Last year, on March 6 to be exact, I speculated about the future of Upfront Week as we had known it for years. Fox News and FreeWheel had cancelled their previously announced Upfront season events, taking what were at the time early precautions against the looming threat of a pandemic, the realities of which would make themselves known shortly thereafter. The cancellations of every media company's planned Upfront or NewFront events swiftly followed. Even before 2020, though, I had been wondering about the long-term future of this industry tradition, which seemed year after year to be increasingly pointless. That’s because, as I've said before, anyone who pays attention to the internet, social media and various video platforms now knows almost everything there is to know about almost everything that is included in these presentations before they enter the showplaces in which they are traditionally held, and any missing bits of information are easily absorbed within a day or two of being made public.
Was Virtual Upfront Week 2021 a Model for the Future?
