Even without a once-in-a-generation strike or a Twitter bombshell, next week would already pose a challenge to media companies making their annual upfront pitches to ad buyers next week in New York.
“Going into this upfront, there’s a lot of anxiety and excitement — a mix of both,” said Rita Ferro, president of ad sales and partnerships at Disney. “Buyers still love this time of year. They get to see the best of what’s coming from companies, and companies are excited to present that.” During the nearly completed wave of first-quarter earnings reports, media and tech companies reported significant ad softness, but held out hope for a rebound in the second half of 2023.
“We have tremendous respect for the creative community and for unions,” Ferro said. “This has been rough for everyone.” As far as Disney’s event at the newly refurbished North Javits Center, she added, “Yes, it will have talent,” even though some notables like Jimmy Kimmel, Deadline has been told, have bowed out. “The show will be beautiful and will have surprise-and-delight moments.”
Marshall acknowledged that NBCU’s longtime roost at Radio City could well be a target for picketers but said ad clients don’t seem deterred. “We haven’t gotten a lot of questions, other than how [the strike] is going to affect programming or the schedule,” he said. “We’ve got an iconic venue. People are going to be there to see the new shows. We’ll still have a lot of talent there.”