Upfronts Shift Emphasis From TV Shows to New Advertising Technologies
· 2d ago · Originally reported by IMDb
This year's upfront presentations are placing less emphasis on traditional TV show lineups and more on the latest advertising technologies. Networks and platforms are highlighting innovations in ad delivery and targeting to attract advertisers.
Why it matters
The shift shows how the industry is prioritizing advanced ad tech over content alone, reflecting changing advertiser demands and the growing importance of data-driven advertising.
Explain it like I’m new here
Instead of just showing off new TV shows, networks are now showing off cool new ways to show ads to the right people.
Terms in this story
Upfronts
Upfronts are annual events and negotiations, mainly in the US, where TV networks and streaming services present upcoming programming and advertisers commit budgets in advance for the coming season.
Ad tech
Ad tech is the software and infrastructure that decides which ad appears where, buys and sells that ad space, delivers the ad, and measures what happened afterwards.
Linear TV
Linear TV is traditional scheduled television, broadcast, cable or satellite, where viewers watch programmes at the time the channel airs them, with ad breaks sold to all viewers of that channel.
Targeting
Targeting is choosing which people, contexts, places, devices or times should see an ad, so that the budget is spent on the audiences most likely to respond.
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