The Internet Finally Stops Trying To Be TV At The Digital NewFronts 2016
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Oriana Schwindt
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Shane Smith began his speech three sheets to
the wind, lying prone on stage, surrounded by dozens of breathless
hipsters with the same haircut and beard, smartphones illuminating the
darkness.
“I’m the Russian bear that s---- on the floor for nickels,” the CEO of Vice Media
grumbled once he was vertical again, admitting he’d had “a few ales.”
There was a recitation of lyrics from Sham 69’s “If the Kids Are United”
that turned into scream-singing backed by a full band.
Of course this would happen at a Vice
presentation to its advertisers. For the digital media darling known for
edge and hipness, how else could it have gone? But while Smith may have
qualified as the drunkest chief executive, Vice wasn’t the only company
to finally break the mold at this year’s “NewFronts,” the annual
two-week event where digital media companies make splashy presentations
to try to impress advertisers. On the contrary, this was the year the
internet finally realized it doesn’t have to pretend to be TV anymore.
Previous years’ NewFronts had mostly hewed to
the same format as the presentations TV networks give during their
“upfronts” week in May: A large group of media buyers are assembled
somewhere like a theater or an empty warehouse posing as an event space.
An executive talks about how “noisy” or “disruptive” or “sticky” their
content is. Dead-eyed stars of new series are trotted out to monotone a
few lines or make an ill-conceived joke. There’s an after-party where
more “talent” is present so that ad buyers can gawk and take “selfies.”
Part of the reason the new kids of digital
media didn’t stray much from that formula lies in the reason the
NewFronts were born. Nine years ago, digital video studios and networks
decided they wanted in on those billions of TV ad dollars that come up
for grabs late in the spring, and so the Interactive Advertising Bureau
(IAB) created the NewFronts, its own version of TV’s upfront week that took place right before the big bonanza.
“I think initially they wanted the same kind
of attention as the networks,” says James Zayti, group director of
Hyundai Media for the ad agency Innocean. That meant going for the same
type of razzle-dazzle buyers were used to.
Strictly speaking, though, there is no real
reason for the NewFronts to exist. In the TV industry, the upfronts are a
tradition for two reasons: the relative scarcity of prime-time TV
audiences, and the seasonal nature of network scheduling.
But in the digital world, the number of
eyeballs is, theoretically, near-limitless, and there’s no set airing
schedule, so there’s no need to make big deals all at once with major
buyers as there is in television.
Yet the IAB’s digital bonanza continues to grow, packing a rather fatiguing 37 digital shops into just 10 days.
There was a sense this year among the bigger
players, though, that they could perhaps stand out from the growing
crowd by deviating from the typical formula. Even some of the smaller
ones, like first-timer Great Big Story, CNN’s new digital video shop,
decided not to hew to tradition.
“I’d been to too many of these — as a client, as a publisher,” says David Spiegel, head of sales and brand integration for Great Big Story.
“And I come from a world that’s all about entertainment and glitz and
glamor. But for us to make an impact, we had to let people have their
own time and give an experience.”
Attendees
at Great Big Story's NewFront sat around electronic campfires and
watched videos on iPads, a far cry from typical presentations to
advertisers.Photo: Oriana Schwindt/International Business Times
So Great Big Story had everyone roam around
free-range, eating, drinking and looking at videos on the GBS app on
iPads and monitors strewn around the room. The only real sales pitch was
a very short speech from CNN chief Jeff Zucker.
Vice, as noted above, simply threw a party.
AOL attempted to create a sort of “experience,” with buyers walking
through various “content exhibits” before Demi Lovato and Snoop Dogg
performed for them.
Still, several big distributors and studios, like YouTube,
Fullscreen and AwesomenessTV, felt the need to make outlandish claims
with respect to TV, saying their large, young audiences are bigger and
better than TV’s, a comparison that makes little sense.
“Digital is still sort of the Wild West —
everything is measured differently,” explains Madison Wojciechowski,
senior director of digital and social at marketing agency UEG and an
attendee at many, many NewFronts. “But TV is a common language, so it’s
easier to make comparisons.” Even if said comparisons are apples to hand
grenades? “Even if,” she says.
The shift away from the standard TV-esque
upfront presentation can be a double-edged sword. “There are some events
where you’re not totally sure what they’re pushing,” Wojciechowski
says. “It’s fun to see people dancing and enjoying themselves, but you
do kind of walk away from some of the parties wondering, ‘What do we
have to look forward to?’ ”
And though buyers do eventually get all the
information they’re looking for, what Wojciechowski and other digital
marketers are really looking for now is some measure of accountability.
One of the best measures of performance when it comes to video is
ordering up more episodes, but all too many shows announced at a digital
NewFront either never see the light of the screen or quietly come and
go. “There weren’t too many renewals from series announced last year,”
Wojciechowski says. “I want to see the announcements have follow-up, in
terms of performance.”
That kind of buy-in is necessary because there
is some measure of scarcity in the digital world, Spiegel points out,
which can sometimes mean TV-level prices.
Yes, you can buy a big basic package of
YouTube views, but high-quality content, the stuff that isn’t just
remixed Vine videos or nutshot compilations, is actually a little rarer —
and more expensive. Great Big Story, to allow Spiegel to use his own
shop as an example, publishes three to five videos a day, and therefore
does not have unlimited ad inventory.
The raison d’ĂȘtre for the NewFronts ends up
being a bit of a tautology: Because the volume of digital shops is
increasing at a rate that might soon outstrip the number of eyeballs
available to view their videos, advertisers need these kinds of
presentations simply to know what the hell all of these places are even
about. “It isn’t even about a sales pitch as much as finding out what
they do,” Zayti says.
That means any resulting deals are
timing-agnostic. YouTube and Magna Global, the ad-buying arm of media
giant Interpublic Group of Companies, inked a deal for $250 million
of Magna’s clients’ marketing spend (from October 2016 through December
2017) a couple weeks before YouTube even took the stage at its
NewFront.
And yet while digital is now an essential part
of every agency’s strategy, there’s still something missing, as far as
advertisers are concerned. “Everyone is still looking for and wanting
that big breakout digital hit,” Wojciechowski says.
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