• Upfront watch
• Paramount’s backup plan, reality TV’s troubles, Disney vs. Comcast and more

Upfront watch

This year’s upfront cycle is likely to be lengthy. This not only gives TV and streaming ad buyers and sellers more time to firm up their annual commitments, but also for sorting out how this year’s deals could reflect changes in the broader marketplace.

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• The Q1 check-in
• TV networks’ new audience pitch, streaming movies’ diverse viewership and more

The Q1 check-in

As this year’s annual upfront advertising negotiations get underway, the traditional TV ad market is still in recovery mode, while the streaming ad market remains in growth mode but still has catching up to do, according to TV and streaming companies’ latest quarterly earnings reports for the first three months of 2024.

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• Advanced measurement
• Netflix’s Greg Peters era, NBCU vs. WBD for NBA rights, AI in Hollywood and more

Advanced measurement

There is — finally — some measurement currency activity worth monitoring in the annual upfront market.

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As the most-watched streaming service on TV screens for 15 months running, brands can hardly avoid advertising on the Google-owned platform. But between the breadth of YouTube’s programming — from NFL Sunday Ticket to not just cat videos but videos for cats — as well as the sheer amount of ad inventory it has available, the question facing YouTube heading into the upfront market, as ever, is whether advertisers feel not only the desire but also the need to commit to spending on YouTube in an upfront fashion.

“Because you’re not buying program-specific or even channel-specific, it’s not content that’s going to sell out. So the need to make that upfront commitment — there’s not really the scarcity element to it,” said an agency executive who had been briefed on YouTube’s latest upfront pitch.

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In this edition of the Digiday+ Research Briefing, we examine how advertisers are approaching spend in the upfront market, what metrics marketers use to gauge ad campaign success on streaming platforms, and how brands, retailers and agencies are investing in programmatic ads, as seen in recent data from Digiday+ Research.

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This week’s Future of TV Briefing looks at how ad buyers’ and sellers’ discussion around advanced audiences is different in this year’s upfront market.

• The advanced upfront
• Disney tops TV watch time
• Streamers’ talent payment terms, Netflix’s NFL talks and more

The advanced upfront

If you sat through any of this week’s upfront presentations, you’ve likely heard the words “advanced audiences” (or its synonyms “strategic audiences,” “data-driven audiences,” etc.). The buzzword isn’t new. TV and streaming ad sellers have been talking up their targeting capabilities since before the pandemic. But there is a new aspect to the pitch this time around.

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And this year’s cycle is likely to be a long one – and potentially a bit of an adjustment to how buyers and sellers do business in the upfront.

“In general, we are much more behind this year in terms of just client readiness to commit dollars pretty much across the board,” said an executive at a major agency holding company last week. “By this time in previous years, we’ve had a pretty clear sense of what approved budgets will be. We’re probably at like maybe 50% of our budgets are pretty visible and understood at this time.”

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It’s that time again: The yearly upfront event is taking place this week. As the TV and streaming landscapes continue a massive shift, it will be important to keep an eye on how marketers’ upfront spending shakes out.

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Impressions and engagement are standout metrics to gauge campaign success

Brands and agencies consider a range of metrics to measure the success of the campaigns they’re running on ad-supported streaming platforms — everything from engagement/watch time to impressions to click-through rates. 

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• The upfront outcome outlook
• Amazon Prime Video’s new ad formats, Publicis Groupe’s measurement currency stance, MrBeast’s management move and more

The upfront outcome outlook

What are TV and especially streaming ads actually worth?

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Advertisers lean on demographic and geographic first-party data for ad targeting

When advertising on ad-supported streaming platforms, marketers have to determine the types of audiences they want to reach and what types of audience data are most important to have to achieve their goals. 

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OK, that’s a bit strong. But non-traditional streaming ad formats, such as CTV platforms’ home screen placements, did sorta steal the spotlight during this year’s NewFronts. Roku, Samsung and Vizio each used their NewFront presentations to introduce new ad options that go beyond the standard 15- and 30-second interstitials. 

Roku and Vizio are adding video ads to their respective CTV platforms’ home screens. Samsung is rolling out an interactive ad format that will replace the traditional interstitial ad break. And of course, Roku has started testing a home-screen ad format that will test streaming audiences’ tolerance for ads in new places.

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Frequency capping matters most to advertisers

Chief among the options marketers weigh when deciding on which streaming services to place ads are the ad attributes themselves — factors such as ad break length, the number of ads in a pod and whether viewers are exposed to the same ad too often.

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In this edition of the Digiday+ Research Briefing, we examine the top ad attributes marketers want from ad-supported streaming platforms, how brands are increasing their marketing spend on YouTube, and how Walmart and Roblox are teaming up to make virtual e-commerce a reality, as seen in recent data from Digiday+ Research.

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• ‘The Future of TV’ recap
• Paramount’s CEO shakeup, Skydance’s latest offer, Spulu’s upfront debut and more

‘The Future of TV’ recap

The streaming advertising ecosystem is fairly fragmented was the overarching theme of this year’s “The Future of TV” video series. But it was far from the only takeaway.

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