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For this year’s upfront season, A+E Networks is making sure its content measures up.
Today, A+E Networks kicks off its virtual upfront presentation to advertisers, promoting more than 2,500 hours of new, multiplatform content across its portfolio—in addition to a new measurement-focused initiative called InterAction.
“A+E continues to move forward with intention and pace in the ever-evolving media landscape, bringing forth premium quality content for viewers and innovative solutions for advertising partners,” Paul Buccieri, president and chairman of A+E, said in a statement. “Behind the scenes, we partner with the best talent in the business—in front of and behind the camera—resulting in a diverse roster that resonates emotionally with all audiences everywhere.”
To help that content resonate, the company is partnering with big names such as Derek Jeter, Kevin Costner and Mary J. Blige.
Highlights include a 20-part WWII documentary series, hosted and narrated by Tom Hanks for History Channel; a podcast on America’s Reconstruction Era from Barack Obama; a partnership from Home.Made.Nation and A&E with Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine for lifestyle programming; and Lifetime’s continued partnership with Good Morning America co-anchor Robin Roberts for a biopic of Gloria Gaynor.
For the 2024-2025 upfront, the company is focused on offering advertisers custom solutions and connecting them with viewers across its ecosystem of linear, websites, apps, DTC, AVOD and SVOD platforms.
A+E Networks told ADWEEK it reaches two-thirds of adults (64% of the U.S. population 18+) across its portfolio, and the company has a unique digital audience that adds 30% incremental reach.
Though Peter Olsen, president of ad sales at A+E Networks, recognizes that that audience isn’t necessarily on the same level as tech giants like Google and Amazon, he explained the company is “scrappier,” goes to clients to help meet business goals and offers custom tools instead of a one-size-fits-all plan.
“Capabilities-wise, we’re doing alternate currencies; we’re doing outcomes-based guarantees,” Olsen said. “The same thing Amazon and Google can do at a bigger level, we can do in this more nimble, innovation-lab way.”
New consumer ‘InterActions‘
Among the new offerings, A+E Networks is introducing InterAction, a multimodal solution that showcases the company’s ad effectiveness through attention, recall and search engagement, utilizing attention data from Tvision, Brand Effect’s recall and EDO’s behavioral dataset.
