The UpFront season has always been very exciting. The idea of new programming being sold to reps with millions of dollars to play with brings such hope, such wonder.

The first television UpFront occurred in 1962, with ABC launching this concept in order to gauge the interest for their new programming.

As for the NewFront, the digital world is anything but new. For a lot of advertisers, it can be scary (ScareFront?) because there are a lot of acronyms and verbiage that sound made up (FakeFront?) and it does have a different feel compared to TV (DifferFront?).

And let’s not even mention the measurement part of things (Can’tFigureOutWho’sWatchingWhatFront?).

The question is, do we really need to lay down all these dollars for the upcoming year? Isn’t the digital marketplace flexible enough for us to come in and out when we need to? Are secured dollars in July meant for January that vital to our media plans?

The answer is… kinda sorta maybe not really but yeah? The streaming platforms will emphatically say YES. They want the money. NOW.

But do the advertisers really gain much by adding dollars into the NewFront market? The benefit of the TV upfront is that marketers secure guaranteed points and impressions for the TV season, but digital is bought that way all year. If we are buying audiences in December for January, and getting guarantees, why do we have to put that money down in July?

For 2023, there’s also a huge economical elephant in the “fronts” room…. a looming recession (RecessFront?). Will advertisers be willing to spend huge amounts of money when the economy is such a huge question mark? Some will and some won’t. It would seem that it will come down to what kind of audiences and cost savings we will get.

Either way, it promises to be a lot of fun for all of us (FunFront?).

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