Future of TV Briefing: The upfront is overtaking streaming's programmatic marketplace

"For Disney, 70 percent of advertiser demand for its biddable inventory comes from upfront advertisers, according to Disney svp of addressable sales Jamie Power. "The upfront shift into biddable, it started last year, and it's accelerating into this year," she said. Warner Bros. Discovery is also seeing that acceleration. Nearly half of the company's biddable demand comes from upfront advertisers, according to a company spokesperson. "It's been a dramatic last year. This past cycle was the most dramatic shift to that," said Jill Steinhauser, group svp of platform monetization and partnerships at WBD."

"The intersection of programmatic and the upfront didn't just happen last year, though. At least since the pandemic, major TV and streaming ad sellers have allowed advertisers' programmatic spending to count toward their upfront commitments. So what is driving this dramatic shift of the upfront becoming so central to companies' programmatic advertising businesses? Many things."

"For starters, there's the shift toward programmatic private marketplaces. As upfront ad sellers allowed programmatic spending to count toward upfront commitments, initially that money had been largely wrapped up in programmatic guaranteed deals, which are basically just an automation of traditional fixed transactions. More recently, though, there has been a shift toward PMPs, which allow advertisers to control spending by bidding on inventory."

"Biddable is "the fastest growing part of our programmatic business," said Disney's Power. "We are transacting millions of dollars a day biddably. In the first half [of the company'"

Major TV and streaming ad sellers are seeing upfront deals represent a larger share of their programmatic businesses. Disney reports that 70% of advertiser demand for its biddable inventory comes from upfront advertisers, with the shift toward biddable accelerating. Warner Bros. Discovery reports nearly half of its biddable demand comes from upfront advertisers, describing a dramatic change in the most recent cycle. The upfront and programmatic marketplaces have been intertwined since the pandemic, when programmatic spending began counting toward upfront commitments. The shift is also driven by programmatic private marketplaces, where advertisers control spending by bidding on inventory rather than relying mainly on programmatic guaranteed deals.

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