• by Wayne Friedman , December 20, 2022

Paramount Global is making a dramatic move this year when it comes to promoting new TV shows to advertisers by abandoning its longtime upfront event at Carnegie Hall.

The event has long been the place for the company’s CBS Television Network to release its upcoming fall TV season schedule.

“As media investment becomes more complex, the event needs to evolve to meet this moment,” says John Halley, president and chief advertising revenue officer of U.S. advertising sales for Paramount Global, in a memo to staffers.

In September, Halley took over the role from Jo Ann Ross, who had been a fixture on the Carnegie Hall stage in recent years. She is transitioning to a consultancy role, chairman of Paramount Advertising.

Halley adds: “We will be hosting a series of high-impact, intimate gatherings in April for each of our major agency partners and their clients in lieu of our traditional presence at Carnegie Hall. We believe this expanded format will prove more effective in facilitating our upcoming Upfront discussions.”

In recent years, many TV upfront events from major TV companies attempted to shoehorn many of their broadcast and cable TV networks’ new program offerings into a single two-hour to two-and-a-half hour event for media executives.

Also complicating the process was the COVID-19 pandemic .Since 2020, many live, in-person TV event meetings and conferences including the twice-a-year Television Critics Tour event have been disrupted. This led to TV networks offering virtual video events.