The TV upfront buying mechanism has already endured a pandemic and a recession in the past few years. Now, throw in inflation, economic figures that run the gamut, and a writers strike, and you’re left with a market that nobody has ever seen before, let alone predict.
“The key word is uncertainty,” said Dave Campanelli, EVP and Chief Investment Officer, Horizon Media. Dave and I sat down recently for the latest episode of my podcast Next in Media – in partnership with Beet.TV – just in time for NewFront and upfront season.
We covered a ton of ground, starting with his read on CMO’s thinking at the moment. “There’s just a lot of different signals,: ‘he said. It’s really tricky to read right now.”
That trickiness makes decision making difficult, particularly in a TV business which is used to year long, even 18-month lead times. “If we don’t know, how much can we commit ahead of time,” said Campanelli.
Besides the upfronts, Campanelli and I talked about the Joint Industry Committee, his take on Nielsen and it’s challengers, and whether YouTube and TikTok have a real shot at TV budgets. I think you’ll really enjoy this one.”
The video on this page is a short excerpt. Listen to the full interview on Next in Media here on Spotify or here on Apple Podcasts. Next in Media is produced in partnership with Beet.TV, presented by MiQ.
