The MultiPlatform Upfronts: A Roundup

We have already been covering cable upfronts in bit and pieces, but the big network upfronts action start Monday, with NBC. Not sure if this is the big breakout year for broadband/mobile, but certainly the biggest till now. MediaWeek and MediaBuyerPlanner have the best general coverage, but we have you covered on the digital media/multiplatform aspects of it. Some post and pre-coverage:
Web Beats TV? Not This Year: A reality check: While broadband television may seemingly set the tone for next week’s presentations, anyone trying to figure out the immediate ad market should focus on the Middle East and Venezuela. The upfront is primarily a referendum on corporations’ views of the economy. The prospect of gasoline’s soaring toward $4 a gallon will have a far more dramatic effect on upfront sales than any Internet opportunities created by broadcast and cable networks. And even the threat of the Internet is less than it might appear.
Curve Balls Abound in TV Ad-Selling Season: Jack Myers is still pimpin’ for the networks: “Marketers are very reluctant to move money out of television, especially in the last year with broadcasters moving their shows online and to other platforms,” Myers said. They “don’t want to lose their position as dominant incumbent advertisers.”
Bravo’s Million Dollar Listing: As is the case with all NBC Universal properties, Bravo has made digital distribution a major priority, readying several digital launches for this summer.
Broadband Crashes Cable’s Upfront Party: With advertisers still mostly squeamish about buying ads for Internet video content and consumers not yet willing to pay a premium for broadband video product, some executives say it’s hard to justify offering full-length episodes of their highly rated series on the Internet without some type of guaranteed revenue return.
Upfront Market a Test for NBC: “Network TV is more like downhill skiing in an avalanche: When [digital] starts to happen, everybody feels it,” he said. ABC, the leader with traditional programming, has also been a digital leader with its groundbreaking iPod deal and putting its popular programming on ABC.com with advertiser support and free to viewers. “They’re really setting the framework for trying to create a different kind of marketplace,” he said.
CNN to Bring Online, Mobile to Upfront Party: The ad sales team has created presentations to showcase CNN’s capabilities in online, wireless and mobile markets, both on their own and in combination with TV campaigns to reach a target it calls the “now” consumer.
New-media competition adds twist to upfronts: Some advertisers want to see what kind of new on-demand video opportunities emerge as the year goes on. “They might want to have some unallocated money available to take advantage of that,” Clausen said.
A Network Finds Its Innertube : While many dismissed last Thursday’s launch as a pre-upfront stunt, advertisers have already signed on and will likely show more interest during next week’s upfront confab.
It’s Not Cable TV. It’s Whatever: It’s multiplatform mania in cable, and MTVN’s new modes of content delivery were the focus of the company’s upfront presentation to ad buyers last week. The two-hour, celebrity-studded event, dubbed รข

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