IAB Cuts NewFronts Schedule In Half, Will Launch L.A. Iteration Later This Year

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), which has annually hosted the Digital Content NewFronts in New York since 2012, is slashing the traditionally two-week-long event in half. The NewFronts, which take their name from the television Upfronts and feature content publishers making snazzy presentations a bid to attract advertisers, will be held this year from April 30 to May 4.

In light of the abbreviated New York event, the IAB announced plans for a second NewFronts to be held in the fourth quarter of this year in Los Angeles. No word yet on who’s set to participate.

The 2018 NewFronts in New York comprise 16 presenting companies thus far, compared to the more than 30 digital media outfits that participated last year — with Vice, Awesomeness, Turner, Defy Media, and more opting not to return. Last year, too, several major players — including BuzzFeed, Fullscreen, Yahoo, and Machinima — bowed out of the event, suggesting that the pricey presentations were failing to deliver business. The event has also been criticized by many attendees for its marathon-like length. At the same time, however, last year’s departures left room for newbies like Twitter

and the BBC, both of whom made their inaugural appearances in 2017.

This year’s event will feature appearances from NewFronts founders DigitasLBi, YouTube, Hulu, and Oath — as well as other industry stalwarts like the Disney Digital Network, Group Nine Media, Refinery29, and ESPN. You can check out the schedule as it stands right now below — though the IAB says that more companies will be added to the lineup in coming weeks.

“Advertisers’ increasing demand for innovative, original digital video programming opportunities prompted us to extend the conversations held at NewFronts, with the creation of a second event on the West Coast,” Anna Bager, the IAB’s EVP of industry initiatives, said in a statement. “The New York City roster for this spring includes media powerhouses and digital upstarts that will offer action-packed, star-studded presentations.”