Every year I look forward to NBCUniversal’s Linda Yaccarino kicking off the Upfront season, giving her pitch as she saunters back and forth on stage at Radio City. She is a champion of the Broadcast Biz and has been consistent in her mission to send a strong signal through the static of today’s Mediascape that Television Content remains King.
In 2016 she pulled no punches when it came to the competition, stating that the average American spends 7x as many hours watching Television as they do on Facebook and 15x as much as on YouTube. “Digital is about the 1’s and 0’s, TV is about the Ooh’s and Ahh’s”, she said. She was, back then, out on a limb sticking up for an industry that had stood around too long with the proverbial “Kick ME” sign on its back. True to form (smart, tough, determined), she kept up the full-court press in 2017. Paraphrasing, the theme went something like this – “if you aren’t talking seriously about Brand Safety, Ad Effectiveness, Fraud and Standardized third Party Measurement, then stop wasting everybody’s time”. Well-lit content coming from trustworthy sources with a large fan base is as Safe and Effective as it gets, and kryptonite to ad Fraud.
Here in 2019, although the message remains consistent, it is growing more and more potent as time goes by given the context shifting around it. “Digital” has lost its mystique and much shimmer off of its luster. In showcasing their vast array of advertising vehicles, NBCUniversal, Fox Entertainment and Walt Disney Company have all subtly pointed out the flaw in those forms of pure Digital advertising that are wasteful and ineffective. For a long time we’ve been hearing about the right message at the right time delivered to the right consumer… but what was left out of that equation was the right Content (not to mention the right network on the right medium). Broadcasters have the compelling and engaging content to go along with their large and increasingly more well-defined audience segments, streaming services and other digital extensions. Marketers that want prestige and an emotional and cultural connection have to target media brands that have established a kinship with consumers through years of proving themselves as reputable purveyors of places for audiences to congregate. And in a reversal of roles, TV executives in this years’ Upfronts adopted plenty of lingo once relegated only to the tech sharpies and social media slicksters. We heard of Data Analytics, Custom Targets, Addressability, “Super serving” customers, Advanced tech, Data Tools, “Immense Transformation”, powerful storytelling that connects people, Content that sparks curiosity and wonder, “Creative Unleashed” and optimizing reach across digital and linear platforms.
This year marks a turning point. It’s the year when the TV Business officially began to absorb what was once a competing parallel medium.
