‘The Black Arts: How the upfront really works’

Anyone who's spent any time in the media business knows about the TV upfront market. That's when, typically at the end of May, media buyers meet with the broadcast networks and commit billions of their clients' dollars to book ad time for the upcoming television season.

But as closely watched as it is, the upfront market is not widely understood. Analysts are quick to report what networks sold what inventory and for how much, but how those deals were reached–indeed, how the upfront market actually functions–remains a mystery to all but a surprisingly small number of people.

One analyst who does understand how the upfront works is Brian Wieser, senior research analyst at Pivotal Research Group.

Wieser shares that understanding with Media Life readers in his recent webinar, "The Black Arts: How the TV upfront really works."

Media Life readers will know Wieser from his recent tenure as head media forecaster at MagnaGlobal, where he famously tossed out the long-accepted model for calculating media spending, based on reported spending by ad agencies, to adopt one based on ad revenues as reported by the sellers of media, which he argued at the time presented a far more realistic picture of the media marketplace.

In all, Wieser spent seven and a half years at Magna, the last two as chief forecaster, leaving in March 2011. After six months at Simulcast, a TV ad targeting company, Wieser joined Pivotal, an investment advisory firm focused on media.

In this webinar, Media Life readers will learn:

* Who's poised to get the best deals in this year's upfront market

* The things marketers should do–but most won't–to get the best deals

* The inner workings of the upfront: Why it exists, why it persists and why pricing outcomes result as they do

* The three big misconceptions about the upfront

* Why the upfront favors sellers rather than buyers

* What to keep an eye on in this year's upfront (clue, it's not CPMs but volume)

The webinar, which was sponsored by Comcast Spotlight, runs about an hour.

To hear the webinar, just follow the link below:

The Brian Wieser webinar: "The Black Arts: How the TV upfront really works"

Tags: buyers, deals, media, media life, time, tv, upfront, upfront market, webinar