Upfront week’s reliance on movies isn’t truly new however it’s more and more weird, as evidenced by the highest of Wednesday morning’s Warner Bros. Discovery presentation kicking off with sizzle that prioritized options Furiosa, Dune: Half Two and Wonka — when new episodes of the HBO and Max’s flagship Recreation of Thrones spinoff, Home of the Dragon, are simply weeks away.
However the opening frames proved to be comparatively deceptive, because the 90-minute (notably David Zaslav free) pitch to advertisers centered nearly completely on … promoting. And on linear TV, at that. Movie was referenced, in fact, however as a car to get Procter & Gamble’s Olay in on the Barbie phenomenon. Advert gross sales execs actually supplied up James Gunn’s first challenge of the brand new DC period to the room filled with media consumers, asking who desires sponsorship offers forward of its deliberate 2025 launch: “Do you wish to be in Superman?”
We’re in all probability not getting a model of the The Man of Metal along with his cape adorned in logos like a NASCAR car, but it surely did make one marvel — particularly because the presentation wore on.
After two days the place promoting was basically solely spoken of as an idea, Warner Bros. Discovery hammered the Theater at Madison Sq. Backyard crowd with instance after instance of how numerous manufacturers have discovered their method beneath the huge programming umbrella. State Farm partnered with NBA All-Star Weekend and one in all Man Fieri’s umpteen Meals Community reveals. GMC’s Sierra pick-up truck was someway concerned within the current season of HBO’s True Detective. Paint firm Sherwin Williams apparently acquired in on the motion for the latest Shark Week. It was nearly pandering, however isn’t that what we’re all on the town for?
There have been additionally an important many TV sequence on show. Casey Bloys, chair and CEO, HBO and Max Content material, finally did hype the hell out of Home of the Dragon — albeit quarter-hour in — with a trailer for the approaching season. There was additionally a notable emphasis on “the subsequent 18 months” of programming, as a few of the greatest highlights on the roster received’t be arriving this 12 months. 2025 additions embody second Recreation of Thrones spinoff A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, season two of runaway hit The Final of Us and season three of The White Lotus.
The latter acquired a particular video, performed completely for the room. It was a hybrid of scenes from the approaching Thailand-set present and interviews with the solid together with Natasha Rothwell, Carrie Coon and Parker Posey. I might be flawed but it surely appeared to be set to a different rejiggered model of Cristobal Tapia de Veer’s absolute banger of a gap titles theme.
Another 2025 addition talked about was the third cycle of And Simply Like That. And, simply as she has up to now, Intercourse and the Metropolis star Sarah Jessica Parker commanded an outsized response from the room. Throughout a presentation the place the marquee cameos have been Mindy Kaling, Anderson Cooper, Charles Barkley and Hacks star Hannah Einbinder, Parker stepping out on stage impressed literal squeals of approval. She’s clearly nonetheless acquired it.
Deviating from leisure programming, probably the most hype was bestowed upon current ID documentary sequence Quiet on Set. Earlier than touting the 29 million viewers and 1 billion minutes seen throughout platforms, US Networks chair and CEO Kathleen Finch advised the room that their firm “stays believers within the energy of linear.”
That definitely hasn’t been the dominant opinion this week, probably finest articulated on Tuesday night time when Jimmy Kimmel known as out Disney boss Bob Iger for making an attempt to promote ABC and, insult to harm, not discovering any purchaser.
Talking of conventional TV, recently-installed CNN CEO Mark Thompson made a really compelling pitch for his imaginative and prescient of the information community. “We’re going to double down,” he mentioned. “In a world filled with noisy choices, CNN ought to stand for the info. And we don’t consider information is simply politics.”
Thompson promised new programming — and don’t neglect branding alternatives… — in verticals similar to enterprise and tech, local weather and climate, well being and wellness, sports activities and leisure. He additionally had the luxurious of asserting his just-brokered offers with each President Biden and GOP nominee Donald Trump for the primary debate of the 2024 presidential marketing campaign, one that can happen June 27 on CNN. (No noisy opinions there, I’m certain.)
Examples of promoting might have stored coming again (and again and again) however did a minimum of graciously devolve into silliness. Conan O’Brien and Shaquille O’Neal closed out the presentation with an inventory of sponsorship spoofs for the advertiser-friendly Contained in the NBA analyst. That was, in fact, after O’Brien took a chew of 1 very actual O’Neal tie-in, a slice of Papa John’s Shaq-a-Roni Pizza, and promptly spat it out on the ground.
O’Neal is on the chain’s board of administrators, so the stunt shouldn’t harm Warner Bros. Discovery’s rapport with the corporate’s advert staff.