Upfronts 2026: Agentic, outcomes and fandom are this year's buzzwords
The TV upfronts, where networks and media companies make their annual pitches to advertisers in star-studded presentations, usually have no shortage of shared jargon and trends. This year was no different, but at least some of the buzzwords were fresh compared to years past.
Of course, they’ll be familiar to the broader advertising sector. Terms like “outcomes” and “agentic” have caught on across the space and found their way to upfront stages this week.
But tried-and-true themes also returned, like “fandom” and “live sports.” As always, every company claimed to have the most engaged fan base and the strongest live programming on offer.
The tension between old and new defined this year’s upfront season. Emerging tech like AI is driving the outcomes and performance era of TV, as live events still secure ad dollars across both streaming and traditional, linear TV. Ultimately, some content may still be king, but brands are increasingly seeking proof that their investments are paying off.
The tagline of Fox’s upfront captured this convergence the best: “Turn Passion Into Performance.” In other words, using AI and other tech to fuel fandom and drive results. They even found a way to build a product out of that idea — the Fox Fan OS, an “agentic AI native” operating system built on fan insights and ad tools.
“Engaged fans are your best customers,” Jeff Collins, Fox’s president of advertising sales, said onstage on Monday.
“Today, fandom lives far beyond the screen,” said Rita Ferro, president of global advertising at Disney, said during its presentation on Tuesday. “That means reach and relevance that drives your business outcomes.”
Sports fans are the gold mine
When upfront presentations hype up fandom, sports fans are likely top of mind. And each company this week was boisterous in their sports offerings.
Fox is expecting over 15 million viewers across each U.S. match for the World Cup beginning next month, and a combined 150 million viewers across the entire tournament. Disney expects to deliver the most-watched Super Bowl ever in 2027 — which falls on the three-day Presidents Day weekend — across ESPN, ABC and its streaming products. NBCUniversal, fresh off the Super Bowl and the Winter Olympics this year, is owning Sunday nights with NFL, NBA and MLB games.
“Live continues to be one of the few truly scarce media environments that captures attention at scale and fuels culture in the moment,” John Campbell, senior vice president of entertainment brand solutions and client partnerships at Disney Advertising, told The Current.
“These are the moments audiences experience together, in real time, which makes them uniquely powerful for brands seeking more than impressions — they want relevance, participation and a meaningful role in the cultural conversation.”
Still, that’s a lot of sports across a lot of different companies, not to mention streaming-first platforms like Netflix, Prime Video and YouTube, which are increasingly competing for sports rights — and ad dollars.
“Sports have already proven they’re the backbone of premium video. The issue now is how difficult that inventory can be to buy across so many fragmented streaming platforms,” Cast Iron Media CEO Dave Clark told The Current.
“As the industry grows, trust and execution will be more critical than ever. … The next wave of growth here will come from making premium live sports inventory easier to access and creating a more accountable buying experience that opens the door for more local advertisers.”
AI takes the stage
The companies also talked up the tools they’re offering advertisers to better reach those fans and measure the results, namely in the form of AI-powered tech.
Companies touted AI personalization, such as Fox One’s multiview experience for the World Cup and the mobile app’s Shorts offering, with scrollable clips, joining the vertical video crowd alongside Netflix and Disney+.
Disney was heavier on content than tech at its upfront, but Ferro championed aligning the company’s content, data and tech, which corresponds with new CEO Josh D’Amaro’s goal of creating a “single, cohesive and digitally integrated ecosystem.”
NBCU outlined an agentic AI strategy; as The Current reported, that includes AI agents that could automate transactions, optimize placements and surface performance intelligence.
Mark Marshall, chairman of global advertising and partnerships at NBCU, framed it as allowing brands “to align their creative message with live content and capture the impact and engagement of these moments in real time with precision, relevancy and speed.”
Warner Bros. Discovery also touted agentic products, saying on Wednesday that it plans to let brands use agents to create real-time messaging based on what audiences are watching.
But some experts caution advertisers not to jump too quickly into the agentic arena.
“Before marketers rush to adopt agentic AI, it’s critical to ask: What problems are we solving,” said Budi Tanzi, senior vice president of product at Experian, “and how might we ensure these systems improve decision-making rather than cementing expensive complexity where none may be required?”