Day 1 of the 2024 Upfronts is in the books, and it’s already clear that this year’s event represents the high watermark of what’s becoming a truly Convergent TV advertising landscape.
In a post-pandemic, post-strike world, both NBCUniversal and FOX packed the house — with advertisers and celebrities — to highlight a wide range of linear and streaming programs, as well as advertisers’ ability to engage audiences across screens and platforms.
While each network had its own selling points, both combined the allure of major live events like the Olympics and the Super Bowl with fresh, on-demand programming aimed at a growing audience of cord-cutters.
Clearly, we can already see the overarching theme of the Upfronts for the major media companies: here’s how we remain at the peak of cultural relevance – and more importantly, at the pinnacle of premium pricing – in the face of ferocious competition from the likes of Amazon, YouTube, and Netflix.
Here’s what else stood out during the opening day of this year’s Upfronts.
Not All Impressions Are Created Equal: NBCU Touts the Importance of Cross-Platform Outcomes Measurement
NBCUniversal kicked off Monday morning with a star-studded show at Radio City Music Hall, highlighted by Jimmy Fallon, Kevin Hart, Kenan Thompson, Bowen Yang, Heidi Gardner, Reba McEntire, Seth Meyers, Kelly Clarkson, Michael Bublé, and lots of Snoop Dogg.
Mark Marshall, NBCU Chairman of Global Advertising and Partnerships returned to position NBCU as the only family of networks capable of connecting the world-class content, scale, technology, and data that advertisers need to drive and measure real advertising impact. (Industry observers might be tempted to compare this with what Disney will showcase this week, but again what each is really talking about is their differentiation versus the tech giants.)
As Marshall put it, “Not all impressions are created equal,” and it’s not enough for brands to
merely “reach” audiences across platforms — they also need to connect with and engage them. During his presentation, the NBCU ads chief presented several case studies demonstrating how the company’s One Platform Total Audience cross-platform buying tool helps brands move their target audiences closer to purchase.
At EDO, we were thrilled to see Marshall include an EDO metric showing how an NBCU client’s cross-platform campaign generated 22% more total engagement than a similar campaign run exclusively through linear channels. After years of making the case for predictive TV outcomes, seeing forward-thinking executives like Marshall going beyond simple age-and-gender audience breakdowns is a powerful signal of an increasingly streaming-first world.
Other highlights of NBCU’s presentation included a sharp-elbowed monologue from late night host Seth Meyers, a goose-bump-inducing promo package for the upcoming Paris Olympics, and the world premiere of a new trailer for the upcoming summer blockbuster Wicked that was released exclusively to those physically in the room.
In introducing the Wicked trailer, NBCUniversal Studio Group Chair and Chief Content Officer Donna Langley presented a compelling case for how the company intends to use its combination of theatrical, broadcast, cable, and streaming touchpoints to drive results for advertisers.
In a fully convergent, cross-platform world, the winning networks will be the ones who can help their advertising clients engage audiences wherever and however they consume premium video content.
FOX is Winning With Women’s Sports
Speaking of winning, on- and off-field victories were a central theme of FOX’s presentation in Monday afternoon’s Upfronts slot, kicked off by Michael Strahan and Gordon Ramsay. As FOX Sports reporter Erin Andrews put it in the network’s celebration from the Manhattan Center, “Who doesn’t love winning?”
Throughout the event — which included lots of off-the-cuff commentary by Will Arnett, Joel McHale, and even Jamie Foxx — the network promoted its massive audiences across its news and sports programming, as well as a cavalcade of sports-legends-turned-broadcasters that included Michael Strahan, Rob Gronkowski, Alex Rodriguez, and Derek Jeter.
Of course, the headliner of the bunch was Tom Brady, the newest addition to the FOX NFL broadcast team. During the event, Strahan announced that Brady will make his much-anticipated debut calling a Dallas Cowboys’ NFL game as part of an exclusive weekend doubleheader.
But it wasn’t just male athletes who took the spotlight at FOX’s upfront presentation. As big-time women’s sports fans, we were pleased to see FOX highlight its record 14 women’s NCAA basketball on broadcast TV this past season, as well as viewership that more than doubled from the season before.
Like Michael Strahan, Erin Andrews also had an exciting piece of news to share: On Dec. 21, FOX will broadcast what could be the premiere regular-season contest of the 2024-25 campaign, a battle between Paige Bueckers’ UConn Huskies and the University of Southern California, led by star guard JuJu Watkins. As an added bonus, the game will be broadcast following an NFL lead-in.
Jeff Collins, Fox’s President of Advertising Sales, Marketing and Brand Partnerships, highlighted FOX’s focus, while Anjali Sud, Tubi’s new CEO, highlighted the growth of its FAST platform among younger audiences,new content and growing, youthful audiences on its FAST platform Tubi, popular broadcast hits like the Rob Lowe-hosted game show The Floor, and some…animated banter between actors Jon Hamm, Will Arnett, Joel McHale, and a flute. The ever-intriguing Ken Jeong and even Lisa Vanderpump showed up!
After an exciting opening day at this year’s Upfronts, we’re looking forward to seeing what broadcast and streaming excitement the rest of the week will bring. To paraphrase Brady, Strahan, and Ramsay, “Let's go!”