Paramount Global leaned into two of its strengths at its upfront presentation: reach and reality.
Jo Ann Ross, president and chief advertising revenue officer of U.S. advertising sales at Paramount Global, opened by saying the company has the best platforms and content for "every genre and demographic."
With the presentation themed as a "60 Minutes" show, the newsmagazine's anchor, Scott Pelley, said Paramount's various platforms reach 87% of people 2 and up and talked up the company's social media prowess. In recorded sessions, Pelley spoke with "iCarly" star Miranda Cosgrove and Comedy Central (US)'s "The Daily Show" host Trevor Noah, who also discussed his presence on social media.
During upfronts, content providers look to sell linear and digital schedules to media agencies and their clients ahead of the upcoming TV season.
A significant portion of the event was focused on reality fare. "60 Minutes" reporter Lesley Stahl said there were 83 million unique viewers of reality fare across the company's varied platforms during the 2021-22 TV season.
For the upcoming campaign, CBS (US) will air new seasons of "Survivor" and "The Amazing Race" in the 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. hours, respectively. The network will follow that at 10 p.m. with the reality dating show "The Real Love Boat," set aboard a cruise ship in the Mediterranean.
"CBS Evening News" and "60 Minutes" correspondent Norah O'Donnell talked with Tyler Perry, who has eight shows in production across Paramount Global holdings, while "60 Minutes" correspondent Bill Whitaker engaged BET (US) CEO Scott Mills about his Content for Change initiative to eliminate racial bias and inequities.
In terms of streaming, free ad-supported video-on-demand service Pluto TV has 68 million monthly global active users and over 300 channels. Moreover, Eye Q, the company's suite of streaming and creative solutions, is serving 80 million full-episode monthly viewers, aided by content from Pluto TV and Paramount+. Vantage, the company's data-driven targeting platform, touts a linear, digital and addressable TV footprint of more than 50 million households.
