Rethink the Upfront? 📺

By Greg Kahn
Emerging Tech Exchange
Founder & CEO

Published on May 16, 2023

It’s TV Upfront Week. And even though every year has calls for change, is ‘23 the year the big content preview show evolves into something more relevant for buyers and sellers?

Actually, the studios and the networks don’t have much of a choice. This year’s event is a watershed moment. It’s either change or become history.

The Upfront has proved influential. It inspired the digital media NewFronts & the gaming industry’s PlayFronts.

But this week’s events are forcing buyers to navigate a new landscape as media consumption habits & expectations have dramatically changed.

And there’s an elephant in the room at this year’s Upfront: more specifically, it’s on the picket line outside the events. 

Network executives, talent, and buyers will not be able to ignore the picket lines of the writers’ strike.

The strike is centered on more money. But it’s also about the future of media and creativity: among the Writers Guild of America’s strike demands are provisions to protect script production from the use of generative artificial intelligence, which has upended the media and advertising industries this year.

On an individual level, just days before its Monday Upfront presentation, NBCU lost its highly-respected ad chief, Linda Yaccarino, who announced she was departing the network to become CEO of Twitter.

Yaccarino will be focusing on executing Musk’s vision of turning Twitter into “X Corp” — “the everything platform” designed to be the center of consumers’ ecommerce and media experience.

It’s another sign to network chiefs and media conglomerates: it’s long past time to change.

We need marketplaces to organize the vast array of media buying and selling opportunities. But the current TV Upfront doesn’t satisfy the needs for the networks, marketing executives or agencies. 

It doesn’t adequately incorporate new media forms, such as the Creator Economy and Gamification, AI and live shopping.

We don’t need to cancel all the parties and receptions. We can keep the talent and TV pilot showcases.

But instead of the daily spectacles, how about we rebuild the Upfront into a true marketplace?

The Cannes Film Festival (which begins tomorrow) and associated markets offer a better model.

Let’s have several days— 3 or 4 times a year — when content owners showcase their work and make formal pitches to advertisers. These could take place in various locations around the globe (Cannes of course, New York, Los Angeles).

The studios and networks recognize the need for change. Last year, Paramount dropped the traditional model, opting for private dinners where deals could be made without competitors and the press looking on in real-time.

CW’s parent company Nexstar is also skipping the usual showcase. This year, Netflix is going all virtual. 

If you were coming up with a marketplace for content buying across broadcast, cable, streaming, what would it look like?

Would it automatically include a digital component?

Greg Kahn 

Emerging Tech Exchange
Founder & CEO

About Greg Kahn >