Currency
B&C Business Editor Jon Lafayette covers the financial dimension of the TV business at the intersection of Wall Street and Madison Ave.
USA Ends Upfront Season With a Blast
Upfront season ended with a bang as USA Network said thank you and farewell to weary buyers with a spectacular Grucci fireworks display over the East River. USA’s event was held in an out-of-the-way spot, Pier 36 on South Street, but because of the suddenly gorgeous weather, almost no one regretted the hike. Like last year, USA mainly let its talent do the talking, with the cast of the seri ...... Read More
Comments (0)A Wall Street View of the Upfronts
Along with media buyers, Wall Street analysts have been keeping their eyes on the network upfront presentations this week. Ultimately, upfronts are about ad revenue, and in a report this morning, John Janedis of UBS says “overall, we expect total broadcast dollars to decline 5%, with cable nets up in the mid-singles.” Todd Juenger of Sanford C. Bernstein offered a more expansive over ...... Read More
Comments (0)Digital a Big Part of ABC’s Upfront Message
Jimmy Kimmel’s jokes about the advertising business might be the annual highlight of ABC’s upfront presentation, but the network takes its digital seriously. Anne Sweeney, president of the Disney-ABC Television Group, told advertisers and media buyers about the Watch ABC app, which will live-stream the network 24 hours a day, seven days a week to authenticated cable subscribers. Adop ...... Read More
Comments (0)ESPN Wants to Stay on Top of Sports World
ESPN is the champion of the sports TV business and it’s not about to let new competitors or the government pull an upset. After an upfront presentation Tuesday morning in Times Square that showed off new programming to attract fans and create new opportunities for advertisers that left the audience hungering for Cheez-Its, ESPN president John Skipper held for on the state of the industry. O ...... Read More
Comments (0)Upfronts: Shrimp, Vodka, Comedies and Dramas
Day one of Upfront Week featured two networks spending big on programming to impress advertisers and improve their fortunes next season. Ted Harbert, chairman of broadcasting at NBC, opened the network’s 11 a.m. event at Radio City Music Hall, with jokes about the end of a grueling upfront season for media buyers, who estimated had sat through 70 presentations. “That just has to be t ...... Read More
Comments (0)Moonves Plays the Double-Digit Card
Pre-upfront posturing is going into high gear as media companies report first-quarter earnings. On CBS’ call with analysts, CEO Les Moonves broke out of an uncharacteristic reticence about setting high upfront expectations. “We will be very aggressive going into the upfront,” Moonves said. “I can say with absolute confidence that we’ll once again lead the marketp ...... Read More
Comments (0)Yahoo Offers 10% Digital Solution to TV Shrinkage
Yahoo’s version of an upfront was all about television stars and television money. The Internet company took its turn during NewFront week on Monday night, holding an event at the Best Buy Theater off Broadway, a venue where ESPN has been breaking into the broadcasters’ upfront week for several years. During a lengthy presentation, Yahoo rolled the TV stars who are creating and actin ...... Read More
Comments (0)Analyst: Cable Ads Up 5%, Broadcast Down 2% in 2013
Analyst Brian Wieser of Pivotal Research Group says he expects national TV ad spending to be up about 3% in 2013, similar to its gain of 2012, excluding the Olympics. But Wieser expects cable to gain share versus the broadcast networks at a faster pace in 2013. He sees cable growing by 5%, with the broadcast networks down 2% for the year. Based on the latest information from the fourth quarter, he ...... Read More
Comments (0)In Battle of Frenemies, Is Netflix Moving Ahead?
Netflix stock jumped more than 23% Tuesday morning following Monday’s earnings and several announcements by the streaming video powerhouse. It said that the number of its subscribers rose by 2.03 million to 29.17 million, topping HBO. It also said it planned to focus on original content, and would let its current program licensing deal with Viacom expire at the end of May. Not coincidentall ...... Read More
Comments (0)Analyst: Netflix Streaming Costs Networks $500M in Ads
Netflix last week said that its subscribers streamed four billion hours’ worth of video over the past three months. How does that affect traditional television networks? Analyst John Janedis of UBS estimates that the shift in viewing to streaming from ad-supported broadcast and cable had “a negative impact of about $500 million in total TV advertising during the quarter.” That ...... Read More
Comments (0)Analyst Sees $9.2B Upfront for Broadcast
Analyst Anthony DiClemente of Barclays Capital pronounces that the U.S. TV advertising market remains relatively resilient and healthy, and predicts gains in the upfront, but that those gains will be smaller than last year. In a research report, DiClemente says that the Big Four broadcasters’ upfront revenue will increase 0.5% to $9.2 billion, with Fox’s total taking a double-digit d ...... Read More
Comments (0)Madison Ave. Digs In to Rebuild Staten Island
A group of advertising industry executives has planned an event called Madison Avenue Rebuilds Staten Island that aims to raise money for people in the borough still recovering from Superstorm Sandy. John Nitti, president of activation for media buyer Zenith, who grew up in Staten Island and still lives there, is one of the executives spearheading the effort. The fundraising goal is $250,000. Zeni ...... Read More
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