At today’s traditional doubleheader to open the Upfronts in New York, Fox and NBCUniversal executives took a close look at Netflix and Disney’s “paywall” strategy in the first of many salvos expected this week.
Kicking off Fox’s mostly virtual event, Marianne Gambelli, director of ad sales, took note of the industry’s shift to subscription streaming in recent years. “Everyone’s chasing subscribers,” except Fox, she wondered. Fox Sports CEO Eric Shanks went one step further, telling the ad-supported audience, “We know that without you, we’d just be Netflix.”
Entertainment boss Charlie Collier built on those comments in his closing segment. “Now Netflix and Disney are coming” to ad-supported streaming, he said. “And that means they can’t afford to build their paywall without your money.”
Fox emphasizes, as Collier and other executives reiterated throughout the presentation, the free and ad-supported programming (although the afternoon included a short segment for pay-streamer Fox Nation).
NBCUniversal Upfront: Jimmy Fallon Targets Will Smith’s ‘Bel-Air’, Peacock & CNN+
The NBCUniversal leading up to Radio City included several shout-outs for Peacock, who was also teased by NBC late-night hosts Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers. Jeff Shell, CEO of NBCU, said that Netflix and Disney getting into the ad-supported streaming game should be seen as a validation of his company’s strategy.
“We’ve been committed to the ad-supported video business from literally the earliest moments of our history,” he said. “This is not an extension of our core business or a fulcrum. That is our core business.”
“Comcast NBCUniversal isn’t a new Philly start-up, or a teenage ad tech company, or the latest messy merger,” said NBCU ad sales manager Linda Yaccarino, the last sting possibly targeting Warner Bros Discovery.
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