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Amazon Upfronts
Aside from Diplo headlining at the event and their yummy snacks they give out every year. I met with the Amazon ads team last week and a lot of what they said was pretty consistent with the past year with the exception of a few things that are new:
Twitch Push: Was surprised that this wasn’t talked about as much but given this is an event to highlight professionally developed TV shows, movies and live events it likely shouldn’t have been. However a lot of advertisers are concerned about how to leverage Twitch without the proper guardrails on content safety (i.e. your ad showing up on a streamer that is cursing and NSFW). But due to the platform reach of Gen Z this could be another huge win for the Amazon DSP’s continued growth.
FULL FUNNEL: Signal data is key now for tracing ROI and reporting media performance outside of just ROAS Impressions and CTR’s. Amazon highlighted its ability to reach 300M+ ad-supported U.S. consumers across Prime Video, sports, Twitch, audio, and commerce touchpoint.
Amazon introduced Dynamic TV Creative, which automatically personalizes video ads based on shopping behavior and purchase journey stage. T
Shoppable ads: Advertisers are under immense pressure internally to show direct attribution to revenue period. The answer Amazon has is a simple click to cart or “Alexa add this to my cart” feature on OTT ads which does just that.
Prime Thursday Night Football Has On Average 15.3 million viewers per game,
Warner Bros Discovery Upfronts
PERFORMANCE!! Despite the M&A headlines Warner Bros, Netflix, and Paramount had over the last quarter the upfronts event prioritized performance like every network saying they’re no longer just delivering impressions but performance.
Hot Purple Mugatu From Zoolander Themed Upfront
WBD made it clear that outcomes (sales, site visits, brand lift) are now the priority vs. traditional reach-based TV buying.
Real-time measurement and optimization are becoming table stakes in an effort to compete with The Trade Desk CTV and Amazon DSP real time insights this will help build the use case for better attribution and therefore value.
Cross-platform attribution is key across linear, streaming, and digital: Linear TV is still a LARGE part of the WB value prop combined with Discovery (Shark Week!). Advertisers can tie campaigns directly to full-funnel outcomes across all screens.
WBD is joining an OpenAP initiative to create standardized ways (via CAPI) to connect advertiser first-party data with TV campaign performance.
Netflix Upfronts
Netflix is a giant. They introduced ad-tiered level memberships and have since grown their content library and entering into live sports like holiday NBA and NFL games exclusive streaming rights. T
Grown ups 3 and much more content coming to Netflix in 2026
Netflix’s ad-tier now reaches 250M+ monthly viewers globally, more than doubling again year-over-year. Netflix is no longer experimental in ads—it’s now a scaled, must-buy platform comparable to major TV networks.
Netflix is rapidly expanding ad inventory across new formats: Advertisers must plan for multi-format campaigns, not just TV-style spots—Netflix is becoming a broader media platform.
Personalization and AI-driven advertising are core to the strategy: Netflix is introducing personalized ads based on viewing behavior and leveraging AI for targeting, creative adaptation, and campaign optimization.
Global ad expansion will unlock significant new reach: Netflix plans to expand its ad-supported tier into 15 additional countries starting in 2027. Brands can increasingly use Netflix for global campaigns at scale, not just U.S.-centric buys.
YouTube Upfronts (Brandcast)
Creators love YouTube because its the only social platform that actually pays them something decent for views. Meta is garbage for that and TikTok is better but more unknown given its relationship with the US Government. YouTube leaned into new creator shows and how YouTube shorts is a viable option for broadening social impact outside the castle that is Meta.
Brandcast
YouTube positions itself as a cross-screen “TV + digital” platform YouTube emphasized helping brands reach audiences across every screen (mobile, desktop, and connected TV)
Creator partnerships are central to performance and brand impact: YouTube highlighted the power of creators to drive outcomes: viewers are 13x more likely to search and 5x more likely to purchase when creators promote products.
AI is powering both creative production and ad experiences: YouTube introduced AI-driven tools (e.g., Gemini, Veo) that help move from creative concept to production quickly.
Commerce is becoming tightly integrated with video and ads: New features like “Buy with Google Pay” allow viewers to purchase directly from ads on connected TVs. Copying Amazon here but it’s the smart move to gain share of the ad dollars that need to tie back to revenue and direct purchases.
Disney Upfronts
The momentum in OTT continues with Hulu and while their content (Some recent movie flops) have occurred Disney is still Disney.
Disney Production Budget For Upfronts Had To Be $5M
Disney’s biggest advantage is its unified “One Disney” ecosystem: Disney emphasized a fully connected platform that brings together streaming, TV, sports, film, and data/tech into one offering
Live sports and tentpole cultural moments are central to scale Disney highlighted major upcoming events like the Super Bowl, Oscars, Grammys, and College Football Playoff all within 2027.
Streaming scale + cross-platform distribution continue to grow Disney reaches 200M+ ad-supported viewers across its ecosystem and continues expanding streaming inventory.
Fandom and premium IP are core to brand engagement: Disney leaned heavily into its iconic franchises (Marvel, Star Wars, Avatar) and deep content library to drive audience connection.
Fox Upfronts
The FIFA World Cup tickets are so expensive lol (It’s around $10k to get into the arena for the final) but people without a corporate ticket hookup will be watching the event on Fox. They’ve anchored around live sports and the NFL but what’s overlooked is Tubi entertains over 100 million monthly active users globally which is INSANE. With cost cutting and a price strapped consumer the free streaming platform might garner more share of high-value consumers for advertisers.
Live sports (especially FIFA World Cup 2026) is FOX’s biggest draw. FOX is a must-buy for tentpole live events, offering advertisers scale and attention that is increasingly rare in fragmented media.
Cross-portfolio reach spans sports, news, entertainment, and streaming. FOX positions itself as a portfolio play across FOX Sports, FOX News, FOX Entertainment, and Tubi.
Tubi is a key growth engine for streaming and ad innovation. FOX spotlighted Tubi (its free streaming platform) as a major part of its ad offering, including audience insights, partnerships, and ad-tech innovation.
Consistency and broad-audience programming remain core strategy. Returning hit shows, unscripted content, and animation staples to deliver stable, broad audience
Did You Know? Before the fall TV season even begins, networks sell up to 80% of their ad inventory during the May 'upfront' week, making it the high-stakes 'harvest season' for broadcast TV
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