Newfronts 2015

This year the event became too big and bloated, with an excess of presenters. Buyers would prefer a pared-down version featuring the top companies. And keep it to a week, please.

Big trends during the first week: Talking up appeal to millennials, programming to target Hispanics, morning news shows and comparisons to traditional television.

Vice previewed 10 TV shows at its NewFront presentation in New York on Friday. Executives at Vice didn’t say where the shows will air, but it is likely they will populate the Vice-branded TV network that is reportedly in the works.

At this year’s NewFront presentations, traditional and digital publishers have pushed video hard, but one genre has reared its head just enough to stand out from the crowd: morning shows.

The Digital Content Newfronts kick off today with the biggest buzz in the event’s eight-year history. Here’s the complete lineup of presentations, what to look for and a few takeaways from last year that may be helpful. It’s a warmup for the TV upfront next month.

With the newfronts and the upfronts coming up, there will be a lot of talk about online video vs. traditional television, and whether online can steal away any ad dollars. Of course, most people expect it to happen eventually. But right now, according to a new report from eMarketer, digital video’s ad dollars remain wildly out of whack with time spent with the medium.

Sony’s online video service Crackle is pulling out of the “NewFronts,” the digital world’s version of the annual Upfront events when TV networks pitch their upcoming programming to marketers. Why? Because it sees itself as a TV programmer in its own right.

The Interactive Advertising Bureau today announced the preliminary schedule for the digital content NewFronts, which begin with a presentation by The New York Times on April 27 and conclude with a presentation by HealthiNation on May 5.  The IAB’s annual NewFronts Research Luncheon takes place the next day.