Teasing the Trailers is the New Upfront Trend
05.12.2017
With cable and digital platforms in the mix, upfronts go on for months these days, but next week is the event's official week, with the five broadcast networks and major cable networks unveiling their planned programming for the following year.
In the past couple of years, another metric for networks to measure themselves against has emerged: how well the trailers for their upcoming shows perform before the shows themselves even arrive.
Last year, NBC's trailer for This Is Us set new records, with more than an estimated 80 million viewers watching it on Facebook, YouTube and other digital platforms from the time the show was announced last May. This Is Us, starring Mandy Moore and Milo Ventimiglia, went on to become this season's break-out hit.
The year before that, the trailer for CBS' (now The CW's) Supergirl was the viral hit of the moment, with more than 10 million viewers watching.
This year, networks are going even further, taking a page from movies and releasing teasers of their upcoming trailers. Not teasers of shows, teasers of trailers. Earlier this week, Fox kicked off the trend with the teaser for its new superhero series, The Gifted, the latest offering from Marvel Television, which also produces such series as FX's Legion, ABC's Agents of SHIELD and several Netflix series, including Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Daredevil and Iron Fist.
The full trailer will be released after Fox's upfront in New York City on Monday afternoon.
On Friday, NBC released the teaser trailer for its upcoming revival of Will & Grace (see above). Note, this is not a teaser for the show, but for the trailer that will be released after NBC's upfront presentation on Monday.
During the week, ABC released teaser trailers for several of its upcoming shows.
ABC will be launching another Marvel TV series, The Inhumans, which will air as an eight-episode limited series. The first two episodes of the show will premiere in IMAX theaters across the country this fall.
RELATED: Disney, Imax, Marvel to Partner on 'The Inhumans'
Last Thursday, ABC released five more teaser trailers for upcoming shows. ABC's upfront presentation is on Wednesday afternoon at Lincoln Center in New York City.
The Crossing, starring Steve Zahn, joins TV's current crop of shows focused on a rising dystopia. Although in this drama, refugees are fleeing from a future war-torn America that doesn't exist yet.
The Good Doctor (not to be confused with The Good Wife, The Good Fight, The Good Place or NBC's upcoming Good Girls) stars Freddie Highmore, just off his run on A&E's Bates Motel, as a brilliant surgeon who's both autistic and a savant. The series comes from House creator and showrunner David Shore and Lost and Hawaii Five-O's Daniel Das Kim.
Ten Days in the Valley stars The Closer's Kyra Sedgwick as a TV producer and single mom who's life is turned upside down when her young daughter goes missing.
Comedy The Mayor is executive produced by Hamilton's Daveed Diggs and stars Brandon Micheal Hall as a young rapper who runs for mayor solely as a publicity stunt. When he wins, he suddenly finds himself faced with fixing the California hometown he loves.
For the People comes from the gang at Shondaland with Paul William Davies executive producing, along with Shonda Rhimes and Betsy Beers. The legal series follows both defense and prosecution attorneys as their work and personal lives intermingle at "The Mother Court," more formally known as the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.
Finally, The Gospel of Kevin is a light drama starring Jason Ritter as a clueless man who suddenly finds himself tasked with saving the world.
What remains to be seen is if whether teasing the trailers adds up to more eyeballs on the shows themselves.
READ MORE: The Hollywood Reporter