Signaling the end of a media business ritual, Paramount Global has indicated it will not host an upfront presentation for ad buyers at Carnegie Hall next May, instead planning “intimate gatherings” with advertisers in April.
Paramount ad chief John Halley just announced the change in a staff memo. (Read it below.) Because “new realities call for new approaches,” Halley wrote, “the event needs to evolve to meet this moment.” The annual May event, initiated by CBS decades ago and then continued under the auspices of Viacom, ViacomCBS and Paramount, served as the grand finale of broadcast TV upfront week in New York.
For many years, especially as CBS built up its position as the top-rated network, the upfront was a spectacle of mainstream entertainment held in a century-old venue with almost 4,000 seats.
The company would bring stars from Broadway and their own roster of scripted series, late night, sports and other realms onto the massive stage of Carnegie Hall before throwing a lavish after-party.
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