Television’s reputation may have been in question these past few years, but there are still mighty beacons in the industry that draw Canadian buyers southward for the annual upfront presentations. CBS, Fox, ABC and other icons of broadcasting are showing off their new seasons’ wares for advertisers and buyers this week, and Marketing is getting a view from the ground thanks to a few industry insiders.
Several of Canada’s veteran media agency executives have kindly agreed to share their impressions of the U.S. upfronts with Marketing readers throughout the week. This army of experts includes Cathy Collier, CEO of OMD Canada; Robert DaSilva, managing director of trading for Mindshare; Ann Stewart, president of Maxus Canada and her colleague Deborah Coyne, Maxus’ managing director of trading.
This will be the first upfront trek for Coyne, who only joined Maxus in April.
“I am not sure what to expect. I imagine it will be like the Canadian upfronts times 10,” she said. “More glitz, more glam, more celebrities, fashionable after-parties in the glow of the NYC lights… I have heard in years past that it can be a buying frenzy, conjuring up images of the TSE floor before the NASDAQ came to fruition.”
Mindshare’s DaSilva, on the other hand, is an upfront veteran who has attended the New York event… well, “let’s say in the double digits.” This year, DaSilva said he’ll be keeping his eye out for new technologies and platforms in keeping with the digitizing trend he’s noticed over the years.
“At first it was all about broadcast,” he told Marketing. “Now it’s all about video across multiple screens.”
In an internal posting to Mindshare network staff last week, DaSilva described the upfronts as “the moment of truth for the 90 pilots fighting for a slot on the schedule… We will continue to monitor social conversation on what programs and genres are seeing the most lift. Although social buzz can be a good measure, it doesn’t always convert to a sure pick up from the networks.”
Watch for daily updates from New York, as well as news of what Canadian broadcasters are planning for the new TV season, at MarketingMag.ca.
