New Media: TV Upfronts Are Basically The Streaming Upfronts
Next week are the vaunted TV Upfronts, the week where TV broadcast networks would usually present their fall schedule to brands, boldly schmooze, and aim to lock in deals with the biggest advertisers.
In 2024, the TV Upfronts are essentially becoming the Streaming Upfronts. With companies like Netflix, Amazon, and Disney providing a direct alternative on the media plan to NBCUniversal and Warner Bros. Discovery, the brand dollars have more choices today with growing streaming platforms vs. declining TV audiences.
But truly--it's all kind of blending together. Linear TV is just one tool in the arsenal for traditional media companies, many of whom have now created their own streaming platforms.
As Jim Barksdale said, “There's only two ways I know of to make money: bundling and unbundling.”
We are now at a point where media companies are bundling assets in what's essentially a revamped version of the cable bundle. E.g. The new package announced by Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery bundles Disney+, Hulu, and Max.
Linear TV, Cable, and Streaming are basically becoming the same thing and the central line through this all is that revenue comes from advertising, i.e. the brand's pockets. At the end of the day, the consumer sees "content" in the broadest sense of the word as purely media and entertainment, no matter where it's consumed.
The business model behind that content is ad-supported and will rely on the robust and everlasting courting of budgets from the world's marketers. In a way, the more things change the more they stay the same.
https://lnkd.in/eJbN3mTH
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