It’s Fun And Games At The Upfronts (Until Someone Mentions KPIs)

Mark Marshall enters Radio City (Photo courtesy of NBCU)

Upfront City, N.Y.–Even if you didn’t know there were sports on television (and commercials to be sold during those games) it would have been hard to miss that message at the upfronts on Monday.

NBCUniversal, Fox and Amazon all put on presentations that were heavy on sports, quick with jokes (often about their rivals) and a little talk about how ad tech advances were going to make TV the most powerful advertising medium again.

Throughout the day, the networks practiced one upmanship. NBCU said it bought an additional NFL game to air the Saturday before Christmas. Fox later announced it added a Saturday NFL doubleheader.during Week 16 of the season. One game pits the Eagle against the Commanders, while the second game features the Bears versus their arch-rivals, the Packers. Amazon followed up with its Black Friday matchup (the campions Eagles vs the Chicago Bears) and its Christmas Day game with the Chiefs playing the Broncos, followed by an NBA double header. (Did we forget to mention that the NBA is moving to NBCU and Amazon next season? They sure didn’t.)

Fox aired the Super Bowl in February , setting records for streaming and total viewership. The big game contributed to audience gains at a time when most TV networks were down. On Fox’s fiscal third-quarter earnings call Monday, Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch said the Super Bowl generated $800 million in gross ad revenue across the company’s businesses.

This year, NBCU noted, it will be NBCU’s turn. In addition to the Super Bowl, next February NBCU will have the Winter Olympics from Italy and the NBA All-Star game, part of its claim that 40% of all big event viewership in the U.S. will be on NBC next season.

Speaking of the NBA, NBCU had John Tesh playing (and the audience humming) to returning iconic hoops theme music Roundball Rock. It also has Victor Wembanyama live and the GOAT, Michael Jordan, who will serve as a special contributor for NBCU’s NBA coverage, on tape. Amazon had actor Michael B. Jordan on stage live to talk about the new Creed series he’s producing.

Air Jordan didn’t make it to the Saturday Night Live 50th-year celebration either.

Following up on SNL50, NBC plans to celebrate its 100th anniversary with a six-hour special. Tina Fey and Amy Poehler joked about how great moments from the last century would be popular with today’s viewers in the younger dems. They also quipped that Al Roker would be putting NBC’s name on a jar of Smuckers, and speculated about how many of those 100 years Roker has been doing the weather on the Today show.

Not to be outdone, Fox said it would be celebrating the 250th anniversary of the United States.

There was also a lot of serious talk for ad buyers.

NBCUniversal ad sales head Mark Marshall floated onto the Radio City Music Hall stage riding on the good witch Glinda’s magic bubble from Wicked. Marshall said that NBCU not only believes in advertising but said “our opinion has been, and always will be, ads are God’s gift to the world.” With the Dow up more than 1,000 points, Marshall joked that NBCU had solved the nation’s tariffs issue. More seriously, he said that in tough economic times, brands who stay on the air are 98% ore likely to retain their customers. NBCU’s reach will grow to 286 million people a month this year and over 95% of that reach is ad supported and 99% of its ads are seen to completion.

Marshall added that 70% of NBCU’s sports and other programming was live, a crucial fact because live programming delivers 21% better engagement for brands.

Speaking of Wicked, director John Chu the trailer to Wicked For Good to the NBCU upfront audience.

After NBCU’s two-hour plus extravaganza, Fox’s presentation was just an hour because when it comes to upfront and advertising, Fox said it wants to make every second count (To be fair, Fox knew ad buyer had to hustle uptown to hear Amazon’s pitch, so the bar closed early.)

“In a world where media and technology have become increasingly isolating, Fox connects,” said Jeff Collins, president of ad sales, marketing and brand partnerships at Fox.

Jeff Collins (LMG)

Collins said viewers watch Fox differently. “They come here with intention, and they give us their undivided attention,” he said. “It’s why commercials airing on Fox are more memorable and likeable than any other media company. In fact you have to buy 75 seconds of ads on our competitors to deliver the same impact as only 30 seconds on Fox.”

Between Fox’s linear networks and its Tubi streaming service, “we combine two ends of the media spectrum, big, broad reach from the largest live audiences on one end and granular target of the elusive cord cutters and cord numbers on the other. Together, these make up a complete offering that's foundational to your media plan, everything you need and nothing you don't,” Collins said.

He added that Fox has built an intelligence platform based on artificial intelligence technology to make every second of an advertiser's media plan work harder.

A little while later at Amazon’s presentation, the online retail giant explained what it’s bringing that’s unique to the TV ad business.

Michael Strahan puts the squeeze on David Letter (LMG)

“I recognize that during the summer week, you're going to hear from a lot of presenters” who will talk about their programming, their reach and their technology,” said Tanner Elton, Amazon’s president of U.S. advertising sales. “With Amazon, you get it all. You buy into one powerful, scaled, unified community fueled by trillions of insights. And the best part, it works.”

Amazon introduced commercials to Prime Video last year. “We saw our reach increase to 130 million customers in the U.S. alone. And yeah, we had some big shows, but not only did our reach increase, our engagement increased nearly 40% in monthly ad supported viewing hours. We know what they love to watch, which is very important, but we also know what they buy. 88% of these customers shop on Amazon, which means a product they saw on cross, which is one of my favorite shows in the evening, can be in their home the ve ry next day, Elton said. “That is full-funnel advertising. This is a game changer for advertisers,”

For what it’s worth, the football playing, Taylor Swift dating Kelce brothers didn’t know what full funnel meant. And Jamie Lee Curtis assumed it was a euphemism.

Closing out Amazon’s star-studded event, Alan Moss, Amazon’s VP of advertising sales, said that “when you work with Amazon, you're not just buying ads and you're not just tapping into the best programming and talent, technology and signals in the world. You're investing in the future of entertainment, commerce and technology and a new way forward for your business,”

Moss said that “as advertisers, you don't have to the future of advertising is about removing the guesswork with full funnel solutions. You're no longer forced to choose between scale or precision, between creativity or performance, between branding or sales. You can have it all in one place, one partner. We're just getting started.”

Now back to the jokes.

NBCU opened with an orchestral version of several memorable advertising jingles, followed by a long song-and-dance number by Family Guy (Fox) and Ted (Peacock) creator Seth MacFarlane. MacFarlane praised NBCU because it “has the shit you’re after.” He joked about Disney’s new dwarves looking weird and The Bear being a “comedy” with everything but jokes.

NBC late night host Seth Meyers joined that for the right price, he could be “Tostitos Presents Seth Meyer,” and that naming rights for his kids were available. “My daughter’s name? Maybe it’s Adelaide. Maybe it’s Maybelline.” Wicked is also up for sale “I’m just saying for the right price, she could fly a Swiffer. They could melt her with Aquafina water.”

Meyers made fun of the new name for the company being spun off by NBCU parent Comcast that will own most of its cable networks. It will be called Versant, which he said sounds like a prescription drug. “It’s official. There are no good names left. Imagine being jealous that someone beat you to Tubi.”

The biggest laugh he got came when he described Dig, a new show about four women on an archaeology trip to Greece who uncover a long-buried secret. “Well it’s a long-buried secret at NBC, I’m guessing it’s Matt Lauer.”

Former Yankee captain Derek Jeter led off for Fox followed by Jamie Foxx. “I’ve been busy. I’ve been busier than Elon Musk on Mother’s Day,” Foxx said. Then he followed up with un-Fox-like impression of President Trump, saying “I like Elon. He’s a great guy. I love the Teslers.”

Super Bowl star Rob Gronkowski got into the act. He was asked by Jane Lynch, host of the new series Celebrity MIssing Link, if he knew when the first upfront was. He looked at a band on his wrist and replied with the correct answer, 1962. Lynch noted that that was before Fox was a twinkle in Rupert Murdoch’s eye and Gronk added that it was before his old coach Bill Belichick’s current girlfriend was a twinkle.

Tom Brady, ready to throw (LMG)

Seven-time Super Bowl winning quarterback turned Fox broadcaster over three Gronk, his old tight end, with the pigskin flying into the crowd. With a second chance, Brady completed the target. “Text me and I’ll have Tom sign it,” Grok said to the attendee who got the ball.

Also making an appearance at the Fox upfront was late-night TV legend David Letterman, who had shows on NBC and CBS. Letterman is a race team owner and Fox will be broadcasting the Indy 500. Former Giant and NFL on Fox analyst Michael Strahan introduced Letterman, who asked the former defensive end to lift him off the ground, which Strahan did, prompting Letterman to comment that he should have worn a supporter.

There was also a strange momen where former NFL quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick creamed former NBA All-Star Blake Griffin in pop-a-shot.

Arnold and Jamie Lee, together again (LMG)

But the best upfront moment came when Arnold Schwarzenegger pitched The Man With The Bag, his new Christmas movie. He plays Santa and his co-star is the muscular Alan Richman of Amazon’s reacher. Arnold went long, extolling his love of marketing.

“I'm a publicity freak, because marketing, marketing and communicating with the mass and publicity. It's the most important thing, because you can have the best product in the world, but if if they don't know about it, nothing, absolutely nothing,” he said.

Then, out came Jamie Lee Curtis, who has a show upcoming on Amazon. It was a reunion because Schwarzenegger and Curtis long ago starred together in True Lives.

This is elder abuse,” Schwarzenegger complained. He noted that Curtis had recently been on 60 Minutes. “I have to admit, at my age, it takes an hour and a half to watch 60 Minutes,” he said. He then told a sweet story about how Arnold agreed to have Curtis’ name with his above the title on the poster for True Lies. “Schwarzenegger, who clearly did not have to say yes, said yes.” she said.

Finally Curtis told Schwarzenegger it was time to “terminate” the segment.

I’m here all week. Don’t forget to tip your servers.