Join us Dec. 1-3 in New Orleans for the Digiday Programmatic Marketing Summit
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.
More in Future of TV
Future of TV Briefing: Streaming subscribers save $16 through bundles
This week’s Future of TV Briefing looks at how much money people are actually signing through streaming subscription bundles and which streamers they plan to subscribe to in perpetuity.
Future of TV Briefing: Streaming advertising’s supply-demand imbalance
This week’s Future of TV Briefing looks at a spate of recent studies that illustrate the out-of-whack supply-demand dynamics in the streaming ad market.
Future of TV Briefing: YouTube’s dynamic brand insertions could unlock the upfront market for creators
This week’s Future of TV Briefing looks at how YouTube’s plan to enable creators to swap out sponsored segments normally baked into their videos may be the most disruptive development in the creator economy in 2026.