Hasta La Creative!

It may appear to be all shrimp and celebrities, but the real business of the upfronts, when TV networks look to secure the bulk of their ad dollars for the fall season, doesn’t take place on the stages of Carnegie Hall and the Beacon Theatre. Instead, deals are made during private discussions leading up to the dog-and-pony show, and over the course of long nights and piles of pizza boxes in the weeks following.

The basis of conversations tend to be the same every year: how much of advertisers’ budgets will be allocated to upfronts vs. the “scatter” market where prices can fluctuate; how inventory will be packaged; potential integrations; and, of course, arguments over price hikes. But in any given year there are hot-button issues — last year’s included audience measurement and how NBC Universal priced reruns of “Modern Family” on USA.

This year’s broad conversations will be similar to those of a year ago with many of the same challenges, like ratings erosion and cross-platform measurement, still a concern. But words like “data,” “research” and “programmatic” will be the new wildcards.

Continue reading at AdAge.com