Why This Year's Upfronts Were... Different
1. The Upfronts Tackle Hybrid Viewing
So the Upfronts were this week and they are indeed very different. I mean yes, the gist was the same “here are our new shows, buy ads on them!” and there was ample use of famous people, but given that ad-supported streaming is now firmly a thing, the vibe was very much focused on this new hybrid future and the fact that you can now buy ads against all the really good shows too, e.g. the ones the networks deemed “stream-worthy.”
The final bit of Upfront news was WBD CEO Dave Zaslav’s assertion that his network would soon become the fifth major broadcast network. Which was notable not so much for the claim itself—that’s highly likely—but for the fact that being one of the major broadcast networks is still a thing.
In prior years, there was a distinct impression that the good shows, the ones the various networks really cared about, were all on streaming and that the B-team was on broadcast.
This went hand-in-hand with the notion that there was, in fact, a “massive wave of cord-cutting”, that linear TV would soon be dead, and that the only people still watching pay TV were elderly Luddites hidden away in the darkest corners of Flyoverstan.
That perception has shifted however…[READ MORE]
2. Comcast Does Some Future-Proofing
Comcast is getting serious about entering the TV Operating System Wars, laying out plans for their new joint venture with Charter that will also see their Flex OS available for license to third parties. That’s in addition to the continued rollout of their XClass smart TV in Walmart stores and their Flex device to Comcast broadband customers.?
The goal seems to be to provide a path forward for other MVPDs in the new streaming-first ecosystem that does not involve the MVPDs giving up their current status by having to partner with a third party.
Comcast is facing reality: they have—and will continue to have— a growing number of subscribers who are interested in their sizable broadband business but not in their pay TV packages.?
So rather than lose revenue to a device or smart TV OEM, they are making sure those dollars go back into their own coffers… [READ MORE]
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Featured Report:?The IRIS_ID—Making CTV More Transparent For Buyers And Sellers
In the absence of a safe and secure way to share metadata, CTV publishers have largely opted not to do so. As a result, brands rarely have insight into where their ads run, let alone whether the environment was brand-safe or contextually relevant. As more eyeballs shift to CTV, this presents a major problem.
This report examines how?IRIS_ID?solves for this by creating uniformity for content-based metadata across multiple publishers, and how third parties are using it to holistically plan, target, verify and measure campaigns.?
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NEWS YOU CAN USE
Industry Misleader?
As Nielsen continues to reel, the measurement giant is trying to question big data’s reliability versus audience panels.
The problem there? They’re trotting out a false narrative, as?Comcast’s Claudio Marcus points out on LinkedIn:
“Fully agree that it makes sense to use an audience panel to calibrate census data, personification and co-viewing factors. However, the set-top-box comment is a cheap shot as Nielsen knows that the raw impression data can be processed to take into account user activity such as channel changes and other user interactions that signal active user engagement. Such misleading representations are not becoming of a research leader.”
One buyer expects the linear broadcast networks to secure CPM increases in the single-digit percentages, in part as a correction of sorts from the 2021-22 upfront marketplace, which saw the networks land significant CPM hikes over the 2020-21 upfront. The buyer also expects cable networks to secure about the same level percentage increases as linear broadcast, citing softer ratings for many cable networks as they feel the sting of audience loss to connected TV and streaming platforms.?
He and his team have been scouring the company’s books, making it clear spending needs to be reined in. They have abandoned projects they consider costly and unnecessary. That included pulling the plug on CNN+, barely a month after previous management launched the streaming service, and canceling a DC Comics superhero movie in development.
Many of the biggest media outlets are crafting new alliances with rivals who want to vie with Nielsen — companies with names like iSpot, VideoAmp, and comScore, all hoping to launch an “alternate currency” to the one Nielsen already provides. “Multi-currency measurement is here,” says Linda Yaccarino, NBCUnviersal’s chair of global advertising and partnerships. “It’s really about the advertisers and the agencies and their state of readiness to transact commercials at scale on those services.”
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