8 streaming and CTV predictions for the TV upfronts

The TV ad market continues to find itself in a tug-of-war between digital and legacy media practices, with streaming caught in the middle. While consumers have been quick to adopt streaming—its share of viewership is nearly equal to cable and broadcast combined, per Nielsen’s most recent Gauge report—the TV ad market is still in the process of transitioning. See also: 2025 NewFronts and Upfronts calendar In advance of the TV upfronts, Ad Age surveyed top media buyers and sellers to ask what the top trends in streaming would be and what advertisers need most to scale investment in streamers. While some see this as the year streaming and linear reach parity in ad investment, others noted specific trends in streaming sports investment, interactive ad formats and AI implementations to improve consumer experiences. Key takeaways As capabilities in streaming mature, many identified transparency and true cross-platform measurement as the most critical need for streaming advertising. Responses have been edited for length and clarity. Robert Allaire, senior VP, group director, strategic investment, IPG Mediabrands Top trend: The power of sports is undeniable. It continues to dominate streaming, standing out as one of the few content types that consistently delivers scale and engagement in real time. Throughout 2025-2026, we’re seeing platforms double down on appointment viewing—streaming investment is clearly shifting toward premium, real-time content that delivers scale. Top need: Flexibility remains the greatest need for advertisers. While streaming offers more agility, parts of the digital ecosystem still require firm commitments or fixed timelines, limiting dynamic decision-making. Especially in this current economic climate, the ability to pivot and remain open is imperative for advertisers looking to scale their investments. More predictions: 7 live sports predictions for the TV upfront Ryan Gould, president, U.S. ad sales go-to-market and Bobby Voltaggio, president, U.S. ad sales, platform monetization, Warner Bros. Discovery Top trend: There will be a shift from selling streaming content direct in favor of more advanced audience and data-centric programmatic placements that offer more real-time optimization and agility for in-flight campaigns. The shift will place further emphasis on targeting specific viewer demographics and behaviors in real time. Top need: The real lever to drive meaningful investment is exclusive access. In a cluttered landscape, what brands want most is the ability to stand out. And that comes from access to cultural moments, not commoditized impressions. Kim Kelleher, chief commercial officer, AMC Networks Top trend: We’ll start to see marketers take advantage of the digital platform environments that streaming services represent in earnest. We’ll move beyond spots and pre-roll to advertisers embedding their synergistic and additive brand messaging into sponsorships and engagement products like watch groups, chats, show ratings/reviews and more. Top need: Effectively scaling a campaign today requires identifying your premium shows, both new and old, and accepting that “appointment TV” is completely up to the viewer. “Mad Men” ended 10 years ago and is still a top-five show on AMC+, with new, highly engaged and valuable viewers coming to the series every hour of every day. Karen Kovacs, president, advertising and partnerships, NBCUniversal Top trend: The future of streaming includes an interactive viewing experience, from shopification to gamification to personalization. Whether commerce opportunities, mobile games that allow fans to participate in the content they’re watching or technology to further personalize the overall journey, there is so much potential for audiences to experience the content on a meaningful level. Top need: Streaming should be as seamless as linear television, but as interactive and personalized as a viewer’s social media feed. Viewers will be disappointed with a buffering signal as they watch a close game and heavy ad loads that feature the same and, perhaps irrelevant, ad. Alan Moss, VP, global advertising sales, Amazon Ads Top Trend: Buyers are seeking the integration of AI technology across campaign planning, execution and measurement for both managed and self-service deals. The availability of these AI-powered tools has allowed businesses of all sizes to benefit from programmatic buying and voice-to-execution capabilities, something that was not previously possible in a democratized way. Additionally, the introduction of generative AI video tools is lowering creative barriers for advertisers, making high-quality video and display advertising accessible to a broader range of clients through intuitive, self-service options. It’s a trend that benefits the viewers’ experience as well, providing them with hyper-relevant, interactive ad experiences within premium content. To Watch: Interoperability. As brands continue to scale their streaming investments, they are seeking seamless interoperability across what is currently a fragmented marketplace. As sellers, we need to unify the buying experience by providing a single access point to vast and diverse audiences, allowing advertisers to activate full-funnel campaigns across content categories. Advertisers should no longer need to choose between scale or precision, creativity or performance. Samantha Rose, executive VP, strategic investment lead, Horizon Media Top trend: While streaming supply continues to grow overall, there will be more of a distinction between SVOD and AVOD/FAST services. We will see some publishers focus more on the nature of their premium content as their chief value proposition, while others will emphasize personalization, targeting/data and performance metrics. As some sports rights shift over to streaming distributors, it will be interesting to see how the marketplace develops and how inventory that was formerly sold as commercial linear becomes more DAI-enabled (dynamic ad insertion). Top need: Transparency and measurement will be critical here. The promise of streaming is that it fulfills the scale and reach of TV with the targetability and measurement of digital environments. For that to be true, and for streaming to reach its full potential, we need to have all the same benefits of each of those areas. We need to understand when and where ads run, optimal frequency and how effective they are. Hugh Scallon, senior VP, head of video activation, VaynerMedia Top trend: We will see the industry get closer to 50/50 ad spend parity between TV and CTV in 2025 and 2026, sooner than industry estimates of two to three years out. Why? Because of both relentless cord-cutting and the excess supply of streaming ad impressions, which is continuing to depress CTV CPMs. Top need: The lack of a comprehensive and reliable cross-screen measurement solution is the most significant hurdle preventing further scaling of advertising investment in streaming. Developing a “decoder ring” that provides deduplicated reach, cross-platform frequency management, unified metrics and cross-screen attribution will empower advertisers with the confidence and insights needed to fully embrace the potential of CTV within their total video strategies. Jessie Schwartzfarb, executive VP, head of video investment, Dentsu Top trend: As with the last several years, we will continue to see more streaming dollars come into the marketplace as streaming budgets continue to grow; hence, streaming investments will continue to be leveraged as part of overall upfront investments. However, the nuance of how that money will be pledged in the marketplace will continue to evolve. As more money moves from direct IO [insertion order] to programmatic, budgets will shift from defined and definite upfront investments into more endeavor-like agreements in order for clients to be able to fully optimize streaming budgets in real time. Top need: Amongst several evolutions that need to continue to transpire as streaming continues to scale is that advertisers really need sound cross-platform and cross-partner measurement offerings. From a cross-platform standpoint, advertisers need to understand the interplay between different channels to be able to optimize spends. In addition, they also need to understand cross-platform performance inclusive of things like unique reach and frequency so that they can truly optimize investments holistically, in a non-siloed, non-walled garden environment. Data-driven Marketing Playbook: Join industry leaders on May 22 to explore how data can drive marketing strategies, optimize media buying and improve customer engagement. Learn more here.

8 streaming and CTV predictions for the TV upfronts

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