By Etan Vlessing
TORONTO – Millions of Canadians have apparently made a fort out of their throw blankets and sofa pillows as they binge-view New Amsterdam and Prodigal Son until the Covid-19 crisis blows over, judging by Corus Entertainment’s virtual Upfront presentation to advertisers on Tuesday, with the tagline “Corus From the Couch.”
“Our collective experience with this pandemic has certainly been existential… But now, more than ever, it’s important to invest in building your brand,” Corus CEO Doug Murphy said from his own couch (pictured) while touting Pottery Barn pillows costing $24.99 each.
The message from Murphy to sheltering brand marketers bracing for a recession hit to their ad expenditures is its time to get back into an uncertain TV market.
And to get them back on their feet, Daniel Eves, senior vice-president, broadcast networks at Corus, told Cartt.ca an upcoming fall schedule with only a handful of new shows and a slew of returning hit U.S. series promised consistency and results for brand marketers fearing the sting of the pandemic’s tail.
“At the end of the day, people are looking for the shows and the comfort level of the product they like, and they like to know what’s coming back and where they expect it to be,” Eves said of the business-as-usual fall schedule amid widespread ratings gains so far during the Covid-19 crisis.
That stability was helped by U.S. networks feeling little need, especially amid production shutdowns on a host of pilots and rookie shows during the pandemic, to overhaul their own 2020 primetime TV campaigns. So, American studio suppliers mostly returning their 2019 lineups allowed Global Television to bring back its own fall schedule virtually intact.
“Our general strategy was picking a specific show for the show, versus a complete overhaul,” he explained.
Global picked up three new fall series, the 6-parter Departure, The Equalizer, starring Queen Latifah, and neXt, a thriller moved up by Fox from a mid-season launch. Otherwise, Global will return around 30 series across all genres, including drama and comedy.
Corus will also replenish its primetime shelves this year via a new supply deal with NBCUniversal to acquire originals shows from its ad-supported Peacock streamer, including Brave New World, Dr. Death, Saved By The Bell and Girls5Eva.
Eves, not shying away from a pillow fight with top-rated Bell Media, said the edge for Corus is the number of top-rated returning hits, which advertisers covet. “The bigger your shows are and the bigger hit you have, the more excited you are that they’re returning,” he ventured.
Of course, the Los Angeles Screenings for the Canadians has always a bit of a puzzle without all the pieces as Corus, Bell and Rogers scramble during the U.S. Upfronts and ahead of their own Upfront presentations in Toronto to quickly hammer out fall schedules from ever-shifting American primetime campaigns.
This year, with the Covid-19 crisis and no LA Screenings, the challenge for the Canadians has not been identifying which are the pieces of the puzzle needed for top ratings in May or June, but which pieces will be pulled away in the fall should Hollywood fail to restart high-end TV production across North America under strict safety guidelines.
Eves said U.S. studios have given assurances that new and returning series will meet production timelines safely and properly. At the same time Corus, like all broadcasters, is game playing a range of scenarios should the U.S. studios’ production pipelines remain frozen into the fall.
There are also its own Canadian dramas to line its fall schedule if needed, and the Peacock originals could land on Corus’ linear channels. “We’ll look at what product we have, what can we do, what are they doing. There are a number of options to still put together strong content where we see fit,” Eves explains.
Corus also talked up its digital platforms after the launch of Stack TV last year, relaunching its Global TV app and an expanding YouTube presence for its original TV content.
Barb McKergow, senior vice president of national advertising revenue at Corus — suitably seated on a couch against pillows costing $14.99 apiece from Wayfair, she declared – touted a new partnership between the broadcaster and the Canadian ad tech firm Playwire to help digital advertisers reach millennials in the e-sports and gaming spaces.
“We’re launching a whole new way to reach a whole new audience on the couch,” McKergow said.
Still, for Eves, overseeing content acquisition at Corus, series hits returning this fall matter above else to advertising navigating poorly charted waters. “Aside from the competitive nature and how we sell ourselves, its fundamental to have product that engages with the broadcast reach of people. And that’s why a hit is relevant to us.”
