In a tipping point for TV advertising, a gaggle of YouTube stars have broken ranks by launching their very own alternative to the Upfronts—stripping traditional TV bare of its few remaining threads of dignity, and dollars. The Upfronts in the advertising realm are events (usually annual) where TV networks and (increasingly) streaming services serve up a slate of forthcoming content programming to advertisers, along with the latest developments in audience targeting, data harvesting, and ad format innovation. This provides advertisers with an opportunity to bulk-buy advertising, although in recent years the tides have been changing, with advertisers acknowledging that paying out for a year’s worth of premium TV inventory at the Upfronts no longer makes sense in a market where…