For StyleHaul’s first NewFront event, attendees were welcomed to the posh Milk Studios in the Meatpacking District in New York City. Comfy white couches, champagne and views of the Highline kept guests happy before the presentation. A black canvas make-up pouch waited on each of the chairs, featuring a recognizable art style often found on New York City streets. More on that later…

President and CEO Stephanie Horbaczewski stepped onstage in bright magenta pumps. Later, she dished more details to Cynopsis on her company’s plans:

The Pitch
StyleHaul’s value proposition is that we are the largest global style community with 6000 content creators. But what really differentiates us? We’re the only network that can deliver branded content at our level of scale and engagement in the style category. We are breaking ground in the digital space through the rollout of a new social media product, StyleHaul Society.

The Task
Given how new our space is, one of the challenges we are always working on is to help brands understand the value that our digital content strategy offers and how it works together with their existing marketing strategies. Once they see that, we then have to prove success through measurement in this evolving space.

The Definition of Success
Since this is our first time at NewFronts, one of the biggest goals we have is to share our position in the market with some of the most influential brands and creative agencies. On the creator side, we’re looking forward to being able to fully activate creators of all sizes and extend brand opportunities to every layer of our network.

Scripted Content
Former Bond girl Denise Richards, model Karrueche Tran and Inbetweeners’ Alex Frnka will star in a dozen 11-minute episodes of SH’s first scripted series, called Vanity. The Lizzie Bennett Diaries’ Bernie Su (who’s made appearances at other NewFronts this season as well) will produce the series. Tran and Frnka unveiled footage to the crowd, which had just been shot 24 hour prior.

What’s in that that Little Black Bag?
“Because it was our first NewFront, we wanted to know what people love about these events,” said Horbaczewski. “We heard from practically everyone that it was all about the gift bag. So we had to come up with something killer.” SH enlisted New York City street artist Bradley Theodore to create a custom piece of art for the canvas mini-tote. Very cool.

What’s your favorite social media platform?
I like Instagram. It’s a window into my life. It’s an easy way to bring followers along with me to tell them what I’m doing all the time, what I’m eating, and other weird things they care about.

Who’s your favorite Instagram to follow?
Humans of New York!

What’s the coolest thing that has happened to you through Instagram?
Instagram has grown for me substantially in the last couple of months, and a bunch of brands have reached out to me to ask, “Hey, can we send you this product and you can put it in your photo?” I’m 19 years old and a college student, so it’s crazy to me that anyone would want to be part of my photos.

What’s your favorite TV show?
Grey’s Anatomy. I’m really into that medical stuff. I’m obsessed. I’m only on season four though; so don’t tell me who dies!

What’s your favorite brand?
Free People. It’s my go-to. I’m very bohemian, and I like just throwing a dress on and going.

What is your favorite beauty product?
I really love L’Oreal Carbon Black Mascara. It was the first product I bought when I started wearing make-up.

Whistle Sports was ready to get advertisers and brands fired up for the multi-channel network’s “draft day,” aka its first NewFront, held at The Hard Rock Café in Times Square. A marching band drummed to the front of the stage to open the event and introduce a Whistle MVP, pro lacrosse player and YouTube celeb Paul Rabil.

“Let’s start with a pop quiz,” Rabil suggested. “I’m your target consumer and I follow your demographic. I’m feeling one of three ways: Man, that product was awesome; Man, this company is awesome; or Man, this brand is awesome.” The majority of the audience raised their hands at the last option. “You guys are all wrong! You want them to say, ‘Man, I am awesome because of this product.’

After the quiz, co-founder and President Jeff Urban came onstage to discuss the powerful combination of YouTube and sports when engaging millennials. “Our audience is 80 percent male and ages 13 to 34,” Urban said. “In an independent study, it found that Sports YouTubers win viewers by a 3-1 margin, and Whistle attracts 57 percent of passionate fans who are also top influencers.”

John West, CEO and Founder of Whistle Sports, explained the strategy further:

The Game Plan
Up to 2012, WhistleSports was gaining credibility and pro sports were syncing up; in 2013 we were setting up the community to build the multi-channel network; and 2014 was “filling the seats” in our stadium. Our network consists of 72 million fans and subscribers across platforms. 2015 was about building content with our partners and creators, and pushing that out to the brand world. People say, “Don’t you want to create a TV show?” But we have five-minute videos on Facebook that get 15 million views on a regular basis.

The Winning Play
It’s about having brands, agencies and media at our event feel the passion that Whistle Sports creators have and what their fans have for them. Second, it’s a brand awareness game, letting them know who we are and why we’re an exciting platform to join.

Moving Forward
There are no other global sports companies, so with 2.5 billion millennials globally, we think there’s huge growth ahead. We want to continue to scale revenues.

Up At Bat
In the coming year, the MCN will launch two new sports specific communities: fitness and soccer. Upcoming shows include Dude Perfect’s Faceoff, Brody Smith’s World Tour, Running The Pitch, Challenge Accepted and MVP (Most Valuable Prank).

Football Toss
To wrap up the showcase, social media and YouTube sensation Dude Perfect (20 million fans) played a game of catch with the crowd. “Six years ago, we never dreamed we would be here,” DP’s Chris Plehal said. “Then every network was vying for our attention, and we thought Whistle Sports understood sports and Dude Perfect the best.”

Pre-Game Philanthropy
Prior to the NewFront event, DP teamed-up with YouTube and the New York City Parks Department for The Perfect Court program to help restore the Tompkins Square Park basketball courts in Manhattan’s East Village. The boys hosted the kick-off event on May 4, which featured plenty of trick shots that involved the local community.

This year’s mantra for Bounce TV: Disruption, opportunity and growth. Elverage Allen, Executive Vice President, Advertising Sales, in the midst of nearly 200 individual presentations with his sales team, explains.

The Pitch
It’s perhaps the understatement of the year to say that consumers are adopting new ways to consume video. But as the numbers of consumers embracing over-the-top expands, there is a symbiotic growth to the consumers complementing those services with over-the-air television. As the only free, over-the-air broadcast network with programming directed to African Americans, Bounce TV presents an attractive viewing preference for this under-served segment. 

This disruptive phase we are in leads to tremendous opportunity. Our distribution platform is akin to the early days of basic cable, in that it is new, sometimes misunderstood, but early adopters are being provided within credible growth opportunities.

Wow, you’re getting big!
Bounce TV’s expansion has been multi-pronged and at breakneck speed. Since launching in 2011, it’s grown to be available in more than 85 million homes across 90 markets, 90% of African American television homes – including all of the top AA television markets – and three quarters of the total television homes in the U.S. Our viewership has accelerated rapidly and our Nielsen ratings seem to set new records month after month. Bounce TV has become the fastest-growing African-American network on television and has become the #2 most-watched among all AA targeted networks.

The Programs
We’re the only emerging broadcast network producing original scripted series. Our most recent effort, Mann & Wife, is a big hit. It’s incredibly well-written with a terrific cast and has set records as our most watched original series to date. We’ve renewed it for a second season, along with our other hit sitcom Family Time and our popular stand-up comedy series Off The Chain. Plus, we’re now expanding into dramatic series and are very excited about our first-ever drama Saints & Sinners.

The Upfront Forecast
For Bounce TV, this upfront will definitely be stronger than last year, on top of a relatively robust scatter market. We attribute this to the fact that approximately 70% of our audience is broadcast-only, which makes our ever-growing delivery unduplicated within our competitive set.

The Agency Perspective
“Bounce TV is the only African-American television network that allows advertisers to reach everyone in the targeted audience  whether a cord-cutter or cable customer,” says Brian Elrod of Spark Communications.“Their programming is exceptional and the quality of their original content is unmatched.”

“Bounce TV is the only free, over-the-air broadcast television network serving African American adult viewers,” adds Allen. “Combined with our cable carriage, Bounce TV can reach far more African-American households than our competitive set.”

You and your wife/co-star, Tamela, have several million followers on social media. What’s your go-to platform?
I don’t have one go-to platform, but I do feel it is my duty to uplift and encourage our social-family.

Guilty pleasure TV show?
I would say they’re ESPN and CNN. If you ask my wife, I watch way too much sports and news!

Hidden talent?
I love to cook.

Job you’d love to have but know you never will?
I would love to be an attorney – but I think it’s a little too late!

“As we have matured and grown, we’ve realized that it isn’t just about selling spots and dots,” says Adam Lowy, Vice President of DISH Media Sales. “It’s really more about utilizing our data.” We’ll hear more on that from Adam tomorrow.

Plus, all about the Endemol Beyond whoop dee do at Chelsea Piers.

Cynopsis Ad Sales: Mike Farina | VP, Sales | 203-218-6480

Copyright Cynopsis 2015