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Speaker 1: Right.

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Speaker 2: Shut it down. New York is a union down.

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Speaker 3: Oh, Sight, shut it down, New York. Oh shut it down.

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Speaker 2: New York is down. Oh it's right, shun it down,

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Speaker 2: New York Union.

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Speaker 3: Welcome to Strictly Business, Variety's weekly podcast featuring conversations with

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Speaker 3: industry leaders about the business of media and entertainment. I'm

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Speaker 3: Cynthia Littleton, co editor in chief of Variety Today. My

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Speaker 3: guests are my colleagues, varieties crack team of television and

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Speaker 3: digital reporters and editors on the ground in New York.

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Speaker 3: This team is always working around the clock, but they

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Speaker 3: never work harder than they do during upfront Week, that is,

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Speaker 3: the mid May frame when the largest media conglomerates present

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Speaker 3: their programming plans for the upcoming season. Even and as

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Speaker 3: I say that, it sounds anachronistic for the way TV

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Speaker 3: works now, but the upfronts are a hi, how are

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Speaker 3: you FaceTime tradition for the television business and the advertising industry,

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Speaker 3: and I think that's still going to be a hard

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Speaker 3: habit to quit in the coming years. The twenty twenty

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Speaker 3: three marked an upfront's week like no other. As you'll

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Speaker 3: hear in audio clips taken from various events that are

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Speaker 3: woven into this podcast. Writers Guild of America pickets were

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Speaker 3: out in force, making their voices heard as the Labored

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Speaker 3: dispute rages on behind the velvet rope. There were plenty

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Speaker 3: of other signs of the industry's difficult transition from linear

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Speaker 3: to streaming. So let's dive into our roundtable discussion with

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Speaker 3: Varieties Jennifer Mos, Joe Otterson, Todd Spangler, and Brian Steinberg.

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Speaker 3: They have highlights and insights from Disney, Netflix, NBC, Universal, Fox,

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Speaker 3: YouTube and more. Don't even think about touching that die.

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Speaker 3: We'll be right back with all of that after this break.

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Speaker 3: So here we are on Friday, May nineteenth, with the

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Speaker 3: New York brain Trust of Varieties television coverage. Thank you

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Speaker 3: all for the This is Variety's TV Avengers, TV and

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Speaker 3: Digital Avengers, and I thank you all for assembling on

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Speaker 3: a Friday when you probably just want to lie flat

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Speaker 3: and recover after a week of upfronts and all its glory.

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Speaker 3: So thank you, Todd, Brian, Joe, Jenny. Let's I throw

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Speaker 3: this out as a jump ball for anybody who wants

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Speaker 3: to grab it. I am very keenly watching the NBA

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Speaker 3: playoffs go Lakers and jump ball for anybody who wants

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Speaker 3: to take it. This was an upfront you're like no other.

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Speaker 3: What was the mood out there in Midtown around the

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Speaker 3: events around you know, inside and outside.

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Speaker 1: Well, I would say it's it's a much more that

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Speaker 1: the business is changing very quickly and the days of

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Speaker 1: one and roses are probably over. These used to be

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Speaker 1: very glitzy events where you could, you know, watch it

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Speaker 1: for three hours, you know, listening to every every They

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Speaker 1: used to fly in every celebrity from every show for

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Speaker 1: a personal meet and greet, and he was there to

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Speaker 1: serve you shrimp and lobster to your heart's contented afterwards.

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Speaker 2: The parts you're fading away.

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Speaker 1: The glitz is fading away because the entire business is

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Speaker 1: being driven not by linear TV schedules but by digital

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Speaker 1: streaming and concerns about how to get bigger audiences. These

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Speaker 1: you know, the advertisers who buy TV want to get

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Speaker 1: big audiences so they can reach thousands of people in

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Speaker 1: one spoop. We not have to spend X number of

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Speaker 1: dollars to get one person here and one person there.

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Speaker 1: The big things to do that these days are sports

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Speaker 1: live spectacles and some streaming stuff. But The idea that

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Speaker 1: a drama is in a you know, at ten of class,

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Speaker 1: gonna do that for you anymore is kind of gone.

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Speaker 1: And so that's kind of what the network to produce

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Speaker 1: for years, dramas.

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Speaker 2: In comedies from eight to eleven. Now prime time is

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Speaker 2: anyone's prime time.

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Speaker 1: You know, my primetime might be one in the morning

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Speaker 1: when I said nothing to Dow versus my kid's prime

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Speaker 1: time might be fioclotin afternoon. The networks have to adjust,

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Speaker 1: and they are doing so by focusing more on streaming,

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Speaker 1: more on algorithms, more on software, and more on technology.

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Speaker 2: It helps pinpoint where your commercial should go. Some of

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Speaker 2: the creativities coming out of that.

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Speaker 1: And it's all about science and technology, and as such,

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Speaker 1: it's not as exciting as it used to be.

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Speaker 4: Outside.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, that it was, you know, in my in my

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Speaker 5: own limited experience, it was definitely more subdued than in

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Speaker 5: years past. It definitely seemed like people were almost holding

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Speaker 5: their breath. I mean, just again with everything happening with

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Speaker 5: the writer's strike, and like you know, even though like

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Speaker 5: Brian said, like you know, the fall schedule isn't necessarily

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Speaker 5: the key component that it used to be, but I

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Speaker 5: think there was a lot of people kind of wondering.

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Speaker 5: It's like, well, what's where are we going to be

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Speaker 5: and in three months and six months what is this

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Speaker 5: going to look like? And there just wasn't a lot

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Speaker 5: of certainty around anything. It's like, of course there's gonna

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Speaker 5: be you can have certainty around sports, you can have

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Speaker 5: certainty around your own scripted programming.

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Speaker 6: But it's just.

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Speaker 5: That's not you know, like he said that, that's not

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Speaker 5: the glitzy stuff that people really like, you know, really

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Speaker 5: want to see. I feel like, you know, there was

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Speaker 5: a lot of really good response to some of the

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Speaker 5: sports stars and people who came out, but it's just,

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Speaker 5: you know, it wasn't quite as fun as when you

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Speaker 5: have like actors and comedians kind of out there, like

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Speaker 5: working the crowd and kind of having fun with it.

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Speaker 5: So I think there was definitely the energy level was

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Speaker 5: down compared to past years.

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Speaker 1: I mean two of Foxy shows they showed that dramas

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Speaker 1: had no clips and no cast attached, just like goodttle montage,

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Speaker 1: just a little video montage.

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Speaker 2: It could should feel like this, here's a feel for but.

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Speaker 3: You trust us it's gonna be great.

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Speaker 2: That's not that's not how you get prop and Dale

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Speaker 2: will buy your shows.

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Speaker 7: But Brian, you're saying that even before the strike, you know,

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Speaker 7: this season, the the glitzy shrimp cocktail festivities had been

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Speaker 7: on the decline.

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Speaker 2: Well, Paramount pulled out before the strike happens. I mean

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Speaker 2: that's I think.

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Speaker 1: I think this art last year where I think these

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Speaker 1: shows are less import than the technology they need to

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Speaker 1: serve commercial you know, they serve ads. It's not I

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Speaker 1: used to tell you how, you know, adagans was all

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Speaker 1: about you know, crazy spokespeople and funny spokes characters and

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Speaker 1: jingles and you know, big stunts and they're still there.

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Speaker 1: But it's just it's not it's about finding the right

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Speaker 1: placement for your ad within with where.

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Speaker 8: With digital audiences and interactive technology.

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Speaker 9: This year, obviously with the strike it was different, but

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Speaker 9: it seemed like early in the week they were very

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Speaker 9: heavy with the picket lines. The first and biggest picket

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Speaker 9: line of the week was NBC Universal.

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Speaker 4: It was the most high profile.

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Speaker 9: It was out of out front of Radio City. There

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Speaker 9: were about two hundred people. They had some chance that

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Speaker 9: were catchy and went with NBCU. And then it kind

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Speaker 9: of noticed that it would get smaller throughout the week.

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Speaker 9: As it went on, And I think one of the

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Speaker 9: reasons for that isn't necessarily that the passion died off

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Speaker 9: or like people, but what happened is the focus has

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Speaker 9: gone from just like trying to make a statement in

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Speaker 9: front of advertisers, they're shutting down a lot of productions.

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Speaker 9: And you can't shut down a production.

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Speaker 4: From outside of an upfront.

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Speaker 9: You can make a statement and be in front of

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Speaker 9: advertisers and be in front of cameras, but if a

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Speaker 9: lot of the focus is actually on making these companies hurt,

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Speaker 9: when they're just kind of trying to do their best

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Speaker 9: to ignore you outside the upfront, the way you're actually

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Speaker 9: attacking them and getting at them is shutting down these productions.

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Speaker 9: So I think they were doing a good job of

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Speaker 9: actually putting their resources towards where.

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Speaker 4: It was going to make the biggest difference.

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Speaker 9: So the strike was still there, the picket lines were

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Speaker 9: definitely there, but it got smaller throughout the weekend.

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Speaker 3: I also want to ask you in terms of the mood,

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Speaker 3: that truly the mood like after the event. Of course,

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Speaker 3: the upfronts are an enormous amount of work for people.

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Speaker 3: It's exhausting reading up to it and afterwards. But what

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Speaker 3: would you say the executives, your contacts and the people executives, producers,

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Speaker 3: what was the mood? I gotta believe, you know, it's

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Speaker 3: kind of similarly unsettled.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, I'd say I'd say so for the again without

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Speaker 5: naming any names, I mean, the few people that I

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Speaker 5: spoke with, I mean, they almost just kind of seemed

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Speaker 5: to be glad that they were done with everything. You know,

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Speaker 5: it's kind of like, you know, we kind of have

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Speaker 5: to be here for this. And again not saying specific companies,

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Speaker 5: this happened to specific people, but just it was.

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Speaker 6: Very much they were very worried.

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Speaker 5: More so like it was almost like we're glad we

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Speaker 5: got through this without anything worse happening than like, you know,

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Speaker 5: like you didn't have like WGA members trying to storm

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Speaker 5: the stage or something. I think they were just worried

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Speaker 5: there's gonna be some kind of big, embarrassing public spectacle

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Speaker 5: with their name attached to it, which obviously, you know,

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Speaker 5: like the thing people fear most is a bad headline.

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Speaker 9: Talking to people after, they'd be like, we did it,

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Speaker 9: we got through it. We finished the presentation that probably

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Speaker 9: did not have a lot of talent in it those

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Speaker 9: very sports or news focused, as Brian said, and just

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Speaker 9: going through it and being like we hit the beast

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Speaker 9: that we need to hit. It's over now and we

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Speaker 9: can go to the party, or we can we did,

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Speaker 9: we checked off the box, we did the presentation, we

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Speaker 9: got it done, and now that's over.

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Speaker 4: Thank god. That seemed to be the opinion of a

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Speaker 4: lot of different people.

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Speaker 5: Or if your fox, you can just reopen the bar,

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Speaker 5: because they had the bar open and the presentation and

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Speaker 5: they reopened the bar afterwards. That's a little mixed there.

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Speaker 3: They know, they know their audience. Yeah, Todd, we're talking

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Speaker 3: obviously mostly about this past up front week, the week

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Speaker 3: of May fifteenth, but I know you ventured out into

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Speaker 3: the New fronts a number of times. That was due

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Speaker 3: to a couple of you. What would you say? What would

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Speaker 3: you say was the mood there? And what would how

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Speaker 3: would you what was your impressions from what you gathered

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Speaker 3: of the of the traditional broadcast upfronts, which of course

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Speaker 3: include a lot more platforms.

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Speaker 7: Now the New fronts. Boy, they've really tried to make

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Speaker 7: a COVID. It's it's just really penned the uh, the

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Speaker 7: redheaded step child of the of the Upfront's big brother.

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Speaker 7: So you know this this year. YouTube did a small

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Speaker 7: presentation at the New Fronts earlier this month, but they,

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Speaker 7: for the second year in a row, wanted to be

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Speaker 7: part of the TV up Front Week, so they you know,

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Speaker 7: had their event at Lincoln Center David Geffen Hall on Wednesday.

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Speaker 7: By the way, I was looking for for writers, strikers,

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Speaker 7: no picket line, nobody in sight, because YouTube creators aren't unionized.

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Speaker 7: I mean maybe some of them are, and there have

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Speaker 7: been attempts to have you know, Internet creator unions, but

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Speaker 7: those those, as far as they know, haven't really gone anywhere.

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Speaker 7: But the YouTube is is an outlier in this group, right,

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Speaker 7: I mean, even compared with net Flix. And I'm sure

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Speaker 7: we'll talk a little bit more about Netflix in a second,

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Speaker 7: but YouTube doesn't really produce content. They rely on their creators.

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Speaker 7: I mean, they did have kind of a traditional feeling

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Speaker 7: upfront thing because Roger Goodell walked out on stage and said.

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Speaker 3: Hey, I'm a the NFL Fanfare and you.

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Speaker 7: Know, he said his candor marks and you know, try

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Speaker 7: to get people excited about not just buying ads in

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Speaker 7: Sunday ticket but in the live NFL games. But you know,

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Speaker 7: The pitch from YouTube is you can buy football, you

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Speaker 7: know in all of these different channels right on YouTube

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Speaker 7: creators who they're going to send you know, they're sending

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Speaker 7: mister Beast into the locker room of some of these

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Speaker 7: NFL teams too, and he's got one hundred and fifty

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Speaker 7: three million followers, so.

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Speaker 3: I hope they tell the players.

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Speaker 7: Yeah. The interesting thing to me, the takeaway that I

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Speaker 7: had from YouTube was like, it's like YouTube. I mean,

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Speaker 7: YouTube is like TV used to be. They have this

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Speaker 7: tremendous reach. They have one hundred and fifty million viewers.

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Speaker 7: Well that was in the month of December. Who knows

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Speaker 7: how long they're watching or what they're watching, because you know,

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Speaker 7: it's not really directly comfortable to Nielsen TV ratings. But

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Speaker 7: here's YouTube saying, look, we've got every kind of content

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Speaker 7: that people want to watch, and that includes you know

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Speaker 7: the YouTube TV, traditional pay TV packaged Oh hey, advertisers,

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Speaker 7: you can also buy that inventory with us, and you

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Speaker 7: know that's clean and that's a well lighted space, and

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Speaker 7: we're going to sell you the top five percent most engaged,

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Speaker 7: most viewed content on YouTube and it's and you're getting

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Speaker 7: the reach and frequency that used to get on and

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Speaker 7: broadcast TV way back in the day.

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Speaker 3: But that is an interesting packaging those two things, like

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Speaker 3: the old guard of old linear you know, basically linear

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Speaker 3: cable but delivered virtually. Well, that segues into kind of

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Speaker 3: my next to my next sort of theme that I

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Speaker 3: wanted to talk about the cell. Did anybody we don't

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Speaker 3: have to go net, we don't have to go upfront

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Speaker 3: by upfront, but just your impression. Did anybody impress you

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Speaker 3: in terms of how they sold themselves, how they either

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Speaker 3: sold their wares or talked to advertisers about they all have.

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Speaker 3: They all come up with here's our new program that

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Speaker 3: has a clever name, and you know, but was there

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Speaker 3: anybody that just impressed you at like how they packaged themselves,

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Speaker 3: how they sold here's our profile, here's our audience, Here's

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Speaker 3: what this network goes for versus that network.

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Speaker 2: I thought Disney probably did the best job. They just

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Speaker 2: had a car hit sports. You want big audience, says

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Speaker 2: here they are. Here's Peyton Manning, Here's Serena Williams.

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Speaker 1: Here's Mode Night Football super Bowls coming in twenty twenty seven.

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Speaker 1: Then they segued into scripted, but everything that was sent

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Speaker 1: with a streaming outlet. So FX's shows ron Kulu and

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Speaker 1: Here's Marvel and here Star Wars.

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Speaker 2: On Disney Plus.

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Speaker 1: So even even their their scriptive stuff had a streaming component.

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Speaker 1: So I think they hit sports news. Even the segment

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Speaker 1: on local station, which I think is very unusual for

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Speaker 1: the upfront. They had the New York w ABC anchors

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Speaker 1: come out for a spot, which is I think almost

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Speaker 1: unheard of at the upfront to have the local anchor

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Speaker 1: talk for a while.

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Speaker 2: I thought Disney.

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Speaker 1: I think Disney knows this is what's selling right now,

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Speaker 1: big audiences and.

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Speaker 2: Then precise strupped up through streaming. We don't need to

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Speaker 2: talk about ABC or free Form or or FX. Let's

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Speaker 2: as get them what they.

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Speaker 1: Want, which is audiences, big, big audiences, and then precision

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Speaker 1: to follow.

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Speaker 7: And well, you gotta think that Netflix, for all their protests,

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Speaker 7: are going to have to look at sports at some point.

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Speaker 7: Exactly what you just said.

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Speaker 3: Don't even think about touching that dial. We'll be right

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Speaker 3: back after this break. I hope that pause was refreshing,

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Speaker 3: and now back to varieties upfronts round table. Jenny and Joe,

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Speaker 3: what impress you? You guys know, you guys are so

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Speaker 3: finger on the pulse of these fandoms. Do you think

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Speaker 3: anything impressed you there, like any any new potential, anybody

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Speaker 3: impressed you as like they get their fandoms, they know

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Speaker 3: how to talk to their fandoms.

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Speaker 5: Well, I think it's like Brian said, I mean, I

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Speaker 5: think Disney did the best job just in terms of

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Speaker 5: spectacle at this sort of a thing. I mean, like

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Speaker 5: you said, they had Serena Williams, they had Peyton Manning,

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Speaker 5: they had you know, DeMar Hamlin came out to a

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Speaker 5: standing ovation which I've never seen in an upfront.

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Speaker 3: Before go Bills.

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Speaker 6: Yeah.

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Speaker 5: But then just but then, since there wasn't really much

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Speaker 5: scripted content to talk about given everything going on with

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Speaker 5: the strike, the fact that they were able to bring

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Speaker 5: out Kevin Figee Kathleen Kennedy to come talk about big

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Speaker 5: upcoming Marvel shows like Secret Invasion, big upcoming Star Wars

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Speaker 5: shows like.

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Speaker 6: Skeleton Crew, like The Acolyte.

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Speaker 5: And then the one that really got me was they

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Speaker 5: had this incredible presentation for the FX show Showgun based

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Speaker 5: on the book that's been that you know, that's a

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Speaker 5: passion project of John Langrass that's been in the work

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Speaker 5: at that network since twenty eighteen, and then they just

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Speaker 5: had this huge thing with all these performers coming out

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Speaker 5: in like samurai armor, having like this big mock sword

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Speaker 5: battle going up through the aisleways onto the stage.

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Speaker 6: And I mean it's Disney.

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Speaker 5: I mean, so they can they can kind of afford

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Speaker 5: to do something like that, But I mean, no one

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Speaker 5: else came close in terms of the spectacle for something

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Speaker 5: like that. I mean because I mean again, like I

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Speaker 5: have a pretty good sense of like what's happening, like

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Speaker 5: what's coming out in TV at any given time. I

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Speaker 5: had completely forgotten about Showgun, you know, and now I'm like,

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Speaker 5: oh yeah, check that show out when it comes out.

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Speaker 6: That was pretty cool.

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Speaker 1: But then that's the kind of thing upfront where it

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Speaker 1: used to be known for how spectacle. This is why

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Speaker 1: you buy with us, you know, these are the experiences

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Speaker 1: that that everyone wants to hear about. We think to

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Speaker 1: take a different world, and I think Disney had it,

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Speaker 1: but many others did not.

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Speaker 7: Do you think Netflix would have been more interesting and

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Speaker 7: impressive in person?

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Speaker 2: I do, especially for the first time. I think the

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Speaker 2: other networks you can you.

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Speaker 1: Kind of know what you're gonna get with something the

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Speaker 1: Fox and ABC, But Netflix, I.

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Speaker 2: Think the in person would have helped.

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Speaker 1: Especially they hand the Russale Brothers and Anthon some very

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Speaker 1: big products coming out.

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Speaker 2: They have a lot in the can that that is

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Speaker 2: probably there.

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Speaker 1: They are edge against the networks who are all worried

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Speaker 1: about how much kind of has to lay everything right.

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Speaker 2: Yourn's out. Netflix has got a ton in the off

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Speaker 2: thing Stranger Things Finale.

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Speaker 1: I mean, there's a lot of stuff there and I

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Speaker 1: think I'm close and personal with the buyers, might have

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Speaker 1: done more.

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Speaker 2: For them this year.

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Speaker 9: Well, one thing that I think Earners did do that

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Speaker 9: that Disney did to and you know, not to continue

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Speaker 9: to talk about Disney, but I appreciate the moments where

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Speaker 9: they banked what they did have as news to give

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Speaker 9: as news.

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Speaker 4: Right, So, like Joe said.

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Speaker 9: Having Kevin Draggy and Kathleen Kennedy be able to come

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Speaker 9: out and announce premier dates or announce things in show

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Speaker 9: first looks were the Discovery had a decent number of

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Speaker 9: announcements too. They have two Food Network shows with Selena Gomez.

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Speaker 9: That's something slashy that you can announce there and not

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Speaker 9: everyone had a lot in the way of big announcements

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Speaker 9: to make.

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Speaker 4: Like Fox, Fox got to say it's.

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Speaker 9: Losing time on one but p that you know, there

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Speaker 9: weren't a lot of big moments. One thing I'll say,

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Speaker 9: and this needs like a giant asterisk next to it

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Speaker 9: because it wasn't an upfront but the SEW.

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Speaker 4: Really impressed me.

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Speaker 9: And it could be because it was Thursday and I

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Speaker 9: was tired by the end of the week, but it

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Speaker 9: was an exciting one to go to because so many

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Speaker 9: people had the question of what is the CW when

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Speaker 9: we've been waiting so long to hear Dennis Beller and

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Speaker 9: Bradswords like actually sit down in front of press and

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Speaker 9: answer questions about what they're.

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Speaker 4: Going to be And Joan and I had the privilege.

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Speaker 9: Of sitting down with them privately afterwards and talking to them,

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Speaker 9: and I left that feeling like pretty impressed that they

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Speaker 9: do have a plan and that it's not apparent immediately

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Speaker 9: because they, like everyone else, have a very strike proof

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Speaker 9: fallse schedule. It's very acquisition heavy, but they're in production

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Speaker 9: on a lot of things, and they have a lot

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Speaker 9: of stuff in development. I'm not going to say any

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Speaker 9: of it because my colleague is not tracking it, but

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Speaker 9: they did make me feel like we're we've all be

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Speaker 9: kind of wondering what they're doing. We still give them

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Speaker 9: a hard time, but they have a strategy and they

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Speaker 9: have a plan.

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Speaker 5: Like Jenny said, I mean I left that presentation thinking, like,

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Speaker 5: you know, this actually in terms of delivering a profit,

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Speaker 5: you know, to shareholders and like and like actually making

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Speaker 5: this thing successful in the traditional sense of a business,

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Speaker 5: this actually does make a lot of sense.

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Speaker 6: And then you just have to see where they take

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Speaker 6: it beyond this.

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Speaker 5: I mean, you know, obviously the writer's strike is impacting everything,

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Speaker 5: you know, and Brad Schwartz had this great line where

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Speaker 5: he says, you know, people keep people keep knocking us

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Speaker 5: for these cheap acquisitions, and he's like, first of all,

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Speaker 5: these are not cheap acquisitions. Second of all, a good

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Speaker 5: show is a good show. I mean, if it airs

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Speaker 5: on if it aired in Canada prior to this, what's

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Speaker 5: the difference. If it's a good show and people watch it,

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Speaker 5: that's what we're supposed to be doing. We're supposed to

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Speaker 5: be putting stuff like that on the air. So yeah,

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Speaker 5: I definitely I definitely left that more more impressed than

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Speaker 5: I thought I would be. But like Jenny said, it

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Speaker 5: was also a Thursday. My brain was basically mush and

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Speaker 5: they served us waffles.

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Speaker 3: There is a whole world of television stations that sometimes

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Speaker 3: gets very much lost in the in talking about global

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Speaker 3: streaming platforms and all of our focus on network. A

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Speaker 3: lot of the actual cold, hard cash that is made

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Speaker 3: in television comes through local stations. And I think Next

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Speaker 3: Star is a company I've been waiting for them to

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Speaker 3: sort of you know, we keep waiting for the magical, like,

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Speaker 3: what is the bigger thing that you're doing with this platform.

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Speaker 3: I'm starting to realize that what the bigger thing that

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Speaker 3: they're doing with this platform is running. They're they're doubling

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Speaker 3: down in the old fashioned business. They're running local and

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Speaker 3: national network prom you know, their business is a balance

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Speaker 3: of local television and national network programming.

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Speaker 9: Not to go off on a different cagent, but Casey

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Speaker 9: Bloyse was one of the few executives who did make

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Speaker 9: a statement about the writer's strike, like on stage and

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Speaker 9: was like made a note of that. Mark Lazarus did

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Speaker 9: it at NBCU as well, and they're not everyone did

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Speaker 9: bring it up.

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Speaker 4: Not everyone talked about it.

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Speaker 9: But the people who did I also felt like that

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Speaker 9: was good over all strategy to acknowledge it in some

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Speaker 9: way and move forward, because if you didn't, it kind

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Speaker 9: of made it more awkward because it was one of

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Speaker 9: the beats that all of us, at least as journalists

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Speaker 9: were waiting for in the room, and then if it

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Speaker 9: didn't happen, it was weird. But yeah, we're in the discovery.

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Speaker 9: I think using it because there wasn't as much you

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Speaker 9: can do right now to wow people, to kind of

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Speaker 9: shift the focus to Max, which isn't a giant ad

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Speaker 9: driver for them but is very timely for them, was

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Speaker 9: a good use of what could have otherwise been a

440
00:22:30,680 --> 00:22:33,840
Speaker 9: very lame presentation because there's not as much to talk

441
00:22:33,880 --> 00:22:35,560
Speaker 9: about it, no smart.

442
00:22:37,600 --> 00:22:38,119
Speaker 2: I'll weigh in.

443
00:22:38,240 --> 00:22:41,360
Speaker 7: Yeah, I thought maybe because my expectations were pretty low,

444
00:22:41,400 --> 00:22:45,199
Speaker 7: but I thought Netflix did a pretty good job. I mean,

445
00:22:45,320 --> 00:22:49,440
Speaker 7: Jenny identified immediately that they had they had queued up

446
00:22:49,480 --> 00:22:53,359
Speaker 7: this sort of TV style fall announcement here or are

447
00:22:53,400 --> 00:22:55,760
Speaker 7: some of your favorite shows coming back in the in

448
00:22:55,840 --> 00:22:56,280
Speaker 7: this fall?

449
00:22:56,880 --> 00:22:57,120
Speaker 1: Right?

450
00:22:57,359 --> 00:22:59,840
Speaker 7: And I mean even though you know, again as we've

451
00:22:59,840 --> 00:23:02,800
Speaker 7: been talking about, they don't sell a times, they don't

452
00:23:02,800 --> 00:23:06,959
Speaker 7: sell time slots. They're selling they're not selling day parts,

453
00:23:08,600 --> 00:23:12,720
Speaker 7: you know. There, and they had this really interesting I

454
00:23:12,720 --> 00:23:15,320
Speaker 7: mean it's unique where they they will sell you on

455
00:23:15,359 --> 00:23:18,560
Speaker 7: a day to day basis, on a country by country basis,

456
00:23:19,000 --> 00:23:23,560
Speaker 7: the top ten titles in each of those markets. That's

457
00:23:23,560 --> 00:23:29,080
Speaker 7: super interesting, and that's something TV networks can't really do right.

458
00:23:29,160 --> 00:23:33,040
Speaker 7: They can't say, Okay, you're going to get the top

459
00:23:33,080 --> 00:23:37,120
Speaker 7: ten shows that are on today. That's just not how

460
00:23:37,200 --> 00:23:40,600
Speaker 7: traditional TV works. So I thought it was really interesting.

461
00:23:40,600 --> 00:23:43,720
Speaker 7: And then you know, Surrandus and the other executives talked

462
00:23:43,720 --> 00:23:45,760
Speaker 7: about you know, they did a little bit of crystal

463
00:23:45,760 --> 00:23:49,359
Speaker 7: balling and and a little bit of you know, in

464
00:23:49,440 --> 00:23:52,160
Speaker 7: the tech business you call it vapor ware. It's it's

465
00:23:52,200 --> 00:23:56,480
Speaker 7: not real. But you know, Sarandas maybe Brian you talk

466
00:23:56,520 --> 00:23:59,000
Speaker 7: a little bit about it. But he had this notion

467
00:23:59,160 --> 00:24:03,520
Speaker 7: of like a thirty minute or an hour long commercial

468
00:24:03,680 --> 00:24:07,680
Speaker 7: that would follow the individual viewer across the different things

469
00:24:07,680 --> 00:24:10,800
Speaker 7: they watch over the courses several days or a week,

470
00:24:10,880 --> 00:24:14,080
Speaker 7: so that you know, it's this kind of really interesting

471
00:24:14,119 --> 00:24:23,240
Speaker 7: idea of narrative advertising storytelling. So I thought they exceeded expectations.

472
00:24:23,240 --> 00:24:24,439
Speaker 7: Maybe that's the way to put it.

473
00:24:24,440 --> 00:24:27,520
Speaker 3: It sounds like they used the time to really showcase Okay,

474
00:24:27,520 --> 00:24:30,000
Speaker 3: here's here here where Netflix, Here's how we're different.

475
00:24:30,200 --> 00:24:30,640
Speaker 2: Yeah.

476
00:24:30,720 --> 00:24:35,359
Speaker 3: I can't even imagine thinking about the human and machine

477
00:24:35,440 --> 00:24:38,280
Speaker 3: learning that it's going to take to like monitor all

478
00:24:38,320 --> 00:24:41,800
Speaker 3: those you know, advertising is about verification. Oh my god.

479
00:24:41,840 --> 00:24:44,560
Speaker 3: At least at least there's some jobs coming, Brian.

480
00:24:44,600 --> 00:24:47,639
Speaker 7: Well, then they're working with Microsoft. So that's one of

481
00:24:47,680 --> 00:24:50,760
Speaker 7: the other questions about, you know, for the for the business.

482
00:24:50,840 --> 00:24:54,800
Speaker 7: When do they have to you know, bring that technology

483
00:24:54,800 --> 00:24:59,159
Speaker 7: in house because and that dilutes you know, any earnings

484
00:24:59,200 --> 00:25:01,520
Speaker 7: they're getting from it advertising, because they have to split

485
00:25:01,560 --> 00:25:06,000
Speaker 7: it with Microsoft as their partner the one other thing,

486
00:25:06,040 --> 00:25:09,119
Speaker 7: you know. So it's baby steps for Netflix, right, But

487
00:25:09,320 --> 00:25:11,800
Speaker 7: in the in six months, it was interesting to see

488
00:25:12,240 --> 00:25:15,399
Speaker 7: how fully formed the story is at this point. And

489
00:25:16,640 --> 00:25:21,760
Speaker 7: not quite five million subscribers. I mean that's in advertising terms,

490
00:25:21,880 --> 00:25:24,119
Speaker 7: not very big, you know, call it three and a

491
00:25:24,160 --> 00:25:26,879
Speaker 7: half million in the United States. Is that going to

492
00:25:26,920 --> 00:25:29,760
Speaker 7: turn people's heads? No, but you know they're the biggest

493
00:25:29,800 --> 00:25:32,520
Speaker 7: streaming service in the world, and so people wanted to

494
00:25:32,520 --> 00:25:35,240
Speaker 7: see what they had to say and where they're headed.

495
00:25:35,600 --> 00:25:37,359
Speaker 6: I was open to duck out without you asking me.

496
00:25:38,800 --> 00:25:42,000
Speaker 5: No, I think in terms of what impressed me the most,

497
00:25:42,080 --> 00:25:43,680
Speaker 5: I mean I still have to I hate to say it,

498
00:25:43,720 --> 00:25:44,840
Speaker 5: but not I hate to say I should to that,

499
00:25:44,920 --> 00:25:47,240
Speaker 5: but I mean Disney I think was the best, just

500
00:25:47,280 --> 00:25:49,920
Speaker 5: because I mean, they've been around for so long. They're

501
00:25:49,960 --> 00:25:52,680
Speaker 5: this massive legacy company. They have an incredible breadth of content.

502
00:25:52,800 --> 00:25:54,720
Speaker 5: Like I said, they were really the only ones to

503
00:25:54,800 --> 00:25:59,240
Speaker 5: have any big, like scripted content like spectacle to share

504
00:25:59,320 --> 00:25:59,920
Speaker 5: with anybody.

505
00:26:00,400 --> 00:26:01,080
Speaker 6: I think they did it.

506
00:26:01,160 --> 00:26:03,359
Speaker 5: I think they really, you know, hit the nail on

507
00:26:03,400 --> 00:26:06,280
Speaker 5: the head with that one in terms of other people.

508
00:26:07,480 --> 00:26:10,360
Speaker 5: I think NBCU struggled a little bit in my mind,

509
00:26:10,359 --> 00:26:14,280
Speaker 5: simply because I still think they're still struggling to define

510
00:26:14,480 --> 00:26:17,320
Speaker 5: what the brand of Peacock is as a service, because

511
00:26:17,359 --> 00:26:19,000
Speaker 5: you know, they showcase some of their new things, like

512
00:26:19,000 --> 00:26:20,800
Speaker 5: they had this twisted metal show coming out with the

513
00:26:20,800 --> 00:26:23,560
Speaker 5: Anthony Mackie pretty soon. They have some other things that

514
00:26:23,600 --> 00:26:26,399
Speaker 5: have launched, but just haven't really seemed to connect in

515
00:26:26,440 --> 00:26:29,280
Speaker 5: a in a deeper cultural way. And I mean it

516
00:26:29,320 --> 00:26:31,480
Speaker 5: seems to me at least that you know, the most

517
00:26:31,520 --> 00:26:34,520
Speaker 5: popular show on Peacock is not an NBCU show.

518
00:26:34,560 --> 00:26:37,120
Speaker 6: It's Yellowstone. It's a paramount show.

519
00:26:37,520 --> 00:26:39,959
Speaker 5: So I still think they're struggling to kind of make

520
00:26:40,000 --> 00:26:42,800
Speaker 5: audiences take that one as seriously and I was also

521
00:26:42,880 --> 00:26:44,919
Speaker 5: very surprising to me, you know, given the obviously you know,

522
00:26:44,960 --> 00:26:46,960
Speaker 5: I guess they have the rights deals are coming up.

523
00:26:47,000 --> 00:26:50,320
Speaker 5: But they didn't feature any WWE talent really in the

524
00:26:50,400 --> 00:26:53,879
Speaker 5: NBCU presentation, which surprised me just because it's such a

525
00:26:53,920 --> 00:26:55,800
Speaker 5: it's such a huge part of the Peacock offering that

526
00:26:55,840 --> 00:26:58,960
Speaker 5: they have this massive, you know, WWE library to share.

527
00:26:59,000 --> 00:27:01,600
Speaker 6: So I was a little surprised by at I think.

528
00:27:01,520 --> 00:27:04,120
Speaker 3: The ww folks are always so colorful, you know, they

529
00:27:04,119 --> 00:27:06,600
Speaker 3: add a little sizzle exactly.

530
00:27:06,600 --> 00:27:08,159
Speaker 5: I mean, you have somebody come out, get put through

531
00:27:08,200 --> 00:27:10,280
Speaker 5: a table, everybody claps. I mean, what's that's to love

532
00:27:10,320 --> 00:27:14,520
Speaker 5: about that? But I did think I agree with Jenny

533
00:27:14,560 --> 00:27:17,040
Speaker 5: about Warner Discovery. I think they definitely did it did

534
00:27:17,080 --> 00:27:19,960
Speaker 5: a good job about kind of showcasing what they have coming,

535
00:27:20,040 --> 00:27:22,639
Speaker 5: especially with the rebrand of HBO Max to Max.

536
00:27:23,280 --> 00:27:26,000
Speaker 3: I will close by thanking you, first of all, thank

537
00:27:26,040 --> 00:27:28,360
Speaker 3: you for your impressions. You all being in the trenches

538
00:27:28,440 --> 00:27:32,240
Speaker 3: are are invaluable. I will just close by saying that

539
00:27:32,359 --> 00:27:36,760
Speaker 3: I am old enough to remember begging my parents to

540
00:27:36,840 --> 00:27:41,080
Speaker 3: let me stay up to watch the original Showgun because

541
00:27:41,240 --> 00:27:47,719
Speaker 3: that was the chatter on the playground Richard Chamberlain oomed

542
00:27:48,200 --> 00:27:50,400
Speaker 3: the miniseries Business back then own.

543
00:27:51,280 --> 00:27:52,600
Speaker 7: I was not allowed to watch it.

544
00:27:53,800 --> 00:27:55,000
Speaker 5: I thought you were going to say you begged your

545
00:27:55,000 --> 00:28:01,360
Speaker 5: parents to go to your first upfront.

546
00:28:11,440 --> 00:28:14,119
Speaker 3: Thanks for listening. Be sure to leave us a review

547
00:28:14,119 --> 00:28:17,640
Speaker 3: at Apple Podcasts. We love to hear from listeners. Please

548
00:28:17,680 --> 00:28:19,959
Speaker 3: go to Variety dot com and sign up for the

549
00:28:19,960 --> 00:28:24,600
Speaker 3: free weekly Strictly Business newsletter, and don't forget to tune

550
00:28:24,600 --> 00:28:27,520
Speaker 3: in next week for another episode of Strictly Business