This week, MiC has enlisted execs from the Canadian media industry to offer their insights on the big programming and advertising announcements coming out of the 2024 Upfronts in New York. Today, Jenny Croswell EVP, head of Investment and agency operations at Horizon Media reports on Amazon’s first upfront presentation, ever.
Getting into Amazon’s first official upfront event on Tuesday morning was a logistical nightmare.
The presentation started about 30 minutes late, as it took some time to clear attendees off the side of FDR Drive, who were forced to stand precariously close to traffic. As luck would have it, a construction crew was able to act as lookout and continuously yelled, “Watch your back, live traffic.”
The mood seemed to improve inside the event space, as Alicia Keys kicked off festivities. Amazon pulled out all the stops promoting its Prime Video content with a star-studded parade beginning with Jake Gyllenhaal and ending with a second appearance by Reese Witherspoon.
Paul Kotas, SVP of advertising and Mike Hopkins, SVP of Prime Video and Amazon Studios were the first to welcome the crowd. They touted Amazon’s ability to reach audiences through premium content at scale. They also reinforced Amazon’s relevance to brands of all types and sizes and their commitment to continued innovation.
Jennifer Salke, head of Amazon Studios, was up next and apologized to the crowd for “whatever you went through to get into this room.”
Salke was the Grand Marshal of the celebrity parade. First, the muscles: Gyllenhaal confirmed a sequel to Roadhouse. Evidently “the world went crazy” for the ’80s reboot, which to date has over 80 million viewers globally. Salke was also joined on stage by Alan Ritchson, who confirmed another season of Reacher, and a holiday movie that he’ll star in with Arnold Schwarzenegger called The Man with the Bag.
Next, Aldis Hodge introduced a first look at the series Cross, an adaptation of James Patterson’s novels. Hodge stars as detective and forensic psychologist Alex Cross, known for his ability to dig into a criminal’s psyche. Season one will stream later this year and season two is already in production.
Reese Witherspoon and Will Ferrell drew some laughs promoting their new romcom You’re Cordially Invited, launching in January 2025. Next, Octavia Spencer and Hannah Waddingham commanded attention when promoting a yet-to-be-named action comedy they dubbed Jack Ryan-meets-Thelma and Louise.
Reese made a second appearance at the very end of the show in character as Elle Woods to announce a Legally Blonde prequel aptly named, Elle.
Other notable scripted content nods included Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s Tomb Raider. Who will play Laura Croft is still unknown. Spiderman Noir will star Nicolas Cage. The second season of the ambitious Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, which has been two years in the making. Along with the second season of Mr. & Mrs. Smith, a supersized 11-episode third season of The Summer I Turned Pretty and a fifth season of The Boys.
A handful of unscripted programs were featured before Amazon turned our attention to sports, including Are You Smarter Than a Celebrity hosted by Travis Kelce and The 1% Club hosted by Patton Oswald.
Jay Marine, VP global head of sports announced that Amazon would be “doubling down on live sports content” and went on to plug Thursday night football, its NASCAR partnership (with coverage starting in 2025), and the WNBA.
Dale Earnhardt Jr and Roger Federer also made an appearance to talk about documentaries launching on Prime Video – there’s one about Dale Earnhardt Jr’s father, which will launch in 2025, and Federer’s documentary will recount the Twelve Final Days of his career, which will be available in June.
The presentation concluded with a few more Amazon executives Tanner Elton, Sarah Iooss and Alan Moss telling us what all of the announcements and updates mean. According to the execs “we are all endemic to Amazon” and “if we take one thing away, it should be that Amazon has full funnel ads at scale for everyone.”
