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 Disney’s event. 

Disney kicked off its 2024 Upfront at the Javits Centre in New York on Tuesday afternoon.

In another star-studded event, Oscar winner Emma Stone welcomed the audience and introduced Bob Iger, CEO of Disney, who remarked that he had not been on an upfront stage for 30 years. Iger commented on the significant changes in the television industry but said it’s still all about telling great stories, which is something Disney has always done.

Next, Rita Ferro, president of Disney Advertising, took over the spotlight and opened with a big statement: “half of the world’s population connects with Disney every day.” The theme of connection was weaved throughout the presentation. Ferro also spoke about Disney’s priorities including relationships with its talent, understanding its audiences, guests, and innovation. She touted Disney’s #1 position in total content minutes consumed (according to Neilsen) – “more than YouTube and Netflix,” she boasted.

Ryan Reynolds was up next promoting his new movie Deadpool & Wolverine, which is the first ever R-rated film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). Reynolds also has a 10-part series coming to Nat Geo called Underdogs, spotlighting some lesser-known animals.

Rob McElhenny then joined Reynolds on stage to announce season 4 of Welcome to Wrexham. McElhenny gave a shout-out to Danny DeVito, who was sitting in the audience and stars alongside him in It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, which has been renewed for an 18th season, becoming the longest running live action sitcom on television. Another It’s Always Sunny star Kaitlin Olson, joined the party to introduce a clip of her new series on Hulu, High Potential.

Next up was comedian Jim Gaffigan who introduced a new comedy brand on Hulu called Laughing Now (premiering in November), which will feature new comedy stars every month.

The focus of the presentation then shifted to sports. The first big announcement was Jason Kelce’s new contract with ESPN. Kelce will join the Monday Night Football broadcast in the fall. Next, much unnecessary fuss was made about the fact that Superbowl 2027 will fall on Valentine’s Day.

Ryan Seacrest was next to announce unscripted content. The producer/host started off by stating “we have more live than anyone else.” Seacrest announced that Serena Williams will be hosting the ESPY Awards this year, and after the success of The Golden Bachelor series, ABC will be following it up with The Golden Bachelorette this fall.

Additional content announcements included a reminder of The Bear season 3 dropping on June 27. There’s a music documentary from The Boss entitled Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band, and a new Star Wars limited series The Acolyte premiering on Disney+ in June was introduced by Nathan Fillion and Chewbacca.

The audience also got a sneak peak of three new Marvel series, Agatha Along starring Kathryn Hahn, Ironheart and Daredevil: Born Again. Ellen Pompeo (of Grey’s Anatomy fame) introduced her new limited series, Natalia. Selena Gomez announced she is producing a new spin-off series, Wizards Beyond Waverly Place. Steve Martin and Martin Short joined Gomez on stage and made her vow this would not affect her commitment to season 4 of Only Murders in the Building, which premieres August 27 and has the amateur sleuths heading to California.

Finally, Sterling Brown and Jason Marsden introduced their new show Paradise. Marsden plays a former U.S. president and Brown is his security man.

After a shout-out to women’s college basketball as “the story of the year” there were a few more content announcements including Doctor Odyssey, a new medical drama by creator Ryan Murphy starring Joshua Jackson and Don Johnson. Along with Dying for Sex, a dark comedy starring Michelle Williams, who plays a woman diagnosed with cancer, and who abandons her husband and decides to fully explore her sexuality.

Late night host Jimmy Kimmel wrapped up the show and in classic Kimmel style did not pull any punches. He laid into Netflix saying, “they destroyed commercial television and now they want to sell you commercials on television.” He also threw some shade at Amazon with the very topical “I heard they left you out on the porch, lucky you didn’t get stolen.” He had a few barbs for the traditional broadcasters too, but they got off much easier. Kimmel closed out the presentation by reminding us of what Elon Musk once said to his advertisers. “We would never do that,” Kimmel said, “but we do want to remind you that he did.”