It’s that time of the year where the U.S. networks redefine, reboot and restock their shelf space with new product in a continued effort to keep audiences entertained and engaged. NBC and FOX have now debuted their 2015 fall and 2016 mid-season line-up to the advertiser community.
As Canadian media owners depend on the U.S. for program procurement, the U.S. upfronts give us a glimpse of what we can expect to see on our own networks.
NBC
NBC kicked off with Nick Cannon DJing 80s retro music and ended the presentation with Bob Greenblatt, the chairman of NBC Entertainment, performing “I will always love you” with Dolly Parton. It was a little over the top.
Outside of the usual message track stating that they are number-one for the 18-49s and own late night and sports, NBC told a story about the power of quality content and distribution across all of their assets making big events even bigger. For NBC, it’s all about connection and engagement and how premium video drives social conversation.
From a programming perspective, the big news is that Blacklist is moving to Thursday night. Blacklist will be bookended with two new programs: Heroes Reborn and The Player. Thursday primetime is a highly competitive time period and the most watched. Blacklist’s success will catapult these two new programs into a winning scenario.
Some of their new fall shows include Blindspot, The Player, Heartbreaker, Heroes Reborn, The Best Time Ever, People are Talking and Shades of Blue.
Midseason show will include You Me and the End of the World, Superstore, Hot and Bothered, Coach, Chicago Med, Emerald City, Crowded, Game of Silence, First Dates and Big Shots.
It’s also a cultural defining big year for NBC in sports with Superbowl 49, NFL, NASCAR and the Rio Olympics 2016.
Overall, NBC’s presentation was a little bland. Not too many changes to their fall schedule. They reiterated the importance of balancing distribution, quality content and context to drive more effectiveness. Let’s see how their fall schedule performs.
I would rate NBC 3 out of 5.
Fox
Fox opened strong with powerful words such as “extraordinary,” “fearless” and “limitless” to describe who they are. Following was an outstanding performance from the cast of Empire, Fox’s number-one program. Throughout the presentation, Fox executives did not want to talk about ratings or demos, but instead about what they stand for — big concepts, dynamic storytelling and bigger than life characters.
Saying that, they did make an exception and repeated many times throughout the presentation that Empire is number-one across most demos.
In order to keep up with the demand of their contemporary and nimble audiences, Fox will be dialing up their marketing efforts across all assets and strategically scheduling to keep them engaged.
Good luck with that.
The network also focused its presentation on three strategies for the upcoming year: championing bold content, content across all screens and remaining focused on measurement viewability standards.
Viewability standards is a nut that the Canadian advertiser community is trying to crack. We will be keeping a close eye on the U.S. with how they are managing.
From a programming standpoint, this will be American Idol’s last year. Fox also announced the comeback of X-Files along with the original cast.
Some of their new fall shows include Grandfathered, The Grinder, Rosewood, Scream Queens and Minority Report.
Midseason show include Lucifer, The Frankenstein Code, The Guide to Surviving Life and Bordertown.
Overall, Fox’s message is about high quality productions, content across all screens and tapping into data to ensure advertiser campaigns are optimized. I suspect this will be a common message track throughout the week where the networks will talk to the fine balance of quality content, data optimization, distribution, scheduling and marketing.
I would rate the Empire Upfront… or should I say Fox Upfront 3.5 out of 5.
Robert DaSilva is managing director, client leadership and trading at Mindshare
