• by Adam Buckman , Featured Columnist, April 3, 2023

Seven TV content companies with advertising opportunities to sell this spring have elbowed their way into next month's three-day Upfront Week in New York.

Of the seven, the one that will likely generate the most curiosity is Netflix.

The streaming giant is still new to the ad-sales game, yet it managed to score a prime, coveted slot in the final week of the Upfronts for its first-ever presentation.

For this opportunity, Netflix has hopefully sent a thank-you note to Paramount Global.

Instead of a whiz-bang, all-encompassing, in-person Upfront, PG announced last December that it plans to stake its claim in the 2023 Upfront marketplace with a series of “intimate gatherings in April for each of our major agency partners and their clients.”

Sometime after that announcement, in swooped Netflix to take up what would have been Paramount Global's Upfront slot on Wednesday afternoon.

As a result, Netflix can now claim a kind of parity, at least for one shortened week, with the other biggies of Upfront Week.

They are NBCUniversal (Monday morning), Fox (Monday afternoon), Televisa Univision (Tuesday morning), Disney (Tuesday afternoon), and Warner Brothers Discovery on Wednesday morning (followed later that afternoon by Netflix).

The seventh and last presenter of the week is YouTube Brandcast on Wednesday evening.

All eyes will be on Netflix to see just how the streaming giant will position its motherlode of content for advertising. Within the shows? Around them? Both? Of their thousands of titles, which shows will take center stage at their presentation?

One of them might be the new spy thriller “The Night Agent,” starring Gabriel Basso (above photo). The series started streaming March 23 and in its first week, Netflix is claiming viewership of 168.71 million viewing hours.

This is the usual way Netflix quantifies its viewership in press releases meant for public consumption. But are these kinds of 9-figure numbers meaningful to prospective ad buyers?

While Netflix was the only one of the new-to-advertising streamers to seize a slot during Upfront Week, some of the other majors will be part of the Interactive Advertising Bureau's four-day NewFront extravaganza Monday, May 1, through Thursday, May 4.

What's in a name? NewFront? Upfront? The TV Blog is not certain what the difference is anymore. Aren't all of them chasing after the same mountain of ad money for their piece of the action?

In the TV Blog’s experience in years past, this category would include digital-only companies ranging from Yahoo and Buzzfeed to Ellen DeGeneres' Ellen Digital Network.

With Netflix participating in Upfront Week this year, it seems as if the border (if there ever was one) between Upfronts and NewFronts has been blurred.

Of course, there is nothing wrong with applying the word "NewFront" to position an event such as the 2023 IAB NewFronts, which will convene at an event space called Convene in Lower Manhattan.

The TV Blog counted 30 presenters over the four-day schedule, which can be seen here on IAB's web site.

Participants range widely. They include YouTube, Yahoo, Amazon, Meta, Peacock, Tik Tok, Roku, Vizio, Vevo, BBC, Condé Nast, Crackle Connex, Samsung Ads, LG Ads, GSTV (the gas pump video people) and many others.

Peacock's inclusion on the NewFront schedule raises questions about whether the NBCU streaming service will also be a part of NBCU's Upfront at Radio City Music Hall.

Other brand-name streamers not featured at the IAB NewFronts will likely be included in the presentations of their parent companies.

Like last year, look for Hulu to be a part of Disney's Upfront, and Tubi to get some presentation time at the Fox Upfront.