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Last year’s upfront week marked the first time in two years that the advertising community had gathered in person. But while all of the other upfront week presenters had live events, Fox’s presentation largely consisted of pre-recorded video.
This time around, the company is emphasizing the in-person element for its Monday upfront presentation, showcasing its offering of sports, entertainment, news and streaming.
Marianne Gambelli, Fox’s president of ad sales, marketing and brand partnerships, said that 2022’s presentation planning happened while Covid-19 restrictions were still in place, and given that the company had previously had success with an all-virtual event, it minimized live elements in favor of taped segments.
“We were like, ‘Who’s going to come to New York? Who’s going to sit in a room with 2,000 people?’ Well, we were wrong,” Gambelli said. “People wanted to sit in a room with 2,000 people. They wanted what they knew. They wanted to hang out with the talent; they wanted to see what was new and exciting; and they wanted to see it in person. So we want to go back to that and bring the live element, the exciting element, to it.”
That shift also promoted a venue switch for 2023, from Skylight on Vesey to The Manhattan Center. According to Gambelli, the venue will allow the company to host its presentation and its reception at the same place while creating a more immersive experience.
“The whole idea was to have it all under one roof. And the venue has been redone. It’s beautiful. It’s also centrally located, but it allowed us an opportunity to play off a lot of different things,” Gambelli said. “It was so important to bring people back, and we felt that people wanted to be part of it. It’s going to be more immersive than you sitting in seats and somebody’s on a stage.”
‘Immune’ to economic uncertainty
In the face of industry headwinds, Gambelli told Adweek that Fox is poised to face any obstacles.
The Fox upfront event is a priority for us, and is an important, meaningful time to engage with our advertising and brand partners.
Marianne Gambelli, president of ad sales, marketing, brand partnerships, Fox
For instance, the Writers Guild of America strike is now entering its second week. Though late-night TV is feeling the immediate effects of the strike, the longer it goes on the more it becomes a threat to delaying scripted programs.
Gambelli told Adweek the company wanted to avoid a strike altogether and hopes it will be “short-lived,” but the media conglomerate is poised for any outcome.
“Fox is prepared and well-positioned, given the structure of our portfolio, which boasts live sports and news, both of which are less impacted, and the deep library of Tubi,” Gambelli said. “We have live tentpole sports programming airing through the summer, including Women’s World Cup, USFL and MLB. Entertainment has key original content ready, including animation and a strong unscripted pipeline.”
The ad sales president added that the upcoming Fox upfront event “is a priority for us and is an important, meaningful time to engage with our advertising and brand partners.”
And in the face of a soft ad market, Gambelli also cited the company’s portfolio, noting that it’s somewhat “immune from the economic uncertainty,” with sports continuing to be a healthy category, “young, diverse” entertainment options on the slate and news continuing to be valuable, “especially going into elections.”
Jeff Collins, evp of advertising sales at Fox News, previously told Adweek that the company is focusing on lifestyle offerings in its upfront pitch. And though news is still king at Fox News, nearly 40% of its reach now comes from lifestyle content across platforms, with advertisers interested in news-adjacent programming, ranging from Kevin Costner’s Yellowstone: One-Fifty on Fox Nation to Gutfeld!, a late night show not affected by the writers strike.
Gambelli championed the offering as another way for advertisers to reach Fox’s audience.
“People are multifaceted. They do more things than just consume news. So it’s been a great extension for the brand. It’s allowed us to spread our wings, bring in talent like with Yellowstone and Kevin Costner,” Gambelli said. “But it’s allowed us to branch out into different areas. And the audience immediately embraces it because it comes with the banner of Fox.”
The news on Fox News
Concerning another strategy change—how Tucker Carlson’s recent departure would impact the upfront event and negotiations—Gambelli pointed to the depth of Fox’s news team.
“The great news is it’s such a deep bench of Fox talent. We’re excited because they’re rotating a lot of this talent through, and I think clients, viewers and our advertisers will have a chance to sample all of the different talent. They might be a little younger and might have a different voice. So I think we’re really excited about it,” Gambelli said. “We know our audience, so I don’t see a drastic change.”
And though Fox News still has a lawsuit with Smartmatic to deal with sometime in the future, the company settled its lawsuit with Dominion Voting Systems in April, agreeing to pay out $787 million. Collins previously told Adweek that the Dominion case “has not impacted strategy at all,” and Gambelli echoed that sentiment.
“We’re glad it’s in our rearview mirror,” Gambelli said, “But it really didn’t impact our side of the equation, to be honest with you.”
How Tubi successful in digital
Looking ahead, the company recently revamped its digital strategy, reorganizing its efforts with a new business unit, Tubi Media Group, with Paul Cheesbrough set to lead the division as Tubi CEO Farhad Massoudi stepped down.
The company’s new division will house Fox’s standalone digital businesses, including Tubi, Credible and Blockchain Creative Labs, as well as the platforms and teams in the company’s wider digital purview encompassing sports, news and entertainment.
With the digital reorganization, the company is looking to bring Tubi’s tech and best practices across Fox’s digital offerings, according to Gambelli.
“It was, ‘How do you take [Tubi] content and marry that with Fox content?’ which I think we’ve been doing over time, but making it official,” Gambelli said. “Then taking their tech stack and taking that across Fox to better enable clients to access all of Fox inventory, not just Tubi, not just Fox Entertainment, etc.”
Gambelli told Adweek this year’s presentation will feature an emphasis on Tubi, the shift of audiences toward digital and the AVOD’s growth.
Fox didn’t break out Tubi’s numbers by quarter in its latest earnings call, but CEO Lachlan Murdoch said the streamer’s total viewing time (TVT) has grown by over 200%, and revenue jumped 400% since Fox’s acquisition three years ago. And in February, the company reported Tubi’s ad revenue grew by 25% over last year, reaching more than $200 million in the quarter.
Though Gambelli said Fox has protections against economic uncertainty, the company recognizes that its clients might not. To that end, the ad sales president noted that Nielsen would likely remain a large influence in the industry but stressed the company’s flexibility when it comes to measurement and currency.
“We also think the clients want to use their own data, and they want a customized approach. So that’s been our attitude,” Gambelli said. “We work with all the vendors. We’re past test and learn. We’re willing to guarantee. But ‘customized’ is the right word. We don’t feel that we’re going to force-fit something that doesn’t yet work.”
For this year’s upfront presentation, Gambelli noted Fox is different from its competitors, bringing “best in class” content and programming.
“We have the scale, we have the reach, and that’s still valuable. We have the most premium content. And we put the advertiser first,” Gambelli said. “None of our content is behind a paywall. We value that relationship and always will.”
