Court Stroud, executive VP of Network Sales and Digital at Azteca America told PRODU that the distinction between the big screen (TV) and the small screen (digital), regardless of whether the content is long or short format, has blurred quite a bit in the last year of the Upfront.Clients are following consumer´s initiative, who see everything as TV, even though the distribution mechanism is very different. In some cases, this makes the negotiation easier for those market players that are dual (TV and digital) as is Azteca. So, instead of having two separate conversations for TV and new media, negotiations frequently take place in parallel way or joint, which makes the process much more fluent, he said.Stroud emphasized that most of the brands are requesting their agencies not to distinguish between screens when they buy video.Regarding the general scenario for this presales year, Stroud says: Early word from the general market is that this Upfront may be down by 2%, especially given the downward pressure on network TV budgets due to an increase in digital. However, agencies have a vested interest in lowering expectations in order to push their own agenda to keep CPM increases at a minimum.He thinks that in general the Hispanic TV is strong and continues to grow. I view the overall Hispanic Upfront market as still strong and increasing, given the growth of the US Hispanic market, and the maturation of the US Hispanic television network landscape. For Azteca, given our huge ratings increases over the past year, the 2015-16 Upfront year looks particularly rosy.Stroud adds that Azteca has been very successful over the past year in bringing back former clients and attracting new ones. We’ve witnessed particularly strong growth in categories such as CPG (consumer packaged goods), automotive, movie studios, video games, technology/hardware and telecommunications/mobile.
Manuel Abud named president and Chief Executive Officer of Azteca America
Court Stroud joins Castalia Communications as SVP of New Business
