IAB Finalizes NewFronts Schedule, With NBCUniversal Joining Roster Of Online Presenters – Deadline

The Interactive Advertising Bureau has finalized the schedule for the NewFronts, with NBCUniversal joining the roster of presenters.

As was the case last year, the NewFronts — in a departure from the series of splashy in-person pitches to ad buyers in venues across New York — will be virtual due to the coronavirus pandemic. The pitches to ad buyers will be back in a familiar slot, though, from May 3 to 6. That’s a return to the traditional spring prelude to the biggest week of TV upfronts, which is also back in its longtime mid-May berth.

This year’s lineup of presenters doesn’t include longtime NewFronts mainstay Hulu (now subsumed into Disney’s pitches) but adds notable newcomers like Amazon and NBCUniversal. (The slot for NBCU is new since the roster of presenters was first confirmed last month.)

Each of the four days of presentations will feature several hours of programming, kicking off with a hosted welcome segment before the individual companies take the stage. The messaging is taking a more concentrated form than the traditional NewFronts, which typically start with breakfast and end late at night. YouTube, whose annual Brandcast tended to run more than two hours and feature an array of high-profile musical performances, is slated for a comparatively trim 40 minutes.

Here is the schedule, with all times Eastern: