The New Media War

An exclusive look inside one media company’s negotiations.

- Jason Lynch

Upfronts are always the centerpiece of the TV advertising year. However, between upfronts week in May and the announcements later that summer negotiations are complete, the process has remained secretive, with only a handful of people involved in those high-level talks. Until now: This year, a top TV sales exec agreed to (anonymously) take Adweek behind the scenes, compiling an upfront diary that chronicled each stage of his or her company’s upfront talks. Here’s what this person had to say about how hush-hush early negotiations, Roseanne’s cancellation, “sheer exhaustion” and “a shitload of money” from an unexpected source shaped 2018’s upfront marketplace.

ENTRY NO. 1: UPFRONTS WEEK STILL MATTERS

It’s a year-round process, but we really start planning for the upfronts in February. There’s a lot of internal looking at where we are, which clients have changed direction since last May and what we think is going to happen in the marketplace based on institutional knowledge and current marketplace conditions. Then, in the blink of an eye, we find ourselves here at upfronts week in May.

It’s very, very important for us to nail that upfront event, which we think we did. Our team starts working on it in March. The messaging there, and the take-away, is really important. Does it influence a share shift? In some cases, I think it does.

You don’t want to be the one that gets up there and falls flat on their face during upfront week. That would be devastating. As much as everybody rolls their eyes, it really is an important day. If people didn’t want to be there, they don’t have to come, but every year, we don’t have enough tickets.