TV Upfronts Day 4: Netflix closes out the week

Welcome to the final edition of Ad Age’s TV upfronts 2024 newsletter. Miss out on any news from the week? You can find all of Ad Age’s TV upfronts coverage here. Join us next week in New York for our TV & Streaming Summit, where you’ll be able to hear from various media leaders and insiders. Register today for a limited-time discount. Thanks for following along! Today’s agenda Welcome to day four of the 2024 TV upfronts. Today’s lineup: Upfronts and NewFronts blog Tracking the latest TV and digital ad pitches Read more here Inside The Netflix Experience Upfront week wraps up with The Netflix Experience, which will see 3,000 attendees explore games and scenes from its hit shows. Last night, a small group of advertisers, agency executives and press members were given a first look at the experience as well as a short presentation on what’s to come over the next year from Netflix, which includes the NFL, WWE and bringing its ad tech in-house. Read more takeaways from the presentation here. The multi-room activation features games, show costumes and numerous photo ops. The two largest rooms are committed to Netflix’s “Bridgerton” and “Squid Game.” The “Bridgerton” room is a small recreation of Netflix’s touring “The Queen’s Ball” show based on the series, with a checkered dance floor, string trio and cascading floral arrangements. The “Squid Game” room put attendees into one of the show’s most viral games: red light, green light. Attendees can line up to play beneath the watch of the series’ eerie robot doll, with costumed actors enforcing the game’s rules. Other smaller sets included arcade-style racing games to promote “Formula 1: Drive to Survive,” a staged wrestling ring, Wednesday Addams’ dorm room and costumes from “Emily in Paris.” Today’s attendees will also see a short reel of coming titles on Netflix. Last night’s guests saw an expanded show that included “Bridgerton” producer and overseer of Netflix’s Shondaland, Shonda Rhimes, along with Jamie Foxx and Cameron Diaz promoting their upcoming film “Back in Action,” Diaz’s first movie in 10 years. Mindy Kaling and Kate Hudson took the stage to discuss the new series “Running Point” and San Francisco 49ers star George Kittle introduced the NFL documentary series “Receiver.” Join media leaders, Gen Zers and insiders at Ad Age’s TV & Streaming Summit on May 21 and 22 in New York. Register today to save $200. Battle of the ‘Effects’ During Netflix’s presentation, executives reiterated talking points from the year prior about “The Netflix Effect,” or the streamer’s track record for influencing cultural trends based on its programming. Examples include chess set sales rising after “The Queen’s Gambit,” the growth of interest in F1 racing after “Drive to Survive” and the boosts that “Stranger Things” and “Wednesday” gave to music from Kate Bush and Lady Gaga. This year, Netflix’s pitch sounded very similar to Warner Bros. Discovery messaging around “The WBD Effect.” WBD’s version of the concept is that the company will immerse brands in its content with bespoke creative and integrations. For example, Sherwin-Williams sponsored last year’s “Shark Week” with a set of beachy colors. And State Farm partnered with WBD to plan creative across both March Madness and Food Network’s “Tournament of Champions.” Read more about Warner Bros. Discovery’s upfront pitch. YouTube pairs products with party YouTube’s Brandcast was a festival of creators, with appearances by video stars and producers, but for advertisers there were some important changes to the ad platform, too. The showcase featured YouTubers including Zach King, Kinigra Deon and Haley Kalil. K-pop group Stray Kids and Billie Eilish took the stage. In between performances, YouTube execs dropped advertising news: YouTube Select, a premium ad offering designed for upfront media buyers who attend Brandcast, received some updates. YouTube changed the criteria for what counts as “select content”—instead of including the top 5% of videos, select only applies to the top 1%, making it sound more exclusive. There’s also a new way for brands to “takeover” creator channels, becoming the sole advertiser that sponsors a channel. The ad updates seem to align with YouTube’s marketing message this year about how its video should be considered in the same category as premium programming on Netflix or linear TV. Also, YouTube execs discussed how AI will help identify more places to insert non-skippable ads in connected TV buys. Read more YouTube Brandcast takeaways. Sign up for Ad Age newsletters From influencer marketing to agencies, get the latest news and analysis delivered to your inbox Click here

TV Upfronts Day 4: Netflix closes out the week

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