NBC Fall Season To Be Announced May 4th

NBC keeps its upfront ahead of rivals
But advertiser presentations won't be as early as last year

By Nellie Andreeva

NBC is still staying "infront" of the broadcast networks with its upfront presentation, just not as much as last year.

The Peacock is set to present its fall plans to advertisers May 4-5 in New York, followed by presentations May 7 in Chicago and May 12 in Los Angeles.

The first meeting will be two weeks before the official May 18-21 broadcast upfront week but more than a month later than NBC's first "infront" presentations last year, held April 2.

The pushback was a result of requests from advertisers who wanted to see more footage from NBC's new series.

Like last year, NBC's "infront" will be a no-frills presentation held at the network's 30 Rock headquarters, in which scripted and unscripted heads Angela Bromstad and Paul Telegdy, respectively, will lay out the network's plans for next season.

NBC kicked off its pre-upfront meetings with advertisers with "superfront," an event held during the Super Bowl weekend in Orlando, where clients invited for the NBC-carried game were given first glimpse of the net's development. The superfront was followed by one-on-one sitdowns with advertisers by Bromstad and Telegdy. Once again, advertisers were involved in the development of new series, even more than last year.

By going first, NBC hopes to get dibs on what is expected to be a contracted upfront market this year as a result of the sluggish economy. The network hasn't decided yet if it will have a presence during the traditional upfront week.

Fox will kick off upfront week May 18, followed by ABC (May 19), CBS (May 20) and the CW (May 21). Also presenting during the broadcast week are cablers ESPN and Turner Broadcasting.