upfronts 2016

Expanding comedy to a new night was a top priority for ABC under new programming chief Channing Dungey said of her first primetime slate as Entertainment division president. The fall schedule includes two comedies and three dramas.

Gary Newman threw two jabs at CBS during Fox’s Monday afternoon upfront event — and then Homer Simpson followed up with a haymaker. In addition, Homer Simpson had his boss’s back in a hilarious taped segment.

NBCUniversal took shots at digital media and, only a little more subtly, at Nielsen in an uprfront presentation to promote all of its cable and digital properites in addition to the NBC and Telemundo broadcast networks.

CBS has renewed freshman drama series Code Black and Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders for a second season, as well as sophomore comedy The Odd Couple for a third season and reality show Undercover Boss for an eighth season. As expected, the list does not include freshman drama Limitless though CBS has not made its cancellation official. Also not on the list and fully expected to be canceled is new midseason action comedy Rush Hour. 

The network has just one new comedy and two new dramas debuting, and it keeps the bones of last fall’s schedule, heavy on drama. But it has a slew of new programs lined up for midseason.

The network’s new entertainment chief Channing Dungey will face advertisers for the first time Tuesday, but with predecessor Paul Lee’s development pipeline.

For decades the annual television industry ritual known as the upfronts has gone the same way. Thousands of advertising and television executives trudge between New York’s great cultural centers where network executives screen premieres of their hottest new shows. But when the whole shebang kicks off in earnest on Monday morning, there will be an underlying sense of seasickness because of the inexorable, existential question that now faces television this time of year: How long can it go on like this?

The Spanish-language network rolls out a non-traditional programming strategy that will include projects based on the story of drug lord El Chapo, the life of Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez and the late singer Jenni Rivera as well as Sunday nights hosted by Hispanic TV legend Don Francisco.

Once again NBC’s hottest new drama series has landed the Monday 10 p.m. slot behind The Voice. This time, it is Timeless, the new time-travel drama from Eric Kripke and Shawn Ryan. It is taking the spot from Blindspot, which is being transplanted to the Wednesday at 8 p.m. Here is NBC’s fall 2016 schedule, which also features another new drama, This Is Us, on Tuesdays at 9 p.m. and a new sitcom, The Good Place, on Thursdays.

Spanish-language broadcaster Univision Communications said it would offer advertisers distinct audience niches as part of its ad-sales effort in this year’s “upfront” market, following new demands from Madison Avenue on TV to emulate the targeting ability of digital media.

This year, there is a new element that has made network negotiations with outside studios even more complicated — in-season stacking rights, which allow nets to stream all episodes from a series’ current season on its platforms.

The official body count — as well as new programming blood for the 2016-17 season — will be rolled out next week at the networks’ upfront sessions for advertisers. But through a combination of network leaks and networks jumping the gun, a flood of announcements got early exposure Thursday.

The company is revamping its strategy this year. Yes, NBC will get its due, but so will other parts of its operations, which encompass kiddie-cable outlet Sprout and movie-ticketing venue Fandango. The move reverses a long-held plan that had NBCU mount separate events for NBC, Telemundo and its cable portfolio.

More networks than ever before are offering original scripted fare. New advertising packages and increased online integration have also been popular.

Topping the list: What direction will ABC go under new entertainment president Channing Dungey? Will any of CBS’s new shows return? How will NBC’s schedule shift with Thursday football?

The big networks are heading into a strong upfront market, and it would seem like old times again. But change is coming, and they’re simply not equipped to manage that change.

With billions of dollars at stake, TV’s annual upfront selling season amounts to a referendum on the health of the U.S. economy in general, and the television business in particular. In 2016, both sides of the buyer-seller divide are preparing for a welcome jolt. All signs point to TV grabbing a bigger share of ad commitments this year — a turn of events that will spark jubilation in Hollywood and among TV’s New York-based ad-sales operations.

After a year of being digital media’s doormat, the TV business is battling back in its upcoming upfront selling season. Upfront spending by TV advertisers is expected to rise 4% to 5% for 2016-17 to more than $18 billion. The networks had been battered by the perception that digital video sites were making them obsolete.

As the 2016-17 upfront — and NewFront — pitch season approaches, an influential Wall Street analyst this morning told investors to shift their attention back to the “value” of network TV stocks and away from fast-growing digital media ones.

During this year’s upfront ad haggle the company is offering certain marketers the opportunity to buy audiences against more specific data points beyond age and gender. Through its Audience Targeting Platform, NBCU will fully guarantee targeted delivery of highly specified audiences, such as households with an income over $100,000 and a car lease set to expire in six months, for example. Just as it does with Nielsen metrics, NBCU will offer makegoods for any shortfalls.

The African American-targeted diginet picks up its top show Saints & Sinners for a season two and renews four comedies.

At Azteca America’s upfront presentation Tuesday, the network talked plenty about its new programming slate, including the new drama Rabia and adventure reality show Desafio. But it also continued its push, undertaken last year, to deliver new forms and methods of advertising, taking advantage of new technology.

The chairman of NBCUniversal ad sales and client partnership talks about her company’s decision to combine its broadcast, cable and digital assets into one upfront this year. “Because of the size and diversity of our audience, we reach any audience. And, with our data products, you get scale plus laser targeting. We combine the most content across every distribution platform to reach the biggest audiences for our clients.”

CPMs are expected to rise 7% to 9%, and for the first time in three years, projections are that the broadcast upfront market will see a rise in total dollar volume — climbing 3% to 4% overall to $8.7 billion. Media agency executives are warning their advertising clients to expect sizable rate hikes.

NBC Universal will be hosting just one upfront this year, combining presentations for its flagship broadcast network, Spanish-language channel and portfolio of cable networks into one big event. All of this will be squeezed into about two hours, which is typically the length of the presentation for just the broadcast network alone.

Something to keep an eye on this upfront season is how some cable networks are experimenting with reduced ad loads and commercials that more closely resemble actual programming — TV’s version of native advertising.

Upfront preview: The network has a strong connection with Mexicans, not surprising considering its parent company’s roots. Liga MX soccer games are up this season, and it’s flaunting its stability.

With the 2016-17 upfront now in full swing, major programmers are taking the healthy scatter market as a sign of an improved market. But with advertising on digital platforms still leading on data insights, media buyers will be looking for TV to behave more and more like digital.

Yes, it’s time once again for nearly three months of Upfront and NewFront presentations in New York, starting yesterday (Wednesday, March 2) with Nickelodeon at Lincoln Center. The calendar for Upfronts/NewFronts lists 65 New York events from March 2 through May 19. The lion’s share of them are in May — 44 of them in 19 days — ranging from smaller media companies you might never have heard of to most of the biggies.

Audience fragmentation across hundreds of cable networks, the steady growth of video on demand and subscription growth with new virtual service providers like Netflix and Hulu have complicated this year’s upfront. In fact, each year cable networks are struggling to meet their upfront commitments, and available scatter ad inventory is becoming more and more scarce. Programmatic TV could be a solution that creates new upfront opportunities.

A&E Networks won’t be parading duck hunters, little women or Vikings out to ad buyers this spring, becoming the latest TV group to forego the typical glitzy upfront presentation. Instead, the cable programmer, whose networks include its namesake channel, History, Lifetime and FYI, will meet with marketers and agencies individually over the next few months to discuss ways the company can create customized media opportunities for clients.

Somewhat echoing what senior TV and media executives have been saying during recent financial earnings phone calls, one veteran media analyst believes the advertising upfront deal-making will be a decent — but perhaps not great — market. For the upfront advertising market, Brian Wieser, senior research analyst for Pivotal Research Group, says “national TV could see low single-digit volume growth, and high-single digit pricing.”