It’s been a busy 24 hours, with both the ABC upfront and the Tuner upfront (TNT/TBS). Disney-owned ABC was the third major network to present (three down, one to go) and came out all guns blazing to a full house at the Lincoln Centre, boasting about late-night success (combating NBC’s attention about Jimmy Fallon replacing Jay Leno).
ABC is the top-rating network for women 18-49 (Grey’s Anatomy, Revenge, Modern Family, Dancing With the Stars and The Bachelor) but lacks male-oriented programming and sport. According to senior-level buyers, ABC is the network everyone wants to see do well and are “the nicest to deal with”. The vibe was certainly positive and upbeat as the crowd awaited the much-anticipated launch of ABC WATCH.
Turner also hosted their upfront this morning, being one of the last cable channels to present (other cable and digital executed before the broadcast networks). Given the characteristics of TBS (comedy) and TNT (drama), there was a casual theme to their presentations with Conan O’Brien, Will Ferrell and other comedians introducing new comedies.
The theme that linked both of these network upfronts was the constant need to 'evolve', 'innovate' and 'measure', and both networks' sales heads focused on these three key words.
Disney-ABC TV president Anne Sweeney launched ABC WATCH, making it the first broadcast network to stream its content live across all devices (similar to Foxtel Go). It’s a welcome relief to see a major network deliver the ‘watch what you want, when you want’ mantra. The other networks offer VOD products but it seems like a big step forward in evolving the product and giving the viewers what they have been asking for. It’s a natural evolution for the network as this is already available on their other owned assets (ESPN and Disney).
Given Australians are among the highest illegal downloaders, Australian FTA broadcasters need to pay more attention to how Aussies are consuming content. Event TV and sports have meant FTAs are maintaining steady ratings, but they need to rethink how they schedule and deliver dramas. Take Homeland as an example – fantastic show with ratings success in the US, which translated to savvy TV viewers wanting to see the episodes as they went to air. Therefore the torrent sites became the destination to consume the content, rather than the network. We are seeing similar trends with Elementary and The Following. Foxtel has been progressive in its fast-tracking and Go products, capitalising on savvy viewers wanting their favourite shows almost instantly.
Understanding that live streaming is complicated for Australian FTA broadcasters due to output deals, subscription models and so on, but they need to review their express viewing offering as viewing habits continue to evolve. There is so much great drama coming out of these upfronts but Australian networks won't see the same ratings success if they don’t fast-track the programs within hours of play.
The theme at the Turner (TBS/TNT) upfront was likened to James Bond. “He evolves and endures and embraces new technology and gets better with age,” said David Lee, president of Turner Distribution. Turner really embraced the James Bond analogy with a strategy to invest in great original programming (drama and comedies) and not be a TV company but a ‘multi-screen video company.
Cable is still ahead of the game in terms of multi-screening (not referred to as ‘second screen’, as content is consumed on all video devices). While it’s a big leap for a broadcast network to live-stream its content across all screens, TNT/TBS already offers this service. Viewing habits are seeing the live-streaming model used to watch event TV, sports and news, but VOD will remain the main digital platform of choice for long-form dramas and comedies.
The week of the upfronts is all about capturing the attention of advertising partners, so it's one thing to launch great innovation but this is lost without great measurement and proof-points for advertisers. Both Turner and ABC launched their ‘measurement firsts’. ABC will begin measuring advertising in videos viewed with mobile and tablet apps during a trial run with Nielsen. President of ABC sales explains: “It will be the first test expanding Nielsen's Online Campaign Ratings to mobile, allowing ABC to measure audience demographics and understand the reach and frequency of online campaigns within apps.” All eyes will be on this trial and it will hopefully follow to Australia if successful.
At the heart of each presentation is original programming and both networks offered a huge array of new dramas, procedurals, non-scripted and comedy.
Praise has to go out to the first Aussie to get her own show on a major US network – Rebel Wilson stars in the new ABC comedy Super Fun Night, written and co-produced by Conan O’Brien. This move sees one Aussie in, one Aussie out (Rachel Taylor’s 666 Park Avenue getting axed recently).
ABC picked up 12 new series for the 2013-14 season with the majority being drama and action series. The two stand-outs were Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. from Buffy creator Joss Whedon, and Betrayal, a 12-episode thriller. The Marvel series picks up where The Avengers movie left off. ABC Entertainment Group president Paul Lee says he has high hopes that the show will draw record ratings, so expect this to get attention from the Aussie networks [Note: It has. Seven has subsequently pointed out that it already owns the show.]
But the most talked-about program at the post-event was Betrayal. It's right on-brand for ABC – aspirational and sexy – so expect Network Seven to look closely at this one given other ABC dramas have been the breeding ground of great success for Seven (Desperate Housewives, Revenge, Grey's Anatomy).
TNT also presented a slate of promising dramas with big producers and writers behind the shows – Lost Angels, The Last Ship and Legends all look like great potentials for Showcase on Foxtel.
Non-scripted at TNT sees The Rock host an Amazing Race-style format where America chooses the 'ultimate hero', AKA the person who is willing to do the most physical challenges. This was presented with great opportunities for brands to get involved and strong social support across Facebook and Twitter where Americans vote through the social mediums.
An emotional moment came at the announcement of the renewal of a second season of Boston’s Finest, which centres on the men and women of the Boston Police Department. Casts from all the shows were in attendance to answer questions from the crowd as their show was presented, but the biggest round of applause came for the Boston’s Finest cast, who were the ones first at the scene of the recent Boston bombings.
Last up this afternoon (for the major networks) is America’s number one network, CBS, so there is an expectation to build upon its already successful drama slate. Then the last day (tomorrow) sees the USA Network and CW treat the advertisers with an what is expected to be a great slate of content – and of course, a great wrap party.
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