After a year in which strikes kept actors from appearing at upfront events, 2024 looked like a battle of the network stars, as if big names equaled great content.
Tech companies pitched programming while programmers pitched advanced advertising.
While impressed by the spectacle, some buyers expressed the idea that smaller was actually more effective when it came to presentations.
Here are some highlights from a week of stage shows, sales talk and cocktails.
Hike, Hike Hike: NFL football is the hottest thing on TV, football and every company with NFL games made sure advertisers knew they had a lineup of stars on the field and in the booth, with Fox’s Tom Brady and ESPN’s Jason Kelce joining the fray. Even Netflix donned a helmet, announcing a Christmas NFL doubleheader.
More Stars Than Are in the Heavens: On Tuesday, Amazon and The Walt Disney Co. played Can You Top This with boldfaced names. Jake Gyllenhaal, Reese Witherspoon and Will Ferrell headlined for Prime Video, which needed to show programming chops. Disney showed it still has magic, rolling out Emma Stone, Ryan Reynolds, Steve Martin, Michelle Williams and Angela Bassett. Snoop Dogg, Kevin Hart, Jon Hamm, Lauren Graham and Mindy Kaling also twinkled during the week.
Also Read: Continuing Coverage of the 2024 Upfronts
Chef of the Future: In addition to having creative bona fides, each network claimed mastery of data and tech. Mark Marshall, chairman of NBCUniversal advertising sales and partnerships, declared, “This is the future of advertising, right here, right now at NBCUniversal.” Tanner Elton, VP, U.S. ad sales at Amazon, said, “We believe this is the future of advertising.” Not to be outdone, Disney president of global advertising Rita Ferro claimed, “Our advertising business is built for the future and anchored in streaming.”
One More Thing: Media companies are throwing all their assets at sponsors, calling the activity One NBCU, One WBD, and so on. Advertisers liked the idea that with streaming they could reach people watching new films and other programming that was ad-free until recently. “We’ve removed the barrier between our networks, studios and streaming platforms as well as our licensing and franchise team,” Warner Bros. Discovery chief advertising sales officer Jon Steinlauf said. Movies like Wicked, showcased by NBCU, and series like HBO’s House of the Dragon are no longer off-limits. But the notion that there is a “WBD effect” drew titters at Netflix.
Bigger Not Better: Paramount Global’s CBS and Nexstar Media Group’s The CW did not hold their traditional presentations from the days of yore. And Netflix’s initial gathering was private and small. Ad attendees weren’t complaining. Some said they preferred the more intimate alternatives to Carnegie Hall-level extravaganzas. “We don’t like being talked to,” said one media buyer. “The smaller event means we can talk.”
Not Enough Bandwidth: Amazon’s presentation was at Pier 36, which was convenient for just about no one. Getting to an upfront presentation typically involves a cab ride to a grand hall in midtown, not hopping the subway to lower Manhattan, then strolling through the Lower East Side. Amazon started late and ended late, making it difficult to get to TelevisaUnivision’s Casa Cultura way on the West Side of town. The Univision folks were not pleased. Maybe Dale Earnhardt Jr., onstage at Amazon to discuss a docuseries about his father, could’ve offered a few tips on zipping through midtown traffic. Later, at the Disney upfront, Jimmy Kimmel joked: “I heard Amazon left you guys out on the porch. You’re lucky you didn’t get stolen.”
Up To The Plate: With so much talk about the NFL, women’s basketball and the Olympics, it’s worth noting that until recently sports was not bought during the upfront. Now, with more advertisers investing more dollars in sports, they’re bundling their sports purchases with their upfront deals to boost how much they’re spending and get a better price — a tactic that’s working, one buyer said.
The Mighty A-Iger: Fresh off his proxy-war victory and effusively introduced by Emma Stone, Bob Iger, Disney CEO, made his first appearance onstage at the Disney event since 1994, when he was a fresh-faced head of programming for ABC. “To say a lot has changed since 1994 would be an incredible understatement … television used to be something you watch on a television,” Iger said. “Today we're going to share with you the incredible projects that we're working on, and later Jimmy Kimmel will be out to tear them all apart. He’ll probably be tearing me apart, too.”
Taking on the Boss: Indeed, Kimmel targeted Iger. “Bob tried to sell us last year, he put us up for sale, and as if that wasn’t bad enough, no one wanted to buy us,” Kimmel cracked. “When no one was interested, Bob explained that he didn’t mean he literally wanted to sell us, he was just testing the waters for Wall Street. You know, Bob, when people test the waters, they usually dip in a toe, they don’t drown their children.”
Facing Danger: Fox News correspondent Benjamin Hall got a standing ovation after walking onstage at the Fox event. In the early days of the war in Ukraine, Hall was catastrophically wounded outside Kyiv in an attack that killed two colleagues. The Fox presentation checked in with correspondent Trey Yingst in Israel. He said to Hall, “we’re proud to call you both a colleague and a friend.”
Amazon Delivers: Despite the late start, Amazon offered an energy that surpassed its rivals, thanks in large part to Alicia Keys kicking things off with a couple of songs.
Too Much Country: Attendees at the NBCU event at Radio City Music Hall were less enthused about Little Big Town, playing some Christmas music, in May, to hype up the band’s Christmas at the Opry special on later — much later — this year.
Big Claims: Amazon worldwide head, Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios Mike Hopkins said Prime Video has 200 million subscribers worldwide and 115 million in the U.S., making it the biggest ad-supported streaming service. Disney came back with a claim that half the world connects with Disney every day. “Half the world’s population connects with Disney every day. Did we know that? I didn’t,” retorted Jimmy Kimmel. “And you know why I didn’t? We made it up. I don’t think Jesus even connects with half the world’s population every day.”
Sign of the Times: Buyers who missed last year’s pickets got deja vu outside Fox, where demonstrators urged brands not to advertising on Fox. They were chanting “Fox News lies, democracy dies, don’t be the next Mr. Pillow guys.”
Don’t Want To Be Here: Jimmy Kimmel didn’t sound thrilled to be back at the Disney upfront. “Two years ago, I couldn’t be here in person because I had COVID and last year, I couldn’t be here because of the writers strike,” he joked. “And this year I couldn’t think of a third excuse. I tried diarrhea on the plane, but I guess they get that all the time now.”
More Funny Business: Kimmel wasn’t the only comedian. “I’m here because I love ad sales,” cracked longtime TNT Sports employee Shaquille O’Neal. “I’m the living proof of the WBD effect.” Conan O’Brien joked about O’Neal’s endorsements, noting that he’d signed even more deals while on stage the the WBD upfront. O’Brien said the endorsements were for “the Shaq and Decker circular saw, the Shaqbook laptop, the Shake Shack Shaq, Shaq Plaque Attack dental floss, Shaq Zodiac tarot cards, Shaq Kerouac On the Road Travel Books,The Cheesecake Shaqtory, Shaq-Tac-Toe, Shaq-a-mole and Shaq oat milk for the Shaq-tose intolerant.”
