What We Learned About TV During Its Biggest Week

Though Ms. Scott never mentioned the network’s top-rated host, Tucker Carlson, who has faced advertiser revolts in the past over his monologues about race, he did appear in a promo reel.

Later in the week, CNN’s new leader, Chris Licht, took the upfront stage for the newly formed Warner Bros. Discovery. Mr. Licht emphasized that his cable news network would strengthen its commitment to reporting, suggesting that the network would be turning away from amped-up opinion programming.

“At a time where extremes are dominating cable news,” he said to advertisers, “we will seek to go a different way, reflecting the real lives of our viewers and elevating the way America and the world views this medium.”

Back in person, like nothing and everything has changed.

After two years of virtual showcases streamed from ad buyers’ laptops, the networks mostly went for shock and awe — emphasis on the shock.

Ad buyers were greeted with blinding lights, seat-shaking sounds and elaborate musical numbers. Movie stars like Sylvester Stallone and Dwayne Johnson, a.k.a. the Rock, made appearances, as did a pair of Kardashians and the Manning brothers. The singer Lizzo exhorted ad buyers at YouTube’s inaugural upfront to chant her lyrics “feeling good as hell” — a demand she made again, the next day, at the Warner Bros. Discovery showcase.

On Monday, just as a few thousand unmasked ad buyers packed into Radio City Music Hall for NBCUniversal’s event, an alert went out on attendees’ phones: Covid cases in New York were on the rise and indoor masking was highly encouraged.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/20/business/media/tv-media-upfronts.html