The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) has announced the creation of NewFronts West—an extension of its annual New York event—that will debut this fall in Los Angeles.
NewFronts West will run October 9-10 at NeueHouse Hollywood, where digital content creators will showcase advertising opportunities to marketers. Registration for presenters will open this Summer.
The Los Angeles event will differ from its East Coast cousin in length—running two days compared to five in New York—but what NewFronts West lacks in time will make up in home advantage. IAB hopes that hosting NewFronts in the entertainment capital will attract brands, celebrities and media buyers native to the area.
“We also expect to see even more out-of-the-box programming in the mix, taking full advantage of emerging formats ranging from virtual reality to podcasts,” Anna Bager, IAB’s executive vice president of Industry Initiatives said in a statement. “This represents yet another vital marketplace from IAB, designed to encourage growth across the industry.”
IAB’s announcement comes just as NewFronts wrapped last week. The annual presentation revealed a number of trends in the digital entertainment space including a demand for brand safety, original content and a hybrid approach between digital and traditional TV ad formats.
NewFronts is attracting new players, which indicates a growing interest in the annual competition for ad dollars. Last week’s presentations included the usual powerhouses such as Disney, Hulu and Viacom but also included first-time appearances from Twitter and ESPN.
Twitter unveiled 30 new content and renewal deals during its NewFronts presentation that included NBC Universal, ESPN and Viacom.
Disney-owned ESPN announced a new daily version of its popular SportsCenter program that will run native to its mobile app. The curated edition of SportsCenter will be hosted by Scott Van Pelt and other SportsCenter anchors, focusing on highlights, previews and top plays.
Another trend from NewFronts this year was niche OTT to complement existing programming. Refinery29 has announced plans to launch Channel29, an ad-supported niche OTT service aimed at millennial women. Condé Nast Entertainment is creating a dedicated OTT channel for Wired, which will launch later in 2018. Next year, OTT channels for Bon Appétit and GQ will follow.
