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TV in 2022: Why Weren’t The Upfronts an Email?

It’s all about “the portfolio” now, or “our unified approach,” or “company-wide capabilities.” Everyone is all-in on the kitchen-sink approach, which quickly becomes about the brands and platforms, not the actual content.

Warner Bros. Discovery Upfront 2022
Photo by Kevin Mazur
Matthew Belloni
May 20, 2022

Somewhere in the middle of the Warner Bros. Discovery upfront presentation yesterday—I think it was as I watched Jennifer Hudson awkwardly interview Lil Jon and a Property Brother—a voice materialized in my head. It was Jimmy Kimmel’s voice, actually, from his monologue during the previous day amid the Disney presentation to advertisers, which Kimmel delivered from a separate location after testing positive for Covid. “There is no good reason for you to be in that room,” Kimmel told the crowd.