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. 

No kidding. I am not a regular TV upfront attendee. This time of year, I would usually opt for the Cannes Film Festival, another absurdist media circus, albeit one with better views and bigger stars. But with the freshly-merged WBD presenting for the first time, Paramount Global doing its inaugural combined upfront, and a new advertising push from streamers like Disney+ and Netflix—two companies that, until recently, seemed to consider the $70 billion television advertising business beneath them—it seemed like a good time to check out Hollywood’s first in-person pitch to ad buyers in three years.