Bucking a trend among rival companies that delivered stripped-down versions of their fall television schedule presentations, Rogers Media hosted a comparatively elaborate upfront event in downtown Toronto Tuesday.
The event took place at the spacious Canon Theatre and was attended by roughly 750 members of the advertising and media buying community. In addition to receiving the full primetime fall schedule for Rogers’ five Citytv stations, attendees watched preview clips of several new shows set to appear on City, the multicultural network Omni and specialty stations such as Biography and OLN.
Breakfast Television Toronto hosts Kevin Frankish and Dina Pugliese, Jillian Harris, star of reality show The Bachelorette, and Rogers Media Television CEO Leslie Sole and Mitch Dent, executive vice-president, sales for Rogers Media Television were among the live presenters, while talk show host Jay Leno chipped in with a video introduction to his upcoming primetime series, which will air on Citytv.
The profile of the presenters, length of the programming clips—which included a full episode of the new sitcom Modern Family—and the approximately 90-minute length of the presentation starkly contrasted the upfront strategies of CTV, Canwest and CBC, all of which opted for a more muted approach in the midst of the recession.
Last Wednesday, Canwest presented the 2009-10 lineups for its conventional Global network and numerous specialty stations at a small breakfast event in Toronto.
Barbara Williams, executive vice-president, content for Canwest Broadcasting, spoke to the media for roughly 20 minutes, before showing reporters, advertisers and buyers program clips in a series of buildings in the city’s Distillery District.
The following day, CTV hosted a licensed barbecue in the parking lot of its Queen St. offices and studios that was attended by Ivan Fecan, president and CEO of CTVglobemedia and CEO of CTV Inc., as well as talent from some of the network’s Canadian-produced shows. However, the event was decidedly more low-key than in previous years, when high-profile U.S. stars mingled with attendees, and occurred two days after CTV’s fall schedule was revealed in a press release.
CBC, meanwhile, announced its schedule via press release in late April, followed by a small event in its Toronto studios in May.
According to Rogers’ Dent, the volume of new programming necessitated a flashier approach—which also included cocktails at a nearby restaurant following the presentation.
“We just have so much more news than everybody else,” said Dent. “The other guys are changing a few pieces of the puzzle, but they’re relatively minor pieces of the puzzle, so it’s a very different vibe.”
Dent added that the presentation was also designed to signal Rogers’ intent to become a major player on the Canadian conventional and specialty television scene.
“We wanted to project that this isn’t about a party now, it’s about the shows and the schedule,” said Dent. “It’s upbeat and optimistic and a little bit showy, but it’s also down-to-business time, and we wanted people to really look at what we were saying.”
While the Rogers event was clearly a shot across the bow of its more established television rivals, Dent said this year’s event actually cost less to put on than the launch party the company hosted in 2008.
Dent said a smaller event would be held in Vancouver today, while the programming lineup would be presented to agencies in more intimate presentations in Alberta and Montreal in the coming week.
CTV, Canwest and CBC have also observed the industry custom of briefing buyers and advertisers in smaller agency presentations. In addition, the three networks have used the Internet to get the word out about their fall programming.
CTV and Canwest streamed taped presentations from executives, as well as show details, on sales microsites, while CBC developed a downloadable widget that provides news, planning tools and video clips to buyers and advertisers.
“We want to start using more of our programming as a marketing asset,” said Scott Moore, head of media sales and marketing for CBC. “We want to be able to tell our agency partners that, for example, Tom Cruise is going to be on The Hour tomorrow night, so you might want to be in the audience and your client might want to buy against it at the last minute.”
Moore said the widget, along with a contest that offers buyers and advertisers who preview CBC’s fall schedule, the chance to win behind-the-scenes show tours and other prizes, were prudent innovations in a climate of economic uncertainty.
“Necessity’s the mother of invention, so you go and do something a little differently.”
Another Canadian television player, Corus Entertainment, announced its fall launch event today. The company will preview its schedule July 8 at a Toronto movie theatre, with a screening of the upcoming film The Time Traveler’s Wife set to follow the presentation.
