CBS kicked things off by saying they are the No. 1 content destination winning six nights a week and that big data alone is meaningless if you don’t have big audiences. Thankfully for CBS, they have the scale to quantify across all screens. They opened with a recap of their proven programs and announced that they are the only network to carry two football packages along with Super Bowl 50. This alone will put CBS on a winning streak to deliver more viewers and double duty as a platform to promote existing and new programs. Good on you CBS for optimizing your assets.
The network brought out their late night hosts to entertain the audience. Stephen Colbert made his first official appearance as the new host of Late Night with Stephen Colbert taking over for David Letterman after 22 years. While James Corden teased the audience on what to expect from his new show The Late Late Show with James Corden. This is clearly a move to shake up NBC’s winning late night line-up.
CBS’s list of highlights is a mile long including the most watched comedy, drama and news magazine show. They own over 50% of the top 20 programs and added more football to round up their offer.
CBS made very little change to their fall schedule introducing five new shows; Life in Pieces, Supergirl, Limitless, Angel from Hell and Code Black.
Overall, this is going to be another big year for CBS. They have a stellar report card across the board, winning in sports, news, entertainment and late night. Even with their interactive offer, they are a top contender delivering mass audiences alongside with Google, Facebook and Yahoo. CBS bar none is the clear winner this fall.
Turner: transforming the media ecosystem
This was the first time all Turner brands (TNT, TBS, CNN, CN, HLN, TCM, TruTV, Turner Sports and Adult Swim) appeared together on one stage telling their story about reinventing as a content company.
In order to compete with the mainstream giants, Turner is telling a more strategic story about investing in a new data platform to drive bigger and better business outcomes. They are also in evolution and revolution mode with TBS and TNT to further broaden viewer accessibility.
Turner brands also pack a powerful punch for being a specialty-only offer. With over 15,000 hours of premium content, they deliver mass scale with a spending power of $4.7 trillion dollars. Their collective brands connect with every demo across every screen at every life stage whether it be kids, millennials, Gen X, Gen Y or boomers.
Turner’s strategy focuses on four areas:
- Creating the best content
- Delivering across all platforms
- Providing next generation advertising capabilities (data and analytics)
- Driving results for advertisers
On a closing note, Turner was the only media owner this week to openly accuse their digital colleagues of Wild West metrics and lack of transparency. A bold statement to make, but grabbed the attention of the audience. The other networks touched on transparency, but weren’t as overt. Overall, the Turner upfront was high energy, refreshing, bold and packed with promise. Looking forward to the changes.
Robert DaSilva is managing director, client leadership and trading at Mindshare
