2025 upfront deals reveal just how powerful streaming has become

With most major media companies having wrapped up TV upfront talks, the obvious winners seem to be sports and streaming. But what’s less obvious is how that signals a sea change for the TV landscape.

Heading into the season, insiders anticipated the one-two punch of live sports and streaming to dominate negotiations as economic uncertainty around President Donald Trump’s global tariffs swirled, making shorter commitments more appealing. And indeed, streaming is expected to account for half of all upfront spend, according to Digiday.

But these upfronts put an exclamation point on the fact that advertisers are leaning into streaming more than ever before, and resetting expectations for what they get with their bucks. Bottom line: economic uncertainty isn’t the only thing swaying advertisers toward streaming; it’s also the desire for more flexibility and data.

“The industry is moving away from just trying to hit everyone with a wide net, and instead, it’s getting much smarter — focusing on using data and actually showing what kind of results ads are getting,” says Margaret Firalio, SVP and director of media at Eicoff.

Premium beyond linear

Let’s look at the actual numbers: Netflix said it more than doubled upfront commitments. Fox saw double-digit sports growth, and its free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) platform, Tubi, grew commitments by 35% year over year.

Similarly, sports volume for NBCU grew 45%, with its Peacock steamer accounting for a third of total sales and helping to propel the company to its biggest digital upfront ever. Disney also saw a surge in sports commitments, with streaming accounting for 40% of the company’s total.

But while Disney’s sports volume increased, overall commitments were flat compared to last year. Experts say this is part of the larger shift of advertisers favoring flexibility and measurable outcomes.

“Sports and tentpole events held strong, but general entertainment and scripted formats saw softer demand,” Mediaplus North America CEO Tamara Alesi says. “Many brands are holding back, reallocating budgets toward performance-driven channels or keeping powder dry for scatter.”

Notably, this is the last upfront season where many of NBCU’s cable networks — such as USA Network, CNBC and Syfy — will still be part of the company. By the end of the year, they will be spun out into their own entity called Versant.

While NBCU will still handle upfront negotiations for Versant over the next two years, the move reflects how traditional media companies are prioritizing growing their streaming businesses as linear TV faces headwinds — and advertisers are following suit.

“We’re seeing a meaningful shift in how advertisers are reallocating budgets — more programmatic, more data-driven and, increasingly, more into ad-supported streaming,” says Vikrant Mathur, co-founder of Future Today. “We’re seeing brands prioritize premium inventory that offers reach beyond linear, but with the guardrails of brand safety.”

Substance over spectacle

Of course, linear still plays a large role in upfront talks. But Firalio says that the biggest winners were the companies that balanced both while positioning themselves for the future.

“They’re trying to simplify the buying process for advertisers while also ensuring they capture as much of the shifting ad spend as possible by offering a unified, cross-platform solution,” she says. “It’s a strategic move to adapt to the future of TV advertising — leveraging their traditional strengths, especially sports, while aggressively pushing their streaming capabilities and data solutions.”

These changes didn’t come out of nowhere. The presence of companies like Netflix and Amazon during recent upfront seasons has put pressure on legacy companies to compete for ad dollars by playing at the speed of streaming.

While upfront presentations in the spring are still celebrity-heavy, they’ve also given way to “more strategic conversations about business impact and accountability,” Alesi says. In other words, it’s not just about spectacle anymore, but substance.

“The entire upfront marketplace is recalibrating around performance, adaptability and audience engagement,” Alesi says.