Are the Upfronts still relevant? That was the first question I was asked by students from nearby NYU as I stood in the thousand-deep queue waiting for the doors to open at Radio City Music Hall to hear what is coming down the pipe at NBC, of which some will inevitably follow in Australia.
Fair question given that most of the networks released their big announcements prior to the day, but as I made my way in and went through security check next to Michael J Fox, I knew that the pulling power of the network talent would make these events a shiny ‘must see’ for media buyers and clients.
We get a personal greeting by the chairman and president as they tell us why this year will be better than the last. It's hardly original but there is something special about hearing why it will be better from the passionate executive team than reading about it online. Honest.
As they begin to reveal the programming, they throw to the audience for cast shots and reveal the ‘who’s who’ of American TV ensuring they have key cast members in attendance from each program including a few American favourites such as David Schwimmer.
Bob Greenblat, NBC Chairman has the room engaged with the favoured timeslot of being the first major network for the week so the buyers aren’t tired and cynical as they will be by the time CW present theirs on Thursday afternoon.
The Upfronts come at an important time given the last 12 months. Ratings downfall in the US has seen further market fragmentation to the extent it has been dubbed 'The year ratings fell apart'. It's suitably dramatic. Needless to say the networks are all vying this week for their share of the reportedly $9 billion ad share.
NBC Universal has had a huge two years. Previously it cut just a small piece of the pie of parent company GE. Now it is owned by Comcast and has had billions injected into local content and sports rights which are key promotional platforms for its dramas and comedies.
Key tentpoles - Sunday night football, Summer Olympics and The Voice - proved great platforms for the success of Revolution and Chicago Fire in the 2012/13 season. Once again sport and reality will continue to be the key drivers in ratings for NBC. It will invest big bucks into the English Premier League and, shoing all games live, claims to have more hours of EPL than in the UK. As well as the 2014 World Cup and the Winter Olympics in Feb 2014, NBC has high hopes for new dramas Believe and Crisis, and comedies About a Boy, The Family Guide, Sean Saves the World and The Michael J Fox Show.
Coming off the back of the competitive pilot season, out of the 100 pilots that the networks co-fund, only a handful were picked up and presented at today's upfront. NBC ironically spent much of the 100 minute presentation launching their comedies and dramas, given these are the genres which are dramatically down on ratings, minimal advertiser integration and the programs that get axed within weeks of ill-performing ratings.
Australia and the US have very similar trends in the fact that The Voice is the highest rating program, live sport is key for revenue generation and promotional platform, and dramas and comedies that previously delivered high ratings are both averaging less than 1 million in Australia and 5 million in the USA. That's a big difference to the days when 50 million Americans used to tune into I love Lucy at the same time.
Dramas and comedies are still extremely important for the networks being an essential component of their output deals. The likes of The Following was deemed as a success around the globe but not as successful as cable dramas such as The Walking Dead.
Over the last 12 months there has been a huge shift in the distribution of drama and the way viewers consume it. Each of the four major networks are looking for their House of Cards, Game of Thrones or Walking Dead, all commanding huge numbers through the cable or subscriber platforms.
NBC hopes to find the next Game of Thrones through four key dramas announced today: The JJ Abrams produced Believe; what it heralded as a “mind-bending thriller” Blacklist; conspiracy drama Crisis; and Dracula, from the producers of Downtown Abbey and The Tudors director. NBC believes those ingredients should make it a sellable platform across the globe.
The reality genre came in at the end of the presentation with some key reveals: The winner is from the makers of The Voice (it sounds a mix of Deal or no Deal meets the Voice); and Bear Grylls hosts Get out Alive and Million Second Quiz.
None of which seem to have the appeal or the scale of the next ‘Voice’. So for now, NBC will continue to schedule two seasons of the Voice per year to capitalise on ad revenue and ratings as a key launch platform. It’s a only a matter of time before the Nine Network implements the same strategy.
Outside programming, there was a mention on the importance of measurement of second screen, video and mobile devices which is an industry-wide issue currently being tackled by Nielsen. But interestingly enough, there was no mention of a second screen, mobile or video strategy for the 2013-14 season.
Next up is the Fox and all eyes are on the changes that are expected to be made to its flagship program American Idol. I’m sure all eyes are on this over at Pyrmont as rumours grow stronger around Ten bringing back Aus Idol early next year.
So are the Upfronts still relevant? With one down, it seems like the answer is YES. Here's hoping we see more innovation out of Fox.
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