netflix upfront presentation 2023

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Why Netflix Shifted Its First-Ever Upfront Event from In-Person to Virtual

Tony maglio, executive editor, business.

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Netflix was pumped up for its first-ever upfront, an in-person event set for Wednesday, May 17 at its own Paris Theater in New York City. It sounds like the WGA was equally excited to ruin it.

The striking WGA told the NYPD that they would disrupt the event, one person with intimate knowledge of the streamer’s upfront plans shared with IndieWire. The NYPD was worried about pedestrian safety, the person claimed, so Netflix decided to pivot the event to virtual.

And yes, those talks with the NYPD about protesting Netflix’s upfront happened, a WGA insider told us. The guild has coordinated all of its pickets with the police to ensure it has the proper sound permits and safety gates if necessary.  

The NYPD did not immediately respond to our inquiry on the matter.

It’s a major loss for Netflix. This would have been a chance to show off (in person) its revamped Paris Theater, which it’s renovated under a long-term lease since 2019, and lean into its AVOD commitment. Virtual upfront presentations are far less effective and less enjoyable than the real deal (trust us.). Annual TV upfronts are meant to dazzle the advertising dollars away from potential clients. As we’ve all learned in the past few years, dazzle dims over Zoom.

IndieWire asked a Netflix rep about the company’s costs incurred for the scrapped in-person event, but we did not immediately receive a reply.

Netflix’s upfront was — and still is — set for Wednesday, May 17 at 5 p.m. ET. Just now we all have to live-stream it.

The writers guild has steadily picketed Netflix since the WGA and AMPTP (The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers) failed to come to a new agreement earlier this month. IndieWire was there on Day 1, outside the streamer’s offices at the corner of Sunset and Van Ness in Los Angeles. Find our video interviews from that initial protest here .

One of the union’s main beefs lies in the lack of residuals from streamers, with Netflix at the forefront. Streaming has also changed the game in terms of length of employment: Writers are now often contracted for fewer episodes due to the smaller-batch orders from digital platforms, the WGA says. And the pace is swifter as well, the guild argues — so whether one is paid per-week or per-episode, the checks are getting smaller.

Netflix is the newcomer this upfront season after it launched its “Basic with Ads” tier in late 2022. The company that swore it would never have commercials is suddenly a big, big fan of advertising. The WGA knew exactly what it was blowing up here.

As of this writing, next week’s respective upfront events for NBCU, Fox, The Walt Disney Company, Warner Bros. Discovery, and The CW are all still being held live in New York City.

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By Jess Weatherbed , a news writer focused on creative industries, computing, and internet culture. Jess started her career at TechRadar, covering news and hardware reviews.

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Netflix revealed that the platform’s ad-supported tier has attracted almost 5 million global monthly active users six months after it first launched. The streaming giant disclosed the figures during its 2023 Upfront presentation on Wednesday, adding that the number of ad tier subscribers has “more than doubled” since early this year, with the median age of users being 34.

As reported by The Hollywood Reporter , Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters said during the presentation that over 25 percent of new signups select the ad-supported tier in countries where it’s available. Peters also claimed that viewer engagement on ad-supported tiers mirrors engagement levels seen across ad-free Netflix accounts.

Netflix has yet to disclose how many active subscribers its ad tier has

“The signals are promising: engagement on our ads plan is similar to our comparable non-ads plans,” said Peters during the presentation. “That’s critical because it all starts and ends with consumers. It’s why, despite all the competition out there, Netflix is the most popular streaming service today.” 

Famously skittish about sharing viewer data with anyone, Netflix is now drawing attention to its viewership numbers as it seeks to grow its new advertising business. Earlier this year, the company announced it was expanding its relationship with Nielsen , a research firm that measures television and streaming viewership, to better understand its audience behavior. “We treat our ads with the same care we treat our incredible content,” said Jeremi Gorman, Netflix’s president of worldwide advertising. “Serving them locally, seamlessly transitioning between shows and ads with no latency, and implementing industry-leading frequency caps with an ad load of four to five minutes per hour.”

Warner Bros. Discovery made similar claims about its Max streaming service during the company’s own Upfront event on Wednesday . “Max Ad-Lite subscribers get all the same content as ad-free subscribers,” said Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav. “See only three or four minutes of ads per hour and pay just $9.99 a month.”

We should note that monthly active users don’t equate to actual subscriber numbers, and Netflix has remained tight-lipped about how many subscribers the ad tier actually has. The figure was last estimated to be around 1 million back in March following what was believed to be a slow start to the service. Those figures may have improved since Netflix expanded its basic $6.99 per month ad-supported plan in April, though it’ll be interesting to see how many monthly active users Netflix reports after it finally implements its password-sharing crackdown later this year.

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PMG Digital Made for Humans

The Biggest Takeaways from the 2023 Upfronts

4 MINUTE READ | May 18, 2023

Abby is PMG’s senior managing editor, where she leads the company’s editorial program and manages the PMG Blog and Insights Hub. As a writer, editor, and marketing communications strategist with nearly a decade of experience, Abby's work in showcasing PMG’s unique expertise through POVs, research reports, and thought leadership regularly informs business strategy and media investments for some of the most iconic brands in the world. Named among the AAF Dallas 32 Under 32, her expertise in advertising, media strategy, and consumer trends has been featured in Ad Age , Business Insider , and Digiday .

This year’s upfronts presentations were unlike any other as the likes of NBCUniversal, Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, and Netflix took to the stage against a backdrop of challenges—from the WGA writers’ strike to continued economic uncertainty and changing TV advertising and viewership trends.

Across media companies, upfronts presentations were fairly muted compared to years past, lacking the typical star power and headline news announcements advertisers have come to expect around this time of year. Instead, the majority of presentations centered around sizzle reels and slate updates to promote new content and returning shows. 

Disney’s upfronts presentation focused heavily on unscripted programming, including reality TV, live sports, and news. More than 45 minutes of the two-hour presentation focused on ESPN’s live sports offerings and featured stars like Damar Hamlin, Serena Williams, and Pat McAfee.

The biggest Disney-related announcement in recent days was not from the upfronts presentation but news that Disney will soon incorporate the Hulu content library into the Disney+ streaming platform to create a “one-app experience,” according to Disney CEO Bob Iger on the Disney earnings call in recent days. 

The new combined offering is expected to launch by the end of 2023 and will be available to customers who subscribe to both streaming services. The announcement is the latest signal that Disney intends to retain its ownership of Hulu as negotiations for Comcast’s 33 percent stake play out. “The consolidation of streaming TV platforms bodes well for advertisers, as fewer apps help provide brands with more advertising opportunities at scale across a larger library of premium content,” said Natalee Geldert, head of brand media at PMG.

At the YouTube Brandcast event on Wednesday, YouTube executives introduced several new ad types. YouTube will soon begin testing “Pause Experiences” for YouTube on TV screens, which will play an ad once the viewer pauses a video, similar to Hulu pause ads. YouTube will also introduce 30-second non-skippable ads across top-performing YouTube videos on TVs.

According to Variety , “YouTube remains the No. 1 most-watched service on TV screens in the U.S. (across both streaming platforms and traditional TV networks), and in April was one of the only streaming services to see month-to-month growth, per Nielsen.” 

New NFL content will also be coming to the platform. The Hollywood Reporter reported , “The new NFL shows include Game Day All Access , which will see players mic’d up on the sidelines during games, and a new YouTube Shorts program, NFL Creator of the Week , will debut after the season kicks off.” And while other media companies felt the impact of the WGA writers’ strike, YouTube’s Brandcast featured creators and talent front and center, with musical performances, a fashion show, and plenty of giveaways for those in attendance. 

Related: NBCUniversal kicks off Upfronts Week with 'Bravoholics,’ leaning into its slate of unscripted programming 

It’s been six months since Netflix launched its ad-supported plan, with the subscription tier now boasting nearly five million global monthly active users, according to Jeremi Gordan, president of worldwide advertising at Netflix, at this year’s Netflix upfronts presentation. On average, more than a quarter of new Netflix signups now choose the ads plan, with 70 percent of ad-supported users falling between the ages of 18 and 49.

To help brands connect and engage with these subscribers, new ad formats are coming soon. This includes Netflix Sponsorship, where brand partners can sponsor a popular Netflix series at launch or align with meaningful Netflix content collections with campaigns organized around local holidays (like Netflix on Valentine’s Day) or key brand storytelling moments (such as Netflix Sustainability Stories). 

It was also announced that beginning in Q4 of this year, brands in the U.S. will be able to use Nielsen Digital Ad Ratings (DAR), which offers deduplicated audience measurement metrics for brand campaigns running on the Netflix ad-supported subscription plan. As reported by Variety , “Netflix executives played up the phenomenon known as ‘The Netflix Effect’ time and again during the presentation, enticing marketers with the idea that Netflix has been instrumental in creating new moments and trends in popular culture—and could do the same for them.”

Alongside these product and technology announcements was a slate of new films and shows , including returning favorites like The Crown , Virgin River , and Love is Blind , new dramas including All the Light We Cannot See , and more. 

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"CTV ad opportunities and the various inroads into live sports and unscripted programming across streaming platforms were the dominant themes from this year's upfronts presentations,” said Geldert. “As media companies continue to invest in streaming and CTV while adjusting their content slates and advertising formats accordingly, advertisers stand to gain from the countless opportunities for engaging with audiences across platforms and where ample time is being spent.” 

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Netflix's Upfront Week Presentation Looks To Boost Ad Business, Takes CBS's Place

• by Wayne Friedman , January 13, 2023

In a further move to compete with linear TV, dominant premium streaming service Netflix will be showcasing itself to advertising executives as equals to traditional TV networks -- now taking a key presentation position during TV upfront week.

The second week in May has been the time when major TV networks have had major entertainment presentations for years, touting new shows to ad executives for the upcoming season.

Netflix will be making its presentation on Wednesday, May 17 at 5 p.m. at the Paris Theater in New York -- the same day and time that Paramount Global’s CBS Television Network for years offered up its glamorous entertainment presentations at Carnegie Hall featuring the network’s new TV shows.

In late December, Paramount announced it would abandon upfront week in favor of smaller presentations for media agency groups, TV buying and advertising client executives.

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John Halley, president and chief advertising revenue officer of U.S. advertising sales for Paramount Global, said at the time that media investment had become “more complex” and the upfront needed to “evolve.”

Netflix started up its new $6.99-a-month ad-supported option in November, and is looking for a closer association with advertisers.

Netflix had a rough start with the launch, giving back cash to its initial advertisers due to an inventory shortage for the high-demand fourth-quarter period.

Initial pricing on Netflix had advertisers paying the sky-high price tag of $65 for cost-per-thousand viewers (CPMs).

Netflix had resisted offering an advertising option for years, but finally moved forward with its ad option after some major misses in subscriber-growth estimates.

Not all legacy TV network groups are following Paramount’s lead. Just days before Paramount's announcement, NBCUniversal said it would be returning to its usual upfront presentation day on Monday at Radio City Music Hall.

Since 2020, many live, in-person TV event meetings and conferences -- including the twice-a-year Television Critics Tour event -- have been disrupted. This led to TV networks offering virtual video events.

In order to be a key player in the upfront you have to have what the buyers want---a big audience, the right audience demos,  lots of exciting new "premium quality" programming , new twists re targeting , commercial placements in -shows not before or after them, reasonable CPMs, third party audience measurement, and, most of all,  you must allow the buyers some say about what progrms their commercials appear in. I hope that Netflix has all--or most---of these bases covered by the time it makes its presentation.---but I'm not betting on it.

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Upfronts: Netflix Says It Has Nearly 5 Million Users on Ad Tier

Netflix introduces presenting sponsorships and packages of its Top 10 shows

At its first upfront presentation, Netflix shared some hard numbers with advertisers, saying it now has nearly 5 million global monthly active users for its ad-supported tier .

The median age for those users is 34, the streamer said, considerably lower than the senior citizen-level average for most broadcast and cable channels.

Netflix had been planning to hold its first upfront presentation for advertisers in person, but canceled the event because of concerns picketing writers could cause a disruption and safety issues for pedestrians near the Paris Theater in New York.

Instead, Netflix held its presentation, appropriately enough, via streaming.

After years of forswearing commercials, Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters told advertisers and media buyers: “We share a common goal, which is building connection. You want to connect consumers with your amazing brands. And we want to connect them with amazing entertainment they’ll love.” 

Netflix launched its ad-supported tier last year, and got off to a slow start, with fewer subscribers than some advertisers expected and fewer targeting capabilities than other companies that have been in the business longer.

“We worked hard to be brilliant at the basics, focusing on areas advertisers told us matter most — like geo, age and gender targeting; third-party verification; and deploying the right brand suitability mechanisms for [advertisers] to make the best decisions for [their] brand,” said Jeremi Gorman, president, worldwide advertising for Netflix.

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“While we’re focusing on reaching parity, we’re also innovating,” Gorman said. “We treat our ads with the same care we treat our incredible content: serving them locally; seamlessly transitioning between shows and ads with no latency; and implementing industry-leading frequency caps with an ad load of four to five minutes per hour.”

Peters said the number of subscribers watching Netflix with ads is growing. She said that since early this year, the member base has more than doubled and about 25% of new signups are picking the basic plan with ads. 

He added that 75% of ad-supported members are 18 to 49 years old, the viewers TV advertisers have traditionally coveted.

Netflix said it will be able to better connect with and measure its viewers. 

Peter Naylor, VP of global advertising sales at Netflix, said upfront buyers will be able to be presenting sponsors of some of its most popular series, beginning in the U.S. The will also be able to sponsor collections of shows around events or holidays like Valentine’s Day.

Netflix has also created a Top 10 package that will enable brands to advertise specifically in Netflix’s most popular shows. 

In terms of measurement, Netflix said advertisers will be able to use Nielsen Digital Ad Ratings to get deduplicated viewership and reach and frequency data for campaigns.

Netflix is also working with research and analytics company EDO to measure outcomes and engagement. 

According to EDO, viewers are more than four times more likely to engage with an ad on Netflix compared to other streamers and more than four and a half times more likely than with linear TV, Netflix said.

“Netflix revolutionized streaming with House of Cards ,” co-CEO Ted Sarandos said. Now it will create  “similar breakthroughs in advertising” that “can be just as impactful,” he said.

“We have a long way to go to build scale in advertising,” he said, but Netflix is working on a “better future for ad-supported streaming” and the opportunity to “build something together” with advertisers.

Netflix also talked about the programming that’s generating all of that engagement. In keeping with the restrictions caused by the Writers Guild of America strike, executives introduce clips of Netflix series instead of actors.

Netflix said its upcoming new shows include Shawn Levy’s All the Light We Cannot See ; Griselda , with Sofía Vergara; and the latest epic from David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, 3 Body Problem.

Returning series include favorites like Bridgerton , Stranger Things , Formula 1: Drive to Survive , Outer Banks and Cobra Kai .

Netflix announced renewals of Ginny & Georgia (S3 and S4) and Virgin River . Those follow recent renewals for The Night Agent (S2) and The Diplomat (S2). 

Reality show Love Is Blind (S5) will be back in September, and Squid Game: The Challenge will debut in November.

Jon has been business editor of Broadcasting+Cable since 2010. He focuses on revenue-generating activities, including advertising and distribution, as well as executive intrigue and merger and acquisition activity. Just about any story is fair game, if a dollar sign can make its way into the article. Before B+C , Jon covered the industry for TVWeek , Cable World , Electronic Media , Advertising Age and The New York Post . A native New Yorker, Jon is hiding in plain sight in the suburbs of Chicago.

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Upfronts 2023: Netflix talks numbers for the first time

The streamer’s ad-supported tier has more than doubled since its november launch – and almost three-quarters of that growth is in the key 18 to 49 demo..

Jenny Croswell, EVP, head of investment and agency operations, and Matt Bailey, VP of media investment and activation, at Horizon Media Canada are among the media execs in New York this week to attend some of the U.S. Upfront presentations – and provide some of their thoughts for  Media in Canada . 

The first-ever Netflix upfront streamed virtually this year after a last-minute cancellation of the in-person presentation, which some believe was due to the ongoing writers’ strike.

The roughly 60-minute stream opened with a sizzle reel and featured various Netflix executives drawing comparisons between the streamer’s ad and non-ad supported tiers, leaning heavily on their content and their position in the zeitgeist – relentlessly referred to as the “Netflix effect.”

Netflix, which is notoriously protective of its audience information, finally announced that there are five million active global users on the ad-supported tier and that its ad-supported membership has more than doubled since the launch in November. Close to three-quarters of these users are in the 18 to 49 demo and 25% of new subscribers choose the ad-supported tier.

Netflix went on to boast that its reach is three times greater than all its competitors combined, that all of the top 10 most-watched TV shows are on Netflix, and that four of the top 10 movies are also on the outlet.

The streamer suggested that the first steps when it came to its ad-supported launch was to get the “brilliant basics” right (like geo, age and gender targeting), and hoped it could work closely with advertisers to “build something together.” Expanded measurement partnerships were announced with Nielsen Digital Ad Ratings and EDO (measurement service), and Netflix is committed to unlocking new ad concepts like title alignment.

Netflix touted its status as the most popular streaming service with more returning series than any other. However, it also reinforced that there’s room for growth, given that as of today Netflix commands just 10% of overall TV viewing time. It asserted that growth will come from consumers who are comfortable with ads and like lower prices.

Beyond the executive talking heads, there was an interview with the Russo Brothers, who spoke about their upcoming movie Extraction 2 . Several slick trailers for future Netflix releases were also showcased, including one for Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Fubar, about a CIA agent who discovers his daughter is also a secret operative of the organization. Among the others screened were The Three Body Problem (from the same people who brought Game of Thrones ), a program about what it means to be human, and a mini-series based on the life of an infamous drug trafficker titled Griselda, starring Sofía Vergara.

No one really knew what to expect from Netflix in its first-ever upfront presentation but roughly six months into their ad-supported venture it’s clear that there is work to be done to effectively monetize their ad supported inventory and deliver more transparent, targeted, measurable solutions to its advertisers.

Arnold Schwarzenegger , EDO , Netflix , Nielsen Digital Ad Ratings , Russo Brothers , Sofía Vergara

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An Asteroid Is About to Hit Upfronts

If the 2023 upfronts were about disruption, the 2024 upfronts are about Disruption with a capital "D."

Last year's events were quite literally disrupted, with striking WGA writers on picket lines outside the New York City venues and the annual presentations to advertisers blunted by a noted lack of star power, as actors proved unwilling to cross those picket lines. While companies like Disney and NBCUniversal tried to make up for it by leaning on their news and sports talent, it was nonetheless a muted week.

This year, the disruption is more figurative, but in many ways much worse: Linear TV, the linchpin of the ad business for Hollywood, is rapidly eroding. At the same time, this is the year that the streaming behemoths have decided to go for the ad jugular, with Netflix planning an "immersive" experience for media buyers and Amazon storming into upfronts only months after turning on commercials for its millions of Prime Video users, both of them joining YouTube during this critical week in New York.

In other words, linear TV is on the ropes at a time when legacy media needs it most to get over that streaming chasm. "We're not kidding ourselves thinking this is going to be some gangbusters upfront. It's going to be challenging again," one ad sales chief with exposure to linear TV tells The Hollywood Reporter . Another TV ad sales chief adds that they were focused on "flexibility" and "transparency" with ad partners, basically asking them what they wanted and figuring out a way to deliver.

But some analysts have been even more bearish. "Decades from now, media executives and investors will likely look back at 2023 as the year where linear TV advertising officially broke," MoffettNathanson analyst Michael Nathanson wrote March 19. "It is now clear that outside of sports advertising there should no longer be expectations of a recovery for linear TV advertising."

Indeed, multiple top ad sales executives say that sports will be one of the top selling points during an otherwise challenging year, with athletes and studio hosts expected on stage at multiple presentations.

But about those sports ads: A senior executive on the buyer side of the upfronts says that they think live sports could end up being north of 40 percent of this year's upfront spend, thanks to strong demand. But there is also an asterisk. "What we're evaluating really closely is whether or not the traditional media companies that also have sports are trying to raise prices so much in sports in order to offset the decline in entertainment," this exec says. 

Indeed, the decline in entertainment programming is the hole in linear TV's sinking ship. "I don't think the networks are making as much of an effort and putting quality content on these linear channels, as they had say 5-10 years ago," says media consultant Brad Adgate. "If they didn't have this legacy of decades behind them as an advertising platform - if this was something brand new - I think they would get very little advertiser support. It's called legacy media for a reason."

"We've seen it in the Nielsen ratings, but it's not unexpected," the buy-side source adds. "It's been going on for years now, and there aren't any media companies that are trying to change that trend. They're not investing in traditional primetime entertainment."

Streaming, however, is. But while the traditional entertainment companies lose collective billions on their direct-to-consumer platforms, the tech giants and the only truly profitable streaming platform - Netflix - are coming for their lunch.

"It's not surprising to me that they're doing this, I mean, look, they're sitting there and they're seeing $20 billion being transacted and they have better content and a better story to tell in often cases to the advertising community," Adgate says. "Why shouldn't you be there?"

One year after hosting a (strike-induced) virtual upfront, Netflix is planning a massive "immersive" experience in the Chelsea Piers complex, with co-CEO Ted Sarandos promising on the company's last earnings call "a lot of entertainment in store" for the upfront event.

And for the first time, Amazon is pushing into upfront week, hoping to leverage the Prime Video audience (now ad-supported) to steal market share from linear.

And then there's YouTube. The video platform is already a behemoth (it had more than $31 billion in advertising revenue last year), but it wants a bigger piece of the upfront pie. It has secured the closing night spot during upfront week, where executives will gladly tout its reach on living room TV sets by noting it has more viewing time than Netflix. Multiple media buyers quizzed by THR after last year's strike-impacted upfronts cited YouTube as having the most successful presentation, in which it leaned on its top creators and a surprise appearance from NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.

But the traditional players will roar back, with a ton of star power expected, multiple executives say, which means that media buyers seeking selfies at the afterparties may get their chance this year. Whether that will be enough to pry away the digital encroachers remains to be seen. "The launch and growth of new ad-supported tiers at Amazon Prime Video, Netflix and Disney+ should pull an even greater share of dollars away from linear TV," Nathanson argues, adding that services like Fox's Tubi or Paramount's Pluto are also at risk. "These new entrants may also, however, pull dollars away from what have been, to date, among the largest beneficiaries of the outflow of dollars from linear: legacy AVOD services and FAST channels."

Or, as a top television executive worries: "There's too much supply and not enough demand." 

And on the horizon, deeper concerns persist.

As scary as the ad market is now, it could always get worse. Further war in the Middle East or Europe? Disruptions during the 2024 election? More surprise interest rate hikes? Any of those things could cause further advertiser pullback, given their propensity for caution.

"I never thought I'd be in a job where I was so connected to Jerome Powell," quips the buy-side executive.

Upfronts Schedule: A Cheat Sheet

May 13, Manhattan Center

Key IP The NFL, MLB, Fox News, Tubi, Gordon Ramsay

What to expect Touting of Tom Brady, who is set to join the Fox NFL booth; the growth of Tubi; more unscripted and scripted fare.

NBCUniversal

May 13, Radio City Music Hall

Key IP Paris Olympics, the NFL, The Tonight Show , Dick Wolf

What to expect Plenty of sports, touting the NBCU News Group, and some Peacock promotion.

May 13, The Shed

Key IP Soccer, NFL, its slate of telenovelas

What to expect A party with performances by SNL 's Marcello Hernández and music star Manuel Turizo.

Amazon/Prime Video

May 14, Pier 36

Key IP The NFL, Fallout , Reacher

What to expect Boasting about Prime Video's advertising scale and reach, live sports rights, and deals with the likes of MrBeast and Travis Kelce.

May 14, Javits Center North

Key IP Marvel, ESPN, Abbott Elementary , Grey's Anatomy

What to expect A cavalcade of high-profile talent (including, fingers crossed, the return of Jimmy Kimmel); sneak peeks at upcoming film, TV and streaming projects; an afterparty overlooking the Hudson River.

TelevisaUnivision

May 14, HK Hall

Key IP Its slate of telenovelas, Liga MX, its Vix streaming service

What to expect A "Casa Cultura," with food from across Latin America and live music.

Warner Bros. Discovery

May 15, The Theater at Madison Square Garden

Key IP HBO hits like the Game of Thrones universe and The Last of Us , CNN, TNT Sports, Cartoon Network

What to expect Previews of HBO and Max series, appearances by CNN and TNT Sports talent.

May 15, David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center

Key IP NFL Sunday Ticket , the platform's vast lineup of creators

What to expect Creators touting their success and reach on YouTube, a surprise musical performance or two (last year, Doja Cat performed).

May 16, Pier59 Studios

Key IP Bridgerton , Squid Game , WWE, Baby Reindeer

What to expect Clips from new seasons of Bridgerton and Squid Game , an "experiential" environment, perhaps teasing the upcoming Netflix Houses that are planned worldwide.

A version of this story first appeared in the May 8 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine.  Click here to subscribe.

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TV Upfronts

What to expect from disney's upfront, according to ad sales boss rita ferro, ferro touts 'even better' results for disney+hulu merger and clarifies confusion over combined sports streamer.

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Disney is welcoming marketers back to the wonderful world of upfronts, and global advertising president Rita Ferro can’t wait to get started.

Without Hollywood strikes keeping talent away this year, Ferro noted that Disney is “way ahead” in terms of planning, talent commitments and what the company will showcase at its May 14 upfront event at the North Javits Center.

Among the highlights, Disney will tout its live tentpoles, sports programming and streaming platforms, including its combined Disney+ and Hulu integration .

Days into the beta version of the Disney+ and Hulu merger late last year, Ferro told ADWEEK that the company was seeing “ better than expected metrics ” for advertisers across the board. Now, since the full Disney and Hulu integration debuted in March, Ferro said the results are “even better,” with the company seeing “continued adoption and engagement” for bundle subscribers.

“They’re spending more time with the content and watching more hours of content,” Ferro said. “That will allow us to have more robust opportunities from an advertiser and a brand perspective to really take advantage of how we can target better across audiences, make sure that we’re giving the right advertising formats and ad units across both platforms, and continue to drive reach and engagement.”

In a Tuesday earnings call, the company teased how that engagement will increase further thanks to an ESPN tile coming to Disney+ later this year ahead of ESPN’s standalone streamer launching in 2025. Additionally, the company’s Disney+ ad tier now reaches 22.5 million subscribers.

Ahead of Disney’s upfront event, Ferro spoke with ADWEEK about the offerings to marketers, bringing Jimmy Kimmel back for another in-person upfront and also clarified some confusion over the new joint sports streamer from ESPN, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery .

How Caitlin Clark and Women’s Basketball Scored Big for Disney and Its Partners

ADWEEK: Last year’s upfront had Hollywood strikes keeping talent away and many companies making last-minute changes. What are you looking forward to from this presentation without those added hurdles?

Rita Ferro: It’s nice to have a plan and know that it’s going to be able to be executed with everything that you want to be there. Last year, until the day of, as we were heading onto the stage, things were changing in real time. I thought we did an extraordinary job given that you didn’t really feel that in the show, given the breadth of our show and the size of our portfolio.

It was a little more stressful last year than this year for that reason. And the advertising marketplace was in a different place. Twelve months later, the marketplace, while not back to its full potential, is definitely in a much better place.

What can we expect from the upcoming event at the North Javits Center?

It’ll be the best of storytelling around sports, streaming and our linear entertainment platforms, with one of the biggest lineups of talent that you will see on any stage that week. We’ve been in a couple of venues now doing this upfront. This is the best venue to do it in. It exceeds our full audience of 3,500 people.

We have the afterparty right in the same venue regardless of weather. What you’re gonna see in the afterparty is a lot of thematically relevant, fun things, surprise and delight moments around food, entertainment and experiences that are going to be a little bit different than what you saw last year. We’re in a better place from being able to get talent, but it’s also about making connections around the company and making connections with audiences, our brands and our franchises.

This year, you have Jimmy Kimmel back. In addition to Kimmel having to sit out last year, he had to do his part remotely the year before because he tested positive for Covid-19. What does it mean to have him, as well as other talent, back this year in person?

Jimmy is a tentpole in our show, and he’s always one of the biggest moments that customers wait for. I always brace myself because I tend to make it into that roast every year. You’ve got to have thick skin when it comes to Jimmy. But in all seriousness, he is one of the main draws of our upfront, continues to be that, and we’re thrilled to have him this year again.

But it’s not only Jimmy. The show is going to open with huge talent. We have the best theatrical studios in the business and the best television studios in the business, who not only make extraordinary content for our platforms but make a lot of content for other people’s platforms. You’re going to see a lot of big debuts and announcements on that stage.

There will reportedly be a look at the combined ESPN, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery sports streamer at the upfront. What can you tell us about this? Are you working with those other ad teams at all?

Well, let me clarify something because I think there’s a little confusion. When I read those articles, I’m not sure people fully understand this. The new sports streamer—it’s actually not a sports streamer. It’s a digital MVPD. It is a way for people who have not had the desire or opportunity to be part of the MVPD ecosystem to have a way to get the sports and the content that they most value, and so having a smaller package of the right combination of sports rights for people to say, “Yes, this is worth the investment because I’m a big sports fan, and I want to follow.” We’re going to monetize that as part of our full sports portfolio. That’s how it gets monetized everywhere. It’s incremental reach to all of our distribution strategies across the board.

Disney has a lot going on with sports. There’s everything from the Stanley Cup final on ESPN this year to Caitlin Clark and women’s college basketball delivering higher ad engagement for Disney and its partners. What role does sports play in the upfront this year?

This is going to be an extraordinary year for ESPN. It’s the first year we have the full rights of the SEC portfolio across our platform. We now have a very robust NCAA deal across the ESPN platform that includes eight women’s and men’s championships across college sports, and we have our expansive NFL coverage, which last year had record audience growth. Obviously, the NBA has such a passionate following, and we’re so excited about continuing to expand on that.

And then a big opportunity clients have been embracing—and we’ve been committed to for years, but it’s really starting to pay off differently now—is women’s sports. We are seeing brands really getting involved and behind women’s sports and expanding the coverage of what we have been doing since we started our partnership with the WNBA 25 years ago.

What can you tell us about early negotiations?

Every single holding company is engaged in conversation. They want to understand how we’re coming to market and what’s going on with currency because Nielsen rolled out big data —there was a lot of momentum around it, but it’s still in conversations on if it’ll be adopted or not as part of this upfront. We’re ready and willing to transact with partners however they want to. Those are the conversations.

It’s also around where we are from an ad technology perspective, how are we going to drive innovation around that and where are the partnerships going to take us in terms of opportunities to test and do things differently together. I think there’s a lot more energy in the marketplace than there was a year ago. I’m hoping that this year it will move slightly faster than last year.

Streamers such as Netflix and Amazon are joining the upfront, and Disney is rolling out programmatic offerings such as expanding Disney Real-Time Ad Exchange (DRAX) . With more offerings that get away from linear, how do you see upfront week changing in the future?

I do foresee a continued investment around a marketplace that allows people to plan and reserve the right inventory at the right price for a period of time, and so the notion of the upfront and how it works has really evolved. But I think there is still an opportunity to make sure that you reserve from a planning perspective the right amount of video inventory around a scarce premium marketplace. There is an excess of supply of video, but not premium video. And we know that premium environments deliver better outcomes, more engagement, and connect with consumers in a different way.

Bill Bradley

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• [email protected]

Bill Bradley is Adweek's deputy TV editor.

Netflix Original Series At Risk of Cancelation in 2024

We suspect these are likely going to be canceled or have been ghost-canceled.

Pictures: Netflix

Cancellations are common across all networks but are particularly noticeable with Netflix. While most shows do get announced as to whether they’ll return for future seasons or receive a cancellation through the trades or otherwise, a number languish. Below, we’ve looked through all the shows currently in limbo that we suspect may be canceled. 

For the most part, we do learn of the fates of shows in a timely fashion, but several shows have never had any kind of resolution, and a few recent titles are still pending.

I should stress at this point that this article is purely opinion and doesn’t necessarily mean they’re canceled and/or based on any evidence other than viewership, length of time since the last release, and/or the fact the stars/creators have moved on to other projects. We’ll also exclude any show waiting for a renewal for over five years, as it’s almost certainly not coming back.

You may recall we used to show an at-risk section within our main cancelation posts (see 2023 cancelations here and 2024 cancelations so far here ) but for 2024, we’re going to make a separate list which is below:

Girls5eva (Season 4)

Picture: Netflix

We begin with a Peacock to Netflix rescue, which may need another rescue.

After airing its first two seasons exclusively on Peacock, Netflix boldly chose to revive Girls5eva ahead of a presumed cancelation for season 3 and carry the first two seasons. Most regions picked up the Tina Fey-produced series in 2023, with the US getting both the first two seasons and the newly released third season in March. While the show certainly has its fans and critic’s certainly enjoyed the new season, the series did little to impress audiences by failing to enter the global top 10s once. Worse yet, the show didn’t even enter any individual countries’ top 10s either.

There are plans and hopes for a season 4 but we’d be very surprised whether they ever comes to light.

Neon (Season 2)

Sticking with comedy, and much like Girls5eva, Neon’s biggest crime is that its arrival on Netflix didn’t make many (if any) waves following its launch. The show didn’t appear in the global top 10s, although it did appear in a handful of individual top 10s for anywhere between a day or two and a couple of weeks in the Dominican Republic,  according to FlixPatrol .

Over on IMDb, the series currently sits at a 5.2/10, but what’s worse is that it’s only based on 397 reviews, further adding to the point that we suspect not enough people engaged with the show meaningfully enough to justify bring it back.

Dead Boy Detectives (Season 2)

DEAD BOY DETECTIVES. (L to R) George Rexstrew as Edwin Payne and Jayden Revri as Charles Rowland in episode 1 of DEAD BOY DETECTIVES. Cr. David Bukach/Netflix © 2023

It’s no secret that young adult fantasy shows have had a rough time as of late in finding audiences and getting renewed at the streamer. Sadly, Dead Boy Detectives , despite being connected to the popular series The Sandman , doesn’t look like it’ll be coming back.

This article is being published around two weeks after the series debuted. While it may be premature to include the show in a potential cancelations list, the show’s performance so far has tracked below Lockwood & Co, Warrior Nun S2, First Kill, and a few other significant cancelations from the past few years.

God’s Favorite Idiot (Season 2)

We’re coming up on two years since God’s Favorite Idiot first debuted on Netflix in June 2022, and it was supposed to come back for more. As you may remember, the show was ordered with 16 episodes, and production ended after eight to some controversy , it must be said. Deadline at the time reported that we shouldn’t worry as these episodes would be filmed later , but two years later, there’s no indication this will ever happen.

Cementing its fate are lukewarm audience reviews and horrid critics reviews, and while it did feature in quite several Netflix top 10s, its positions weren’t held for long.

Trailer Park Boys

Trailer Park Boys – Picture: Netflix

OK, we’re going back on our five-year rule here a little, but Trailer Park Boys is in a weird spot. It was an acquired Netflix Original for Netflix and one of their earliest.

We do know that some filming was taking place for Trailer Park Boys recently in London, with one person on X capturing it and tying it to Netflix , but for the most part, it looks like the series has gone entirely exclusive to Swearnet.

Russian Doll (Season 3)

One show that seems to be in limbo due to the cast and crew being too busy with other projects is Russian Doll which captured audiences and awards buzz with its first season and rather missed the mark with its second.

We got somewhat of a non-update in March 2024 courtesy of Collider , who spoke with Leslye Headland, who told the outlet, “I don’t know. I haven’t heard anything. I don’t know if it’s because Natasha [Lyonne]’s doing ‘Poker Face’ now . I don’t know if it’s gonna become a schedule thing, but I haven’t heard anything from Netflix about it.”

While we suspect Netflix would love to work with Natasha Lyonne again, we suspect it wouldn’t be in the form of Russian Doll .

Good Times (Season 2)

Good Times (L to R) JB Smoove as Reggie, Marsai Martin as Grey, Jay Pharoah as Junior and Yvette Nicole Brown as Beverly in Good Times. Cr. COURTESY OF NETFLIX © 2024

Very rarely do you see a show like Good Times manage to piss everyone off. Somehow, however, it managed it. Serving as a modern adaptation of the beloved sitcom, from the word go, it was controversial with audiences , resulting in its current score of 3.7 out of 10 on IMDb. Ouch.

While on the subject of animated adult sitcoms, it is doubtful whether we will get any episodes of Mulligan and Chicago Party Aunt , two shows that also struggled for viewership or acclaim beyond their initial orders.

Skull Island (Season 2)

We may regret including Skull Island on this list, but unlike most animated series on Netflix, this one didn’t come with an initial upfront order, with reports in October 2023 (months following its release in June release) that Brian Duffield had completed the entire script for season 2 but it had yet to be greenlit . A few people attached to the show on LinkedIn still list the show as a present, while others have moved on. Animation projects are notoriously hard to track so fingers and toes crossed we’re wrong on this one.

Although the show appeared in the Netflix top 10s in a slew of regions , it didn’t manage to get inside the overall Netflix top 10s.

There are plenty more English-language shows that have been waiting for renewal beyond those mentioned above:

• Aunty Donna’s Big Ol’ House of Fun (Season 2)  – No news on this one since its debut in November 2020. The group are still very active but it’s likely curtains on their Netflix production.
• Chad and JD Go Deep (Season 2) – The duo are still very much active on their socials but it doesn’t seem like they’re coming back for a season 2 of their Netflix show.
• Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities (Season 2) – GDT is actively working on new movies for Netflix but his anthology horror series has been inactive now for quite a while.
• The Pentaverate (Season 2) – Mike Myers’s big comedy comeback didn’t go as planned. With poor reviews and viewership, it likely means it’s one-and-done.
• The Politician (Season 3) – One of the two Netflix shows Ryan Murphy burst onto Netflix with was The Politician , which released two seasons before going quiet. Much like Ratched , we suspect the series won’t be coming back for a third season.

This list excludes multiple international series to which Netflix has yet to give formal renewals. We’ll cover them further down the road.

Are there any big shows we’ve missed? Let us know in the comments.

Founder of What's on Netflix, Kasey has been tracking the comings and goings of the Netflix library for over a decade. Covering everything from new movies, series and games from around the world, Kasey is in charge of covering breaking news, covering all the new additions now available on Netflix and what's coming next.

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Netflix Gives Comedy the Live Treatment. The Results Are Chaotic.

Sometimes that’s a good thing, as with John Mulaney’s variety show “Everybody’s in L.A.” But the Katt Williams special and Tom Brady roast were more uneven.

By Jason Zinoman

Reporting from Los Angeles

On Friday night, in the premiere of his appealingly chaotic livestreaming variety show “Everybody’s in L.A.,” which runs every night this week, John Mulaney delivered a monologue about his adopted city next to a map that broke it down into a crooked jigsaw puzzle of neighborhoods.

In his distinctive staccato cadence that could sell steak knives or a card trick as convincingly as the premise of a joke, he said, “One thing that unites every part of Los Angeles is that no matter where you go, there is zero sense of community.”

For comedy fans, this past week felt different, because everywhere you went in Los Angeles, Netflix was there, blanketing the city in ads and shows for its Netflix Is a Joke Fest , running through May 12. It’s the biggest comedy showcase of the year (with more than 500 offerings, a 40 percent increase from the festival’s already mammoth debut event in 2022) but also something of a corporate flex. Who else could get Hannah Gadsby and Shane Gillis in the same festival or draw the talk-show titans Jon Stewart and David Letterman to host events? Or recruit Chris Rock to play the Billy Crystal role in a reading of the screenplay for “When Harry Met Sally,” with, as Rock introduced it, “an all-Black cast, like it was originally intended.” (Tracee Ellis Ross doing Meg Ryan’s fake orgasm, but louder, received standing ovations from the audience and onstage participants, too.)

The most newsworthy shift this year was the aggressive move into livestreaming events, following the blockbuster success of Chris Rock’s 2023 special, “Selective Outrage,” about being slapped at the Oscars. (One of that ceremony’s hosts, Wanda Sykes, returned to the place it happened, the Dolby Theater, for a festival show and began by saying this time no one would get assaulted).

For the live events, Netflix picked stars with current buzz. Along with the Mulaney variety show, Katt Williams followed up his viral “Club Shay Shay” interview with a new hour, “Woke Foke,” on Saturday, and Kevin Hart, whom Williams singled out in his interview for criticism, tried to bring back the dormant genre of celebrity roast on Sunday with “The Greatest Roast of All Time,” starring Tom Brady, widely considered the GOAT of quarterbacks. (After livestreaming, the shows can be watched on Netflix, sometimes in edited form.)

As the last half-century of “Saturday Night Live” has proved, there is an undeniable excitement to live comedy, an irreplaceable energy that can create a sense of event. But there are significant dangers, not the least of which is that you can’t cut the boring or unfunny parts. Netflix built its comedy empire on elevating the standup special as an art form to rival film or TV. Highlighting live comedy represents a commercial move for Netflix, spotlighting events that promise unpredictability more than refinement, mess instead of polish.

You saw both sides over the weekend.

In a revealing new interview for “My Next Guest With David Letterman,” released last week, Mulaney said that his favorite project ever was “The Sack Lunch Bunch,” a variety show for kids. His love for the form is evident on this new show, an even more anything-goes production that feels a little bit like a rollicking cable-access show from the 1980s, but with famous people.

“We’re only doing six episodes, so the show will never hit its groove,” Mulaney said early in the premiere.

This isn’t just setting expectations. It’s part of the charm. The start of every talk or variety show has problems, but it also tends to be when the most interesting and experimental work happens. And while Mulaney organized the first episode around coyotes, the show does not stick closely to a theme, and its structure here was very loose.

There was a long and aimless interview with the singer-songwriter Ray J, a disruptive appearance by Will Ferrell having a ball playing the music producer Lou Adler, a spoof of “House Hunters” with a battalion of comedians (including Chelsea Peretti and Stavros Halkias), and guest appearances by a coyote expert and Jerry Seinfeld. Mulaney also took live phone calls from Los Angeles residents, including a woman talking about microdosing. The whole thing was bonkers.

What held it together was a certain 1970s showbiz mood and Mulaney himself, who has the alien confidence, affect and skills of a talk-show host from an older showbiz era. Dressed in a slick brown suit and tie, he anchored the show with an outsider’s attitude that teased a highly specific insider perspective. In a historical interlude, he joked: “The city of Los Angeles was officially founded in 1842 as a place for improv students to go hiking.”

In an interview with The New York Times, Katt Williams said that he had plotted out many of his answers in his “Club Shay Shay” podcast appearance, a window into his unique skill set. Who else could make such pinpoint beef-starting seem so off the cuff? The popularity of that interview shadowed his new special, which struggles to live up to expectations of his previous score-settling.

He referenced his new fame upfront, pointed to his reputation for telling secrets and reminded the audience that there’s a chance he could get in more trouble than usual for saying the wrong thing.

And yet, he seemed more guarded here. The title “Woke Foke” suggests he would talk about wokeness much more than he did. While he suggested to The Times that he might joke about Israel, he didn’t mention it. In a theme of this festival, he poked fun at the ages of Joe Biden and Donald J. Trump. (Of the three comics I saw who brought this up, only Sykes said she was sick of hearing about the president’s being old.) Williams got off a decent Nick Cannon joke — comparing the size of his family to that of Abraham — and another on Ozempic. (“They said Oprah took so much that Gayle lost 12 pounds.”)

Williams can make so-so material sing better than just about anyone, with a musical cadence that shifts rhythm and volume so dramatically that you don’t need to understand English to be entertained. What came through here more than usual was the optimism of a comic whose worldview mixes dark conspiratorial musings with the upbeat bromides of a pep talk. He can be a bracing critic of this country but also repeatedly described it as the greatest in the world. In such a wonderful place, he said, 50,000 people kill themselves every year. He marveled at that fact, adding: “Not one of them was the right one.”

The roast of Tom Brady had more punchlines than the other two live events put together. Nikki Glaser’s dynamite set alone was an absolute highlight that laid waste to everyone onstage. At times, the retired Patriots quarterback, about to enter broadcasting, looked more dazed after jokes about his ex-wife’s romance with her jiu-jitsu instructor than he did after a sack. This was part of the vulgar, boozy fun of the show. Kim Kardashian got booed. When Jeff Ross told a joke about the owner Robert Kraft visiting prostitutes, Brady got up and whispered that he should not say that again, which got picked up by the microphone.

Hart tried to keep the event moving, but a few of Brady’s former teammates, especially Rob Gronkowski, rambled tediously, making loud, dumb jokes that suggested what it’s like to be an outsider in an N.F.L. locker room after a game.

The three-hour roast will be catnip to die-hard N.F.L. fans, especially revenge sets by Drew Bledsoe (whom Brady famously replaced as quarterback) and the coach Bill Belichick (whom he butted heads with). Ferrell showed up again here, this time as Ron Burgundy from “Anchorman,” and Giants fans will love how he goosed the crowd into mocking Brady for losing to Eli Manning, who got in another lick on X .

In far too many of these sets, you could feel the presence of the teleprompter. You don’t go to a roast to see people read. And there was easily an hour of weak material that could have been cut. But watching noncomedians tell jokes off teleprompters is instructive.

Brady clearly prepared and adopted a heightened version of the character that others already ascribe to him, that of the arrogant, aloof jerk. It sort of worked for him. Not so much for Ben Affleck, a Boston fan whose train wreck of a set aimed for a cartoonish attack on fans who criticize the quarterback but felt real and mirthless.

It reminded me of a joke in another festival show, by Kumail Nanjiani. He began by making it clear that he was a stand-up who went on to act for years and was now returning to comedy, not, he insisted, an actor doing standup. Then he flashed a look of horror. “I’d rather be known as a pedophile,” he said.

Jason Zinoman is a critic at large for the Culture section of The Times and writes a column about comedy. More about Jason Zinoman

Inside the World of Comedy

The White House Correspondents’ Association dinner has occasionally featured some great stand-up comedy. Colin Jost’s set will not join that list, our critic writes .

The pandemic dealt a major blow to improv in New York, but a new energy can be seen in performances throughout the city .

Kevin Hart became the 25th comic  to receive the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor from the Kennedy Center.

The joke writers for awards shows are a corner of the showbiz work force that tends to remain in the shadows. The job requires skill, self-awareness and even diplomacy .

Comedians, no strangers to tackling difficult and taboo subjects with humor, are increasingly turning their attention to the climate crisis .

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Stormy daniels tangles with trump’s lawyer over claim of sexual encounter: “if that story was untrue, i would have written it to be a lot better”, amazon debuts new streaming video ad formats ahead of upfront event.

By Dade Hayes

Business Editor

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Before its debut presentation to ad buyers during the mid-May week of top-tier media and tech pitches, Amazon Ads is rolling out three new streaming video ad formats.

The interactive formats are hitting the market just before Amazon’s upfront presentation on May 14 at Pier 36 in New York. In previous years, Amazon positioned itself at the tech-focused NewFronts, but Prime Video ‘s addition of NFL football and other broad-audience programming prompted the company to enter the main arena this year.

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Prime Video earlier this year began running ads on films and series for all subscribers, with Amazon execs emphasizing a strategic emphasis on ads across the company. Live sports, Twitch and Freevee had already been significant ad venues for the tech giant. Prime Video has an average monthly ad-supported reach of more than 200 million global customers, according to Amazon.

“Amazon Ads continues to re-imagine the streaming TV experience with interactive ad formats that are seamlessly shoppable and help advertisers meaningfully connect with customers,” said Alan Moss, VP, Global Ads Sales for Amazon Ads. “We are developing innovative experiences to help brands better engage with customers, as we work to transform streaming advertising through our differentiated combination of reach, first-party signals, and ad tech. Ads in Prime Video provide an unparalleled experience for advertisers to deliver on any full-funnel marketing objective – whether it’s awareness, consideration, or conversion.”

The carousel ads let viewers browse and shop multiple related products on Amazon during ad breaks on Prime Video. Brands can present a sliding lineup of their products that customers can explore on Amazon and add to their carts using most living-room remotes. The ad automatically pauses while viewers browse, automatically resuming play when ad interaction has stopped.

The trivia ads help advertisers deliver factoids about their brand as viewers shop on Amazon. Using their remote, customers can add a product to their cart, request information via email, and claim rewards like Amazon shopping credits with the purchase of eligible items. 

“Amazon’s engagement with consumers throughout the funnel is unique,” says Geoffrey Calabrese, Chief Investment Officer for Omnicom Media Group North America. “With the ad innovations we are seeing from inside of their streaming offering, our clients are now able to test and learn at scale the true power of streaming TV.”

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Kristen johnston to star opposite leanne morgan in netflix comedy.

The untitled multicamera comedy is created by Morgan, Chuck Lorre and Susan McMartin.

By Lesley Goldberg

Lesley Goldberg

Television Editor, West Coast

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Kristen Johnston is headed to Netflix.

The Emmy-winning 3rd Rock From the Sun grad has been tapped to star opposite comedian Leanne Morgan in the untitled Netflix project from co-creator Chuck Lorre .

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Johnston will star as Carol, Leanne’s sister and complete opposite. She’s twice divorced with no kids, and if there’s a choice between going to church and going to a bar, she will always choose the latter. Despite their differences, Carol is fiercely loyal to her sister and is her ride or die.

The casting marks a reunion for Johnston with Lorre and co-creator Susan McMartin after the actress spent four seasons starring on their CBS comedy, Mom. Johnston’s credits also include HBO’s The Righteous Gemstones, The Exes and guest stints on Our Flag Means Death, Modern Family and ER , among others. She earned two Emmy wins for supporting actress in a comedy for her turn in the NBC sitcom 3rd Rock From the Sun . She’s repped by Buchwald, Berwick & Kovacik and Hansen Jacobson.

Exec producers on the Morgan comedy include co-creators Morgan, Martin and Lorre as well as Judi Marmel. The series hails from Warner Bros. Television, where Lorre has been housed with an overall deal for years.

A premiere time frame has not yet been determined.

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TV Faces Tumult in Upfronts, With Advertisers Making New Push for ‘Rollbacks’

By Brian Steinberg

Brian Steinberg

Senior TV Editor

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Audiences may not be the only thing about TV that continues to shrink.

Advertisers are expected to once again press for “rollbacks,” or declines in the rates they pay for reaching streaming and TV viewers, in early “ upfront ” talks with TV networks, according to five media buying executives and other people familiar with these annual discussions in which U.S. media companies try to sell the bulk of their commercial inventory ahead of their next cycle of programming.

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Advertisers and media buyers are likely to press for CPM “rollbacks” across screens, on streaming as well as traditional TV. “Our expectation for this upfront is very much to see a realignment of connected-TV CPMs,” says Kelly Metz, chief investment officer for U.S. operations at Omnicom Group’s OMD, who calls rollbacks on streaming CPMs “our number-one priority.”  TV and video remain a bedrock element of many advertisers’ plans, she says, but “we are really expecting and really leaning hard into CTV CPMs all needing to come down. They all need to be in line with traditional linear, or you are going to see advertisers move money, you are going to see investment continue to leave the space.”

Despite claims that the ad market has been improving, it hasn’t seemed to catch fire. Comcast recently said first quarter ad revenue at NBCUniversal was flat, while TelevisaUnivision indicated U.S. ad revenue at Univision was the same.  Paramount Global saw a 14% uptick in TV advertising during the period, but that was largely due to the Super Bowl airing in February, not a significant reversal of media fortunes. On Tuesday, Disney revealed ad revenue had fallen at its traditional U.S. entertainment TV networks in the first quarter, due in part to smaller audiences. Even so, the market for sports seemed healthier.

Intriguingly, Madison Avenue’s demands are likely to vex even the digital giants that have come to vacuum up some of the ad money that once went to TV. Media buyers believe Amazon Prime Video is poised to enter its first upfront market with aggressive pricing demands, hoping to use the recent launch of an ad-supported Prime Video tier to wrestle more dollars into its coffers. The company has a short history of high asks. When it first started selling ads in “Thursday Night Football,” Amazon initially sought ad prices on par with those in Fox’s Sunday-afternoon NFL broadcasts.

In a statement, Amazon said it is seeing “strong interest” in its new ad tier, and noted, “We work directly with our customers and strive to be the best place for advertisers to build their brands.”

Advertisers know they need to move their money to venues that snare audiences. But not even Amazon will be immune from current dynamics, say buyers — nor will Netflix, Max, Hulu or any others. “Media partners need digital dollars, and they will do what they need to do to get them,” says one buying executive, adding: “With the exception of sports, I do not believe this is an inflationary market ––nor should it be.”

In recent days, video giants ranging from NBCU to Paramount to Amazon haven been sounding bells and whistles, including new audience measurement-technologies or interactive ads that let viewers shop for the products being shown on screen. But these gee-whiz offers aren’t likely to hold back market dynamics.

At the root of this year’s market, say buyers, is a fear that advertisers will spend less in the upfront. “Marketers are still cautious,” says one buying executive. “They are waiting for the inevitable soft landing. They are watching the Fed and interest rates — are they going to increase again? The marketplace has been relatively cautious.”

Meanwhile, buyers have a mixed outlook for automobile marketers, and believe tech marketers, some of whom have pulled back in recent years, could be poised to spend again, though not at past levels.

None of this is likely to boost overall fortunes. Early calls are for broadcast-TV commitments to stay level with last year’s totals, with cable seeing a noticeable decline because most of its non-sports offerings are consumed more avidly via on-demand streaming.

TV sales executives suggest that more advertisers are spending money on digital on an as-needed basis, because there’s always inventory available, and it can be targeted more precisely at specific kinds of consumers. So money will flow in outside of the upfront market. They also note that there’s a big difference between the programming their companies make and that being found on social media or lower-quality sites. They have a point. But those arguments will have to be very convincing to buck the market outcome most people are predicting will take place.

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