Why TV advertising’s upfront model won’t fade away

TV advertising’s 60-year-old upfront model may be all but inextinguishable. It’s in the midst of an overhaul but is unlikely to be abolished.

For years — and especially over the past three years — the end of the upfront, as TV ad industry observers’ favored forecast, has been rivaled only by the divining of Netflix’s entry into advertising. Well, now that the latter has happened, surely the former isn’t far off. Erm, probably not.

Despite the financial confines of the upfront’s year-long commitments, TV ad buyers and sellers continue to seek economic comfort in the upfront model’s revenue guarantees and pricing assurance, as broken down in the video below.

https://digiday.com/?p=483351

More in Future of TV

TV with dollar sign representing balancing multichannel tv advertising to create revenue.

Future of TV Briefing: Trump’s tariffs are making flexibility an upfront focal point yet again

This week’s Future of TV Briefing looks at how the mounting economic uncertainty has started to color considerations heading into this year’s TV and streaming upfront negotiations.

TV with dollar sign representing balancing multichannel tv advertising to create revenue.

Future of TV Briefing: The programmatic state of play for this year’s TV and streaming upfront market

This week’s Future of TV Briefing looks at how the programmatic guaranteed versus private marketplace debate is shaping up as programmatic becomes an upfront fixture.

Future of TV Briefing: How sports will hog the ball in this year’s upfront

This week’s Future of TV Briefing looks at how live sports will likely be used by TV networks and streaming services in this year’s upfront to drive advertiser demand for non-sports programming.