Should Data Be a Piece of the Upfront Equation?
With the latest Nielsen data confirming average time spent by consumers on streaming is almost level with that of linear TV, it’s no surprise streaming will be front and center for most of the networks and platforms holding upfronts in the coming weeks. In fact, streaming has become so important that platforms like Netflix, once previously confined to the awkwardly titled Newfronts, are now power brokers at upfront time.
Upfronts offer a forum for the sell side to showcase content, and the buy side to begin their pre-planning for advertising commitment. Now that we’re entering the streaming-first upfront era, the ad industry has yet to elevate the importance of data into the upfronts. If meaningful advertising outcomes is the goal, data should have a place on the stage, as a critical piece of the equation.
Adjusting the Equation
Networks garner all the upfront buzz, mostly because they spend big on flashy venues, parading their stars on stage to talk about exciting new programs. Technology has slowly made its way onto the main stage over the past several years, but for the most part it's an afterthought as advertisers and their agencies look to be wowed.
The less glamorous side of the upfront is the negotiation and ad buying, which happens behind closed doors after all the glitz and glamor. These conversations between agency, brand, and publisher (the networks and platforms) hammer out commitments for the next year. This is where deals are made for the ads that will blanket the World Cup and Winter Olympics in 2026. As more viewers shift from linear to streaming, the technologies available to publishers to create and define audiences within their ecosystems presents a new path of differentiation.
Data has yet to play a major part in the upfront conversation. When it is, it is brought in by the buyer and generally a background player in negotiations. This buying behavior more closely resembles contextual strategies, where advertisers are buying based off the content users are watching. The other popular way to transact in advertising is, of course, audience-based. Networks and programmers already have a bevy of insights on their user base to add a level of first party intelligence. Third party data can help complete the picture of off-network behavior and expand the ultimate pool for the budget.
Upfronts will likely evolve to a place where networks are not only pitching their new content to advertisers, but packaging it creatively with their data and tech advantages by marketing the specific audiences they can target and measure against.
Mapping the Future
The next stage of the upfronts goes well beyond buyers blindly picking a data provider of choice. It’s about broadcasters using a wealth of third-party data providers to supplement their existing content offering in a way that helps their advertisers perform.
This opens the door to networks selling their audiences as holistic packages. Instead of NBC standing on stage pushing its prestige network brand, it can say to a buyer “you should buy our inventory because viewers will be tuning into Martha Stewart and José Andrés’s new cooking competition show ‘Yes, Chef!’” and “we know which sets have the strongest buying propensity for brands like Williams Sonoma and HelloFresh, or audiences of true foodies”. It’s this next level offering of content bundled with tech and data that will appeal to advertisers craving this level of targeting granularity.
Nowadays, a brand doesn’t have to guess where its customers are. Competitors know where they need to spend in order to conquest prospects. Publishers can use audiences to upsell brands and agencies, while those same brands and agencies can use their own data sources to negotiate.
The use of data represents a competitive advantage for everyone at the table. And not against the party they are negotiating with – but the other brands and agencies competing for this same inventory, and the networks competing for these brand dollars.
The more viewers and advertisers lean into the full data driven potential of streaming, the richer and more integral these data resources become. Data will serve as a key facilitator, connecting the sell side to the buy side and driving adoption and performance of streaming TV. It may take some time for entrenched practices to change, but rest assured, the data forward upfront is coming fast.
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