The 2021 NewFronts week-long marketing pitchfest for digital media and video — which wants to expand its tent to TV networks as well — has been scheduled for next spring, with the event to reprise the virtual streaming format adopted in 2020 because of the COVID pandemic.
Next year’s IAB NewFronts will be held May 3-7, 2021, set to showcase digital, streaming and linear video creators and publishers. According to IAB, the trade group that manages the event, the 2020 edition this past June drew more than 14,000 brands and media buyers.
IAB also announced that it will shift its audio-marketing event, the Podcast Upfront, to take place the following week (May 10, 2021).
According to IAB, the NewFronts next year is being presented in the context of the trade org’s cross-industry video initiative, which aims to “modernize how video is bought and sold” around a consistent standards and practices regardless of platform.
“As the definitive marketplace for digital video, we are committed to facilitating the buying process, and will expand the NewFronts so that all participants can come together if they choose,” IAB CEO David Cohen said in a statement.
The 2020 NewFronts featured several first-time presenters including Facebook, Snap and TikTok. The other companies that participated in the 2020 NewFronts were: YouTube, Hulu, American Public Media, Barstool Sports, Condé Nast, Crackle Plus, Digitas, Ellen Digital, Forbes, Roku, Wall Street Journal/Barron’s Group, Fox Corp.’s Tubi, Vevo, Vice Media Group, Vibenomics, Whistle, 3Blackdot, GSTV, Samsung Ads, Quantcast, TiVo, Tremor Video, Tru Optik and AT&T’s Xandr.
After this year’s NewFronts were postponed because of the coronavirus, companies that dropped out included Twitter, Verizon Media, Amazon, BBC News, Meredith, the New York Times Co. and Vudu (now owned by NBCUniversal’s Fandango).