Pilot Delay Won't Stall May Upfront

NEW YORK Now that the writers' strike has ended, network TV faces some serious issues with production and distribution, as well as coming up with ways to stop audience erosion. But the upfront is not one of them, media buyers said last week.Despite a seriously delayed production process for new pilots next season, expect all the networks to be open for upfront business during the week of May 12-15. That includes NBC, which will probably not present at its usual Radio City Music Hall venue this year, but instead plans to hold some type of meeting for agencies and advertisers.Since the networks will not have much in the way of new show clips, expect the May presentations to be more sales-focused. Attendees should expect to hear more detailed discussions about commercial ratings and how advertisers can twin TV and nontraditional media assets into more productive ad buys.The upfront process was questioned publicly last month by NBC Universal president and CEO Jeff Zucker, who said the broadcast networks can "no longer spend millions putting on upfront presentations that are really aimed at half a dozen influential media buyers."Each network spends between $2-5 million on their upfront presentation and cocktail party, with NBC on the high side."If we do scrap the big presentation, we will be committed to going to every one of the major advertising agencies, in person, and every one of the major advertisers, to explain our schedule, explain the rationale and deliver episodes," Zucker said.NBC is expected to announce next week how it wouldl replace its traditional upfront presentation on May 12 with a more austere event, which one source familiar with the network's plans said will take a "more creative customer-focused approach." Another source likened it to NBC's recent NBC Everywhere presentation, which showed buyers what the network has to offer in nontraditional, out-of-home platforms.Media buyers said elimination of the upfront gathering would have been a mistake for the networks, and that even the post-presentation cocktail parties have some merit. "The upfront presentations are a good thing for network television," said John Swift, evp and managing director of media activation at PHD. "It is a high-profile event that puts network television at the center of public attention for an entire week. Why would they give that up?"Added Tim Spengler, president of Initiative USA: "There's something to be said for gathering all the clients and agency executives together at the same time in New York to discuss the new programming and strategies of each network. To take away the presentations would be an opportunity lost for the networks." Looking ahead to May, the network sales chiefs seemed to agree."We're going to hold our upfront presentation as scheduled on May 13 at Lincoln Center," said Mike Shaw, ABC Network sales president. "We may not have any pilot clips to show, but we feel good about what we are doing and the ratings for our shows in the fourth quarter. And we want to tell advertisers about our plans for the fall and beyond."CBS will hold its upfront at its usual Carnegie Hall venue on May 14, while Fox will host its confab on May 15 at City Center, with a cocktail party following at Wolman Rink in Central Park. The CW is expected to host at its usual venue, the theater at Madison Square Garden.Shaw said ABC might not hold its traditional mega-cocktail party in the tent outside Lincoln Center, but it will have some sort of scaled-down venue for top-level media buyers and advertisers to meet with network sales executives following the presentation.Ed Gentner, svp and director of national broadcast at MediaVest, said the postpresentation parties can be a place where advertisers in town for the events can meet network sales executives for some in-person dialogue.And regarding the presentations themselves, Gentner said, "Maybe they have had too much fanfare and need to become less glitzy and more informational. But I understand why many believe it is important to get everyone in the same room to focus on broadcast television."The dearth of new programming to show media buyers in May means a lot of upfront buying will be sight unseen. ABC's Shaw believes this will not present problems in putting together ad packages."If you look at the way the upfront process works, there are always a certain number of midseason shows that haven't been completed or locked in," Shaw said. "Programs are always canceled or moved during the season, we have to replace them, and that alters upfront packages. So these conversations will not be that different because pilots are not ready and won't go on until midseason."

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Pilot Delay Won't Stall May Upfront

John Consoli

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