While the TV networks were in the midst of their Upfront presentations (made for their advertisers in New York City), in L.A., the international content sales companies were gearing up for their own event, which, for the indies, started yesterday at the Fairmont Century Plaza Hotel. (And will begin for the studios on Saturday on their lots.)
In New York City, Donna Speciale, president of U.S. Advertising Sales and Marketing at TelevisaUnivision, took to the stage at the company’s presentation at the city’s Pier 36, proclaiming: “Today, we are the leader in entertaining the Spanish-speaking world — a powerhouse portfolio of media brands and capabilities with no equal.” She continued: “We have incredible momentum and massive reach to an influential and growing audience [that is] contributing 100 percent of 18-34 growth over the next five years and driving our collective culture.”
To further discuss the theme of the growing Spanish-language TV market, VideoAge met with New York City-based Canela’s co-founders Isabel and Michael Rafferty during the multimedia company’s Upfront presentation at the Avra Rockefeller Center restaurant in New York City, across from Radio City Music Hall, where NBCUni was holding its Upfront while being picketed by striking members of the Writers Guild. The Raffertys highlighted their four-year-old group’s 50 FAST channels, as well as their expansion into Mexico and Colombia.
At the NBC presentation, news anchors Willie Geist and Savannah Sellers introduced highlights from the company’s lineup of TV shows and films. NBC announced a fall schedule with three new series set to premiere — dramas The Irrational and Found, and multi-cam comedy Extended Family, all of which will stream next-day on Peacock, along with the rest of NBC’s entertainment lineup.
Meanwhile, Marianne Gambelli, president of Advertising Sales, Marketing and Brand Partnerships, FOX Corporation, said, during her presentation at the Manhattan Center: “[The streamers] chose subscribers. We chose you, the advertisers.”
Unfortunately, Cannes decided to challenge Hollywood with its Film Festival running parallel to the L.A. Screenings, so some participants (like Tomas Darcyl of Argentina’s Telefilms and Chevonne O’Shaughnessy of ACI in Hollywood) will be dividing their time between the two events.
Before yesterday’s opening day, 431 attendees had already registered for the L.A. Screenings Independents with organizer Isabella Marquez. Of those, 210 are content buyers. In addition, Marquez welcomed 31 members of the press.
It should be noted that not every L.A. Screenings participant has a registration badge, but registration is recommended. The situation will be different come Saturday, when the studios begin their screenings. In order to attend those, participants must first register with them so that they have security clearance at each studio’s gates.
Entry badges are required also for the ContentLA event, which runs today and tomorrow at the Century Plaza. Conferences and networking events kicked off this morning with the Content Trends Report session and continued throughout the day.
Pictured above are a mix of Upfront and indie screening scenes. On the bottom, l. to r.: Edson Mendes and Delmar Andrade of Brazil’s Record TV; Selim Turkmen and Sibel Levendoglu of Turkey’s Kanal D; Irv Holender of Multicom, Tom Devlin of Entertainment Studios, and Sheila Morris of Morris PR.
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