The CW Nixes Upfront TV Event For 2023-2024 TV Season

• by Wayne Friedman , 7 hours ago

The CW -- the broadcast network that bought Nexstar Media Group last year -- will forego the glitz and glamor of a big, star-studded upfront advertising event for the 2023-2024 TV season.

Instead, the network will reveal its fall programming lineup during a Thursday morning May 18 time period via a press conference at the Park Lane Hotel in New York City with Dennis Miller, president of the CW Network and Brad Schwartz, president of entertainment of the CW Network.

Last August, Nexstar closed a deal to buy a controlling 75% stake in the CW from Paramount Global and Warner Bros. Discovery, with each of the selling network groups keeping a 12.5% stake.

The CW network in recent years has not been a profitable TV network -- losing around $100 million a year, according to reports.

In its fourth-quarter 2022, Nexstar said the CW posted a net loss of $94 million, with revenues totaling $66.4 million.

Nexstar Media Group may be shifting out of the expensive, scripted prime-time programming for the CW to less costly unscripted content.

In February, the network announced that Heather Olander would head up unscripted programming -- likely to be a bigger part of the network's slate, according to media analysts.

Much of the CW's benefit for previous owners -- Paramount Global and then WarnerMedia owners -- was in selling after-market TV shows to streaming platforms, especially to Netflix.

But once Paramount Global and then WarnerMedia started up streaming services, those companies shifted that strategy, keeping those programs for its own in-house new premium connected TV platforms.

During last year's upfront TV advertising market, completed in June, the CW scored $500 million and $600 million in upfront deals with high single-digit percentage price CPM (cost-per-thousand viewers) increases, according to analysts.

This is the second broadcast network to cancel a major presentation event.

Earlier, Paramount Global's CBS -- under new leadership of John Halley, president of advertising sales at Paramount Global -- announced that the network would end its big Carnegie Hall gala upfront presentation. Instead, the network group would be shifting to smaller media.