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As WGA picketers and anti-Fox protesters crowded the entrance of the company’s upfront presentation Monday afternoon at New York’s Manhattan Center, the show went on as scheduled.
Without any mention of the events occurring outside the venue, the 50-minute presentation heavily focused on Fox’s unscripted and sports content—as the company returned to a live format for the first time since before the Covid-19 pandemic.
Instead of leading with its upcoming primetime slate, announced earlier in the day, Fox kicked off the presentation with FAST service Tubi—which exited NewFronts week in order to play a larger role in its parent company’s upfront pitch.
“We went all in on AVOD and invested in Tubi,” said ad sales chief Marianne Gambelli, who noted that the streamer—which now has 64 million monthly active users—has seen 44% year-over-year growth, and is now represented in Nielsen’s streaming report The Gauge.
“We didn’t cancel, we didn’t move out of upfront week, we’re here for you,” Gambelli added, taking a few shots at rivals like Netflix and Paramount.
Entertainment took a smaller stage presence than usual in this year’s upfront presentation thanks to the strike, but the company still touted its two new drama series Doc and HI-Surf with sizzle reels—even though neither series is in production yet. Fox has delayed the release of its full fall schedule until there’s more clarity with the ongoing strike.
“This part of the show has changed quite a bit, but don’t worry, I do not have a new show on Fox this fall,” said Suzanne Sullivan, evp of ad sales at Fox Entertainment, referring to the lack of scripted talent onstage. As is the case at most upfront week events, they declined to participate in solidarity with the striking writers.
Fox also has two new unscripted series on the way, and the company said it’s well-positioned for an ongoing writers strike with its unscripted slate.
“While we hope the writers strike ends soon, we’re more than prepared to serve our audiences with a fantastic unscripted schedule,” said Rob Wade, CEO of Fox Entertainment.
Fox News on a bigger stage
Fox traditionally shies away from emphasizing its Fox News properties during its May upfront event—that division received its own spotlight earlier in upfront season—but that changed with this year’s presentation.
Dana Perino skipped Tuesday evening’s broadcast of The Five to attend, and was joined on stage by host Bill Hemmer.
The pair checked in virtually with the rest of the hosts of The Five, shortly before they were set to go live for Monday’s show, but the upfront crowd seemed to lose interest as the segment continued for several minutes.
However, Fox wants advertisers to know that Fox News is No. 1 in cable news, and is poised to have a big year with the upcoming 2024 presidential election and as host of the first Republican primary debate.
The World Cup is coming
The company closed its presentation with an entertaining sports segment, leading off with the strength of soccer and the upcoming 2023 Women’s World Cup.
Fox brought out former U.S. Women’s National Team star Carli Lloyd—who recently joined the Fox Sports broadcast team—and broadcaster Erin Andrews to lead the segment.
“Women’s sports is having a breakthrough moment, and Fox more than any other broadcaster will highlight these world-class athletes on our biggest platforms,” said Mark Evans, evp of Fox Sports ad sales.
Following a soccer sizzle reel, Fox Sports also touted the strength of its college and pro football slates, as well as baseball, bringing out Yankees legends Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez. The only boo of the afternoon? A mention of the Dallas Cowboys, and the fact that Fox will broadcast nine of the team’s games next season.
To cap it off, Lloyd, Jeter, Rodriguez and NFL star Rob Gronkowski tossed autographed balls from their respective sports into the crowd.
