NBCU Sticks With Radio City For Upfront After Two Rivals Change Venues

variety.com:

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorNBCUniversal has pushed in recent months to change the way TV audiences are measured and to shake up the methods Madison Avenue uses to place ads, but at least one thing about the Comcast-backed media conglomerate will remain the same: the location of its main upfront presentation.NBCU pledged to hold forth from Radio City Music Hall once again, just as it has for many years before the coronavirus pandemic scuttled the in-person extravaganzas that have become so much a part of the TV networks’ annual pitch to advertisers.

The owner of the NBC, MSNBC and USA networks said it would kick off the industry’s annual Upfront Week on May 16, with an evening event aimed at promoting Spanish-language outlet Telemundo, marking a return to at least some of the traditions of the annual market, when U.S.

TV networks try to sell the bulk of their commercial inventory for their next programming cycle. Linda Yaccarino, NBCU’s global chairman of advertising and partnerships, announced the schedule Tuesday.The networks have for two years running scuttled their live shows, part of what has typically been a very public mid-May week of hoopla that the industry counts on to drum up interest and demand in their shows and ad inventory — from the viewing public at large as well as Madison Avenue. “Upfront Week” brings with it lots of song-and-dance routines; meetings and dinners with advertisers; news about new programs and actors taking part in TV series; sneak peeks at  “Star Trek” relaunches; and conversations with Charles Barkley about basketball.Even as many executives pine for such confabs, the business around them is changing — irrevocably.