Rita Ferro, Disney's president of global advertising, previews the company's approach to leveraging cross-platform scale for advertising at the upcoming Upfronts. The discussion focuses on Disney's strategy for its May 12 presentation.
Ad tech rebuilt itself around identity resolution and clean rooms once third-party cookies disappeared. Coverage here spans SSAI, programmatic CTV, ad-supported tier economics, frequency capping, and the measurement approaches replacing the old playbook.
Rita Ferro, Disney's president of global advertising, previews the company's approach to leveraging cross-platform scale for advertising at the upcoming Upfronts. The discussion focuses on Disney's strategy for its May 12 presentation.
Streaming platforms are absorbing an increasing share of television advertising expenditure, with advertiser spending on streaming projected to reach nearly $20 billion by 2029. This trend, driven by expanding streaming audiences and the popularity of ad-supported streaming models, is expected to be a major focus at upcoming upfront ad-selling events. Advertiser spending on streaming is nearing parity with traditional linear TV ad spending.
iHeartMedia is focusing on programmatic advertising as a core strategy to drive continued revenue growth, aiming for $200 million in programmatic revenue by 2026. The company is integrating its broadcast inventory into programmatic buying systems through partnerships with Amazon DSP, Yahoo DSP, and Google DV360. This move is intended to modernize ad sales for radio and unlock new growth by enabling advertisers to achieve reach through combined digital and broadcast campaigns.
PubMatic released new research, "How Co-Viewing Redefines Attention: Unlocking Shared Screens with Programmatic," highlighting that 78% of co-viewing in APAC occurs on CTV and 42% of consumers pay more attention to ads during shared viewing. The report, based on 3,500 respondents across seven APAC countries, positions programmatic CTV as a high-performing advertising environment due to increased ad attention, recall, and action rates during co-viewing moments.
The Trade Desk, a demand-side platform in programmatic advertising, is reportedly benefiting from growing digital ad spending within the US market. The article highlights its position as a key player in this sector.
Ad tech player GumGum, operating in 19 markets globally, is expanding its operations into France by opening a new office in Paris. The company will introduce its Mindset Graph™ technology to the French market.
Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) is incorporating programmatic ad buying into its upfront sales process for advertisers, allowing agencies to test ad-supported streaming content programmatically across its Max and Discovery+ platforms. This initiative for the 2024-2025 upfront season aims to provide greater flexibility and data-driven insights for advertisers.
Advertisers are encountering significant challenges in adopting AI for ad campaigns due to existing workflow issues. Despite the perceived benefits of generative and agentic AI in advertising, marketers are struggling with implementation roadblocks.
Rita Ferro, Disney's president of global advertising, is preparing for Disney's May 12 Upfronts presentation, where she will detail how the company leverages its cross-platform scale for advertising. The article highlights an upcoming preview of Disney's Upfronts strategy.
Ad Age provided a recap of the first day of the 2026 TV upfronts, highlighting presentations from NBCUniversal, Fox, and Amazon. The recap identifies key takeaways and initial reactions from media buyers regarding the advertising strategies and inventory offered by these major streaming and broadcast entities.
TikTok is launching an ad-free subscription option in the UK for £3.99 per month. This new tier will affect users, creators, and advertisers by altering their engagement with the platform and monetizing content.
Amazon has introduced "Dynamic TV Creative" for Prime Video ads, leveraging shopping data to tailor repeat advertisements programmatically. This feature aims to convert CTV ad reach into retail actions for advertisers.
Microsoft is reportedly planning to introduce an ad-supported tier for its Xbox Cloud Gaming service, expanding access beyond current Game Pass subscribers. This initiative would allow non-subscribers to play games on the cloud, leveraging advertising for monetization. The move signals a shift towards broadening the accessibility and revenue streams for Xbox Cloud Gaming.
This article details Day 2 of the Upfronts, highlighting content and advertising strategies from Amazon, Fox, TelevisaUnivision, and Telemundo. Amazon focused on premium content, live sports, and AI-powered ad tech for measurable outcomes. Fox emphasized live sports, news, and ad-supported streaming with Tubi, while TelevisaUnivision and Telemundo focused on Spanish-language sports content, novellas, and cultural programming, alongside new advertising solutions.
Irish national broadcaster RTE is offering ad packages costing up to €459,000 to be run during water breaks in its coverage of all 104 World Cup matches. This strategy aims to leverage specific scheduling moments within live sports broadcasts for ad placement.
Omdia forecasts that social media advertising will account for nearly half of global online ad revenue by 2030, reaching a market value of $640 billion. The research highlights video formats as a key driver for this growth within the social media advertising sector.
Santa Clara County is suing Meta, alleging the company knowingly facilitated and profited from scam advertisements on its Facebook and Instagram platforms. The lawsuit claims Meta made billions of dollars from these ads.
Nine and Magnite are collaborating to advance programmatic advertising through transparent supply path optimization and live sport scaling. The partnership leverages their respective technologies and market positions to enhance ad delivery and monetization.
Duluth, a brand, is using AI agents for automated ad bidding, but is retaining human oversight for brand storytelling. This strategy highlights a split in how brands are adopting AI, leveraging it for efficiency in ad operations while keeping creative control over brand messaging.
TikTok has launched an ad-free subscription tier in the UK for £4 per month, targeting users 18 and older, marking its first formal ad-free offering in an English-speaking market. This move positions TikTok alongside Meta, which previously introduced a similar ad-free option for Facebook and Instagram in the UK for £3 per month, indicating a broader industry shift towards paid social media models.
Sanrovax, a performance marketing agency, published a guide detailing how Indian businesses in 2026 can effectively run YouTube advertising campaigns, emphasizing YouTube's high ROI in the Indian market, specific ad formats, targeting capabilities, and best practices. The guide highlights YouTube's over 500 million active users in India and its projected 109% higher ROI than linear TV, along with AI dubbing for regional languages.
Shudder, owned by AMC Global Media, has introduced an ad-supported streaming tier priced at $7.99/month. Concurrently, the ad-free tier, now called 'Premium', has increased to $9.99/month or $99.99/year, with existing subscribers facing higher rates starting May 15, 2026.
TikTok has launched an ad-free subscription plan in the UK for £3.99 per month. This offering allows users aged 18 and over to browse the platform without advertisements or personalized ad tracking, and their personal data will not be used for advertising purposes. The initiative is viewed as a response to the UK's General Data Protection Regulation framework, with TikTok having tested ad-free models since 2023.
Nine AUNZ and Magnite discussed programmatic transparency and live streaming advertising. The conversation highlighted the importance of direct publisher partnerships in advancing programmatic capabilities.
Dollar General introduced a new retail media integration that unifies onsite and offsite ad inventory. This was achieved through a partnership with The Trade Desk.
TikTok has launched a new ad-free subscription option in the UK, priced at £3.99. This allows the platform to diversify its monetization strategies and enhance user experience for paying subscribers.
TikTok is introducing an ad-free subscription option for users aged 18 and over in the UK, priced at £3.99 per month. This new monetization model will be rolled out gradually to eligible accounts.
Google is reportedly exploring the integration of Google Tag Manager directly into the Google Ads interface, which would include a modernized user interface. This potential integration aims to streamline the process of managing Google's marketing tags within its advertising platform.
NBCUniversal's upfront presentation highlighted new advertising technology, content related to the Fast and Furious franchise, and Sunday night sports programming. The presentation indicates NBCU's focus on combining adtech, popular content, and live sports to engage advertisers.
This article from the Hollywood Reporter previews the 2026 Upfronts, indicating a shift away from traditional TV focus towards creators, football, and AI ad tech. The changing media landscape is specifically highlighted by discussions with CMOs, media buyers, and network ad sales chiefs.
David Porter, head of advertising research at Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), indicated that TV advertising is moving beyond traditional gross rating points (GRPs) to more advanced metrics. The shift signifies a change in how WBD measures campaigns and attributes value in advertising.
Truthset has integrated with Unified ID 2.0 (UID2), an open-source identifier designed by The Trade Desk. This collaboration aims to enhance audience targeting in advertising while upholding privacy standards, particularly within walled garden environments.
Amazon is reportedly addressing the issue of repeating commercials in streaming, aiming to improve the advertising experience on its platform. This initiative comes as Amazon expands its presence in the TV advertising market.
Santa Clara County has initiated a lawsuit against Meta, alleging that the company permitted fraudulent advertising on its platforms and deliberately limited anti-scam measures to safeguard revenue. The lawsuit focuses on the impact of these scam ads on users. This legal action highlights concerns regarding Meta's ad moderation practices and their potential financial motivations.
LinkedIn has integrated programmatic buying for Connected TV (CTV) ads through Amazon DSP, enabling B2B-focused streaming TV campaigns. This allows advertisers to leverage LinkedIn's professional data for targeted ad placements on various streaming platforms.
CTV ad fraud has increased by 140% due to the proliferation of AI schemes globally, with advertisers risking premium prices for bot traffic. The article indicates that both protected and direct-buy CTV campaigns are vulnerable to this rising fraud.
The article discusses how pharmaceutical advertisers are increasingly interested in connected television (CTV), but their adoption is hindered by the lack of robust measurement solutions for the platform.
The article's core headline focuses on converting cultural moments into measurable outcomes by leveraging premium content to create attention. It discusses advertising strategies during upfronts.
MarketCast's 'Total Effect' platform is designed to provide in-flight campaign optimization by diagnosing whether underperformance stems from creative or media placement. The company illustrates its capabilities with case studies demonstrating how retailers had similar improvement potential but required different optimization strategies based on specific diagnoses provided by the platform. This approach aims to move beyond post-campaign reporting to offer actionable insights during live campaigns.
DIRECTV Advertising has launched a new multi-channel out-of-home (OOH) and digital advertising campaign during Upfront Week. The campaign, developed with TBWA\Chiat\Day LA and Starcom US, positions the Upfronts as a metaphor for DIRECTV's converged TV platform, highlighting its capabilities in premium video, live sports, streaming, and OOH reach.
At the 2026 Upfronts, NBCUniversal announced new ad tech, including the full availability of its Performance Insights Hub for outcomes-based measurement in Q4 and expanded contextual advertising capabilities. Canela Media introduced Zully, a vertical micro-series app blending AI-powered and live-action content, and Canela Audience Solutions (CAS) for deterministic first-party data activation, alongside new research on U.S. Hispanic audiences.
PwC's Global Sport Survey predicts that media rights value will decline and cease to drive growth in the sports industry over the next three to five years, despite overall market growth. The report attributes this to pressure on media markets and shifting fan expectations, highlighting a generational divide in content consumption habits. Rights holders are advised to adopt multi-platform strategies to cater to differing audience segments.
HSBC has downgraded The Trade Desk's stock to 'Reduce' due to structural shifts in digital advertising and the emergence of retail media networks. These trends are reportedly exerting pressure on the independent demand-side platform.
TikTok is introducing an ad-free subscription tier in the UK, allowing users to pay to remove advertisements from their feeds. This move provides an alternative monetization model for the social video platform.
Telemundo reports "unprecedented advertiser demand" for its coverage of the FIFA World Cup 2026, with 30 days remaining until the event. The network is expanding its roster of expert commentators from various international football legends.
TikTok has launched an ad-free subscription plan in the UK, allowing users to avoid advertisements and prevent their data from being used for advertising purposes. This move introduces a new monetization model for the platform in the region.
DIRECTV Advertising has launched a new 'Metaphor' campaign to coincide with the Upfronts. The campaign utilizes various channels, including digital out-of-home placements, experiential activations, digital video, trade publication ads, and social media.
Meta announced AI-powered advertising updates for its Reels and Threads platforms at the Brand Building Summit. These updates are designed to enhance ad performance and targeting capabilities within these social media applications.
Initial discussions with CMOs, media buyers, and network ad sales executives indicate that the 2026 Upfronts will focus on creators, the NFL, and AI ad technology.
A JamLoop survey indicates that 73% of marketers plan to increase their spending in the upcoming 2026 Upfront season. This budget shift is directed toward premium live event CTV advertising.