It is a sad day – the end of upfront season is here. Yes that’s right, the industry no longer has an excuse to gather together together and eat arancini balls (well, until Christmas party season begins).
If you didn’t have a chance to make it to ALL of the upfronts (physically impossible) then never fear, because B&T’s report cards are here.
We have a roundup of all of the highlights and potential rooms for improvement below!
1.MamaMia, Tuesday 5th September Morning, Dalton House
Highlights:
MamaMia showed themselves to be a leader in female-focused content. Their new content slate shows that they are continuously evolving and are able to quickly adapt to the changing needs of their audience. Its new Travel Concierge offering was particularly interesting.
Improvements:
We would have liked to see more details round some of the more surprising stats – such as women holding more buying power in nearly every shopping category.
Find out more about MamaMia’s upfronts HERE
2. Nine, Wednesday 6th September, The Hordern Pavilion
Highlights:
Nine kicked off proceedings with a detailed and entertaining presentation in which the Olympics were undeniably the jewel in the crown. Other highlights include ad manager – a play for SMBs – and a solid suite of old and new content including Tipping Point Australia, My Mum Your Dad and Gordon Ramsay’s Food Stars.
Improvements:
There may have been just a tad too much talk about the Olympics.
Find out more about Nine’s upfronts HERE
3. YouTube, Thursday 14th September, The Hordern Pavilion
Highlights:
The live episode of Mark Ritson’s YouTube Works: The Long and The Short of It, was a real highlight with impressive content and insights. The range of speakers presented by YouTube was hard to rival and the content was slickly produced. YouTube was bold in its approach to securing advertising budgets. It is no longer competing with tech platforms, it is here to take over.
Improvements:
There were a number of things announced but many of these had debuted in other regions first.
Find out more about YouTube’s upfronts HERE
4. IPA, Thursday 14th September, The Ground of Alexandria
Highlights:
This was a novel concept of pitching publishers directly to advertisers. There was a real feeling of camaraderie in the room among the publishers and the advertisers about the value that small, independent and often niche publishers can demonstrate to advertisers.
Improvements:
Presentations felt slightly repetitive and the publishers offered the same reasons for why they were valuable to advertisers. It felt as though slightly more value could have been added.
5. Are Media, Friday 15th September, NSW Art Gallery
Highlights:
Are (like Bauer before it) has worked judiciously in recent times to dump the “we’re a magazine company” for “we’re an omnichannel content company for women”. This was reinforced by big data plays and more digitisation of its existing brands. A highlight was the return of a print edition of ELLE and CEO, Jane Huxley, who stole the show.
Improvements:
Albeit a slick, fun, upbeat presentation, it felt like it was preaching to a room full of the converted (bolted on mag luvvies.) Still, the brand can rightly claim it owns Australian women.
Find out more about AreMedia’s upfronts HERE
6.Seven, Wednesday 18th September, ICC
Highlights:
Seven’s slick and polished affair was a reminder to the industry of what they do well. It was clearly targeted at media agencies with a number of enhancements – such as Phoenix – designed to make the life of agencies easier. Adding cricket and AFL to Seven Plus will undoubtedly be positive for advertisers.
Improvements:
They could have been more daring with the new content.
Find out more about Seven’s upfronts HERE
7.TikTok, Tuesday 19th September, Hordern Pavilion
Highlights:
TikTok showed how serious it was about being an inclusive platform by having Dylan Alcott host right after the Shift 20 Initiative.There was an impressive range of speakers and examples of effective content on the platform. This provided strong inspiration for the agency folk in the room.
Improvements:
The event was rather light on announcements and news. Instead, it focused on impressive creative execution — this is not without value for agencies.
Find out more about TikTok’s upfronts HERE
8. Vevo, Thursday 19th October, St Barnabas Broadway
Highlights:
At its first upfronts Vevo was (rightly) loud and proud about all it has achieved to date. It highlighted its increasing CTV audience of over six million Australians, up 44 per cent since 2020 and made a very solid case for the advertising power of premium music videos. There’s also the small matter of Vevo Christmas..
Improvements:
We would have liked more info on how they are using data to help brands.
Find out more about Vevo’s upfronts HERE
9. Paramount, Tuesday 24th October, Paramount Studios
Highlights:
Paramount’s intimate and interactive upfronts firmly focused on its strengths, showing the industry all the things they do well. They show-cased their impressive suite of new and upcoming family shows, as well as reminding agencies of their global scale and all the opportunity that comes with that.
Improvements:
More information needed on how they are making the lives of media buyers easier.
Find out more about Paramount’s upfronts HERE
10.OOH Media, Tuesday 24th October, Calyx
Highlights:
The presentation was short, slick and largely to the point. There was not much guff in and around the announcements. The Upfronts had specific, actionable news and launches for agency staff from the new Sydney premium assets to the oOh! outcomes announcements.oOh!media demonstrated its impressive commitment to sustainability, announcing that it would move its entire network towards renewable energy.
Improvements:
It felt slightly too Sydney-focused, especially considering that the oOh!media team was heading to Melbourne the next day with the same announcements.
Find out more about oOh!’s upfronts HERE
11. Foxtel, Thursday 26th October, Cockatoo Island
Highlights:
Foxtel was unafraid to shake things up with their daring upfronts. As well as showcasing their stellar sports coverage they announced a number of ground-breaking changes such as the introduction of streaming aggregator Hubbl and a new audience measurement system that aims to rival OzTam.
Improvements:
We love Hubbl! We’re just not 100% sure what it is or how it works.
Find out more about Foxtel’s upfronts HERE
12.SBS, Tuesday 31st October, Town Hall
Highlights:
SBS left viewers in no doubt that they are a purpose-led organisation with this passionate upfront display. The big highlight was an on-demand option that allows viewers to ‘opt-out’ of alcohol, gambling and junk food ads. They have also (already) achieved net zero for direct emissions and will also be broadcasting the 2026 World Cup.
Improvements:
The opt-out move was bold so it would have been great to know more about whether ad revenue is going to be impacted by the ‘opt-out’ feature.
Find out more about SBS’s upfronts HERE
Do you have views on the news? If you have any opinions/thoughts on this year’s upfronts please share them at [email protected]
