TV’s Upfront Market Has Nearly Wrapped, Even if Big TV Won’t Say So (EXCLUSIVE)

TV’s annual “upfront” sales market has largely closed, but not with much of the fanfare that typically accompanies its end.

TV networks and big media agencies have wrapped the bulk of their discussions around the sale of advertising time ahead of the next cycle of programming from big U.S. media companies, according to two media buying executives familiar with the pace of negotiations. Are the results cause for celebration? Judging by the relative silence in the marketplace, perhaps not.

NBCUniversal, Disney, Paramount Skydance, Warner Bros. Discovery, Amazon and Netflix all declined to comment on the pace of their “upfront” negotiations (NBCU also handles sales for Versant Media). The bulk of the market typically concludes by July 4th.

So far, only Fox Corp. has offered an update on how these critical talks proceeded in 2026. During the “upfront,” U.S. media companies try to strike deals for as much 70% to 80% of their advertising inventory, a process that often nets them tens of millions of dollars in advance commitments. Fox indicated in June that it was able to boost ad commitments to the broader Fox portfolio the high-single-digit percentage range.

But Fox’s guidance may say more about the type of programming it’s trying to win support for, rather than the health of the market itself. Fox primarily sells ads tied to sports and news programming, at a time when Madison Avenue stalwarts know how much harder it is to find big pockets of viewership all watching at the same moment. Fox has less commercial time aligned with scripted dramas and comedies than many of its rivals, which has helped its standing. More viewers watch these programs via streaming video, at times of their own choosing, which makes them more difficult to monetize with ads.

During the 2026 market, media buyers put new pressure on streaming inventory, with one buying executive noting that “there’s so much capacity” in streaming, and “there’s no scarcity. Clients are saying, ‘Why do I need to make an upfront commitment” in digital when they want the flexibility to make advertising decisions throughout the year.

Ad buyers again pressed for significant “rollbacks” on rates, particularly for streaming inventory that is supposed to represent the future of the medium. The supply of streaming ad time is huge, particularly with Amazon and Netflix in the market, and much of it is not seen as high value to advertisers because consumers watch movies and shows on demand whenever they wish. That means the audiences at any given time are usually quite diffuse.

There has also been pressure for rollbacks on cable inventory, because more consumers are abandoning their cable subscriptions in favor of streaming services. Many media companies have resisted, and that created a standoff in some upfront discussions, according to five executives familiar with current negotiations.

Advertisers were eager to spend on sports, tentpole events on broadcast TV, and, in a counteractive maneuver, NBCUniversal’s Bravo. Key to the network’s success in keeping hold of advertising is a willingness to weave advertisers into programming. Many of its best-known properties embed sponsors’ products and messages into the story at hand.

If the current “upfront” market follows recent trajectories, ad dollars would likely flow away from traditional TV and move over to streaming and digital.  Money earmarked for traditional TV has declined for the past three upfront sessions. Ad commitments tied to broadcast primetime fell 2.5% to about $9.1 billion in 2025, according to Media Dynamics, compared with $9.34 billion in the year-earlier period. Dollars committed to cable fell 4.3% to nearly $8.68 billion, compared with nearly $9.1 billion in 2024. Meanwhile, dollars earmarked for streaming rose 17.9%, per Media Dynamics, to $13.2 billion, compared with $11.2 billion in the 2024 upfront.

Will the big media companies tell their own “upfront” stories? Perhaps. Some details of how they fared are likely to bubble up during discussions with analysts and investors after second-quarter earnings announcements in days to come. Netflix is expected to reveal its earnings on July 16, while Comcast, parent of NBCU until plans to spin it off come to fruition, is slated to deliver an earnings report on July 23.