For “making the most of the internet and staying on brand” Vice took overall ‘best in show’ at this year’s NewFronts, says Ashley J. Swartz, CEO and Founder of Furious Minds, in her weekly segment for Beet.TV in which she highlights the 2014 NewFronts.
“[Vice] takes risks and they deserve to be commended for that,” Swartz says. Vice is also renewing all their HBO series.
DigitasLBi, the company that founded the NewFronts in 2008, receives ‘best comeback’ for announcing three major partnerships this year with BuzzFeed, Epic Digital and SimpleReach.
YouTube wins ‘best in digital’ due to their online presence and because they’re hiring and sourcing talent from the web and crowd sourcing content, she says. They also announced a partnership with Dreamworks at this year’s NewFront.
Similarly to last year’s NewFront event, AOL announced 16 shows, illustrating their predictability and reliability, Swartz says. “They’re a safe place for brands.”
Hulu’s big announcement centered around “mid-stream, content, commerce” with the unveiling of a new interactive ad unit that will allow viewers to order a pizza from Pizza Hut mid-stream.
Time, Inc., like many of the historically print-based companies, is launching a video hub, using their legacy print publication as a base to influence the content they’re producing, while focusing on reach and driving audiences.
Condé Nast has 11 digital channels and is launching a new platform called “The Scene” with 100 plus shows – along with garnering more than 1 billion views of Condé Nast content. “They are the big hitters.” More than 50 percent of those 1 billion plus views are on mobile.
