services combined making it a daunting task to hit every potential highlight That39s not counting specials or stunt weeks including Food39s firstever live Thanksgiving Day adventure this fall Scripps gave it a nice college try with the promising new shows in this corner Forbidden Access and Sand Guys Travel Run My Makeover HGTV39d My Yard Goes Disney and All American Handyman HGTV Tough Cookies and Heat Seekers Food Wished Food disclosed more about the Thanksgiving Day plans given you39re out to expand what39s viewable live that day beyond parades football and dog shows Grade AminusHost Good picks on the personality side especially Flay Great American Country39s Nan Kelley and Travel39s Adam Richman The ebullient Richman is of particular notehe was in the advertising industry before switching careers to matters of taste rather than time buysAll the execs did their sections well from Laureen Ong at Travel and HGTV39s Jim Samples to Brooke Johnson doing double duty for Food and Cooking Channel Suggestion for next spring invite Nadia G the allattitude proprietor of Bitchin39 Kitchen on Cooking to pay a visit Her food is fun to watch and her humor spoton Grade AminusOverall Grade Aminus Scripps seasoned its format stew a bit this year giving its pitch more relevancy and ultimately more connection among the audience being pitchedSpecial Recognition For wrapping up with an example of innovative work by an advertiser transforming how people perceive that company or their products Kellogg39s participated in a Next Iron Chef episode last fall where contestants whipped up dinners using cereal That39s the first time thousands of people saw Raisin Bran or Special K used beyond breakfast and the episode supplemented by onaironline campaigns gave the company legitimacy as an allpurpose food supplierUntil the next time stay well and stay tunedSimon Applebaum is hostproducer of Tomorrow Will Be Televised the Internet radiopodcastdistributed program about the TV scene The program runs live at 3 pm Eastern time noon Pacific time over wwwblogtalkradiocom with replays available 247 at wwwblogtalkradiocomsimonapple04 Podcasts are downloadable off ITunescom and 17 other Web sites arranged by Sonibyte wwwsonibytecom Have a question or reaction Email it to simonapple04yahoocom Read all Simonamp8217s MediaBizBloggers commentaries at Tomorrow Will Be TelevisedCheck us out on Facebook at MediaBizBloggerscomFollow our Twitter updates MediaBizBloggerMediaBizBloggers is an openthought leadership blog platform for media marketing and advertising professionals companies and organizations To contribute contact Jackmediadvisorygroupcom The opinions expressed in MediaBizBloggerscom are not those of Media Advisory Group its employees or other MediaBizBloggerscom contributors Media Advisory Group accepts no responsibility for the views of MediaBizBloggers authors

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Upfront Update: Scripps' Multi-Course Upfront Meal - Simon Applebaum

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Upfront Update: Scripps' Multi-Course Upfront Meal - Simon Applebaum

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