Jenny Croswell, EVP, head of investment and agency operations, and Matt Bailey, VP of media investment and activation, at Horizon Media Canada are among the media execs in New York this week to attend some of the U.S. Upfront presentations – and provide some of their thoughts for Media in Canada.
The Fox presentation took place Monday afternoon at the Manhattan Center. The presentation opened with Gordon Ramsay and Michael Strahan joking about the standing room only venue (there were no seats provided to attendees) and that awkwardness continued through the duration of the roughly 60-minute presentation, which ended with autographed footballs, baseballs and soccer balls being tossed into the crowd while Erin Andrews desperately tried to rattle off key takeaways.
The writers’ strike was briefly referenced about halfway through despite the protests going on outside. The presentation was heavily focused on Tubi, Fox News assets (despite the recent defamation settlement) and sports, which left little time for a very limited slate of scripted programming. All of the shows were also presented with clips and teasers, as no pilots were produced by Fox this year, and the network declined to release a full fall schedule for the second year in a row.
On the scripted front, Doc is a medical drama from Magnum P.I. showrunner Barbie Kligman focusing on a doctor who is also recovering from a brain injury, based on a successful Italian program. Rescue Hi-surf follows lifeguards on Hawaii’s north shore, the most famous and most dangerous stretch of coastline in the world.
Fox also leaned into its historical strength in animation with two new series. Krapopolis is a new series from Dan Harmon of Rick & Morty and Community fame, set in Ancient Greece. Grimsburg is a comedy about a detective voiced by Jon Hamm who struggles with his family life.
On the unscripted side, Snake Oil with Will Arnett and David Spade is a game show where contestants are presented with products from entrepreneurs. Some are real and some are “snake oil” salesmen. Contests need to decide who is who.
We are Family with Jamie Fox and Corrinne Fox has been announced for mid-season. Non-famous relatives of celebrities perform duets with their hidden famous family member. The contests must guess who the famous relative is.
A sizzle reel also showcased returning shows including The Masked Singer, 911 Lonestar, Beat Shazam and Cleaning Lady, as well as the shows in its “Animation Domination” lineup, including The Simpsons and Bob’s Burgers.
Sounding very reminiscent of how NBCUniversal spoke about Peacock earlier in the day, Fox also continues to be all-in on ad-supported streaming with Tubi, which it says was “purpose built” for the most effective ad experience in the space. It touted how it has over 64 million users and the largest library among the competition, with four times higher growth compared to other ad-supported streamers. The streaming strength is part of the pitch for One Fox, the company’s targeting and measurement ecosystem, which provides access to all content to target audiences using data and measurement selected – using this across full digital portfolio.
