Media Buying Briefing: The upfront season! Can't live with 'em, can't so easily change 'em 

The upfront season in the media industry is a time when various sectors such as linear TV (the original upfront event), digital platforms (the NewFronts), gaming (the PlayFronts), and podcasting (Podcast Upfront) host events and parties to showcase their content offerings. These presentations are designed to allow advertisers to preview programming schedules and content in order to plan their investments for the coming season.

Shannon Pruitt, the global CMO of Stagwell’s Brand Performance Network, suggests that the upfront process may be outdated due to the explosion of content and changes in media consumption. The upfronts were originally designed for a time when there were only three broadcast networks presenting their schedules. Today, with the addition of podcasting, gaming, and other forms of content that can live in multiple places in an on-demand world, the function and value of these presentations have changed. Pruitt points out that we are no longer in a programming or platform era but in a multi-touchpoint ecosystem, questioning the need for separate weeks of presentations to plan marketing ecosystems and spending.

The difference between upfront presentations and the upfront marketplace is that the presentations are elaborate sales events designed to showcase content and platforms to advertisers, while the upfront marketplace is essentially a futures market where over $20 billion in ad dollars are committed. Investment executives emphasize that the marketplace involves making significant commitments in upfront spending, sometimes even before the presentations take place, and serves as a means for clients to secure cost savings, innovation, and access to content and data.

A proposed solution for consolidating the various 'fronts' events, such as the upfront, NewFronts, PlayFronts, etc., is to bring them all together at the Javits Convention Center on Manhattan's west side. The idea is for every media firm to set up booth space to present their offerings, allowing media agencies and clients to freely explore over four days. Each night, one media firm would host a party. This proposal aims to save time, money, and space, though it is acknowledged to be potentially unwieldy and naive due to competitive instincts among sellers.

According to new data released by influencer management platform GRIN, influencer endorsements and social media reviews have a significant impact on consumer purchasing decisions:

• 73.5% of consumers have purchased a product due to an influencer endorsement.
• 20% of consumers planned to buy holiday gifts directly through social media.
• 33% of consumers said reviews on social media had the strongest impact on their purchasing decisions.
• 61% of consumers have bought a digital product, from apps to subscriptions, because of a social media recommendation.