How U.S. upfront trends look different in the U.K.
Illustration by Nick DeSantis / Getty / Shutterstock / The Current
At this year’s U.S. upfronts, streamers leaned hard on live sports — but that play doesn’t work everywhere.
NBCUniversal may have locked in U.S. rights to the Super Bowl, Winter Olympics and FIFA World Cup, but in Britain, major sports rights are already tied up by local broadcasters.
That leaves global platforms like Netflix, Disney+ and Warner Bros. Discovery with a different challenge: to win over advertisers through standout content, smarter ad tech and stronger measurement.
That’s the takeaway for British marketers watching from across the pond. While live sports dominated the conversation in the U.S., the real battleground in the U.K. will be premium storytelling and the tech that proves its worth.
Top-tier TV and films
Big streamers are greenlighting new seasons and adaptations of their best TV shows and films, and they’re betting that in some cases, they can do British TV better than the British.
Netflix announced new seasons of hit series including Bridgerton, Emily in Paris, Love Is Blind, One Piece, Squid Game and Stranger Things, which will land on screens this year. Its ad tier now counts 94 million users globally.
The deluge of fan favorites will increase competition for ad budgets against local players like ITVX and NOW.
“Netflix is now competing on multiple fronts with local broadcasters … and it has to have a broad range of content to appeal to different audience segments,” says Tim Westcott, practice lead, digital content and channels at Omdia.
One new Netflix title caught the attention of British media buyers this year: Adolescence, a homegrown drama rooted in regional storytelling and tone.
“The British companies, the ITVs and Channel 4s, we know what they offer. They do British drama quite well,” says Kieren Mills, head of broadcast at Total Media. “To see Netflix come in and do something that they do really well and get fantastic results, it’s like, can you do it again? Can you do Britain as well as the British?”
Other streamers took a more selective approach: Disney announced a new Marvel TV series and the fourth season of The Bear. The company is also aiming to increase production of shows outside of the U.S., albeit in “very targeted” markets, CEO Bob Iger said.
Warner Bros. Discovery didn’t roll out a massive slate, though it did rebrand Max back to HBO Max, tapping into the prestige TV reputation it’s established. That news already broke the internet.
Alternative live sports
Streamers haven’t abandoned sports in the U.K. market. They’re just taking a different approach.
As upfronts wrapped, the Financial Times reported that WBD could soon acquire the remaining 50% stake in TNT Sports from BT. That would clear the way for Premier League matches on HBO Max when it launches in the U.K. next year.
Still, the marquee events are already spoken for by British broadcasters. The BBC and ITV will show next year’s FIFA World Cup, while Sky carries most of the games from the Premier League, with the rest shown by TNT Sports. TNT Sports will also show the Winter Olympics next year.
SVOD platforms hold just 7% of U.K. sports rights, says Rory Gooderick, senior analyst at Ampere Analysis. “The advertising opportunity will be limited by the small sports rights available on streaming in the U.K.,” he adds.
“However, there is the opportunity to engage sports fans in other ways, notably through ancillary content, whether that’s Drive to Survive on Netflix, or Welcome to Wrexham on Disney+,” Gooderick says.
Netflix’s commitment to show more WWE programming outside of the U.S. throughout the year could also draw local advertisers.
“WWE and UFC are not minority sports, but they’re not the crown jewels probably in any country. But what they can do is give [streamers] a solid audience across the world consistently, and that really helps them with churn,” Mills says.
Ad tech one-upmanship
With content getting crowded, ad tech is where streamers can stand out.
Netflix announced its in-house ad tech suite would go live in EMEA this week. This will add to the one-upmanship in targeting capabilities, ad formats and measurement solutions among connected TV (CTV) players in the U.K.
“The ad tech plays are fantastic for brands,” Mills says. “Every CMO, every marketing team, has got pressure to deliver sales now. The more data solutions I can add on and talk to people in market, the more [ad tech] becomes more important.”
Netflix also rolled out its first-party measurement tools, starting with a brand lift study, and previewed more programmatic buying options and deal types.
WBD announced NEO, a platform that provides direct access to WBD’s premium inventory and gives marketers show-level performance insights. FAST upstart Tubi introduced video pause ads and AI-powered contextual ads.
“These platforms’ ad tech capabilities have come a long way, but the BVODs in the U.K. have been in this game a lot longer and hence have very sophisticated ad targeting capabilities that they can offer advertisers,” Gooderick says.
As marketers push for more transparency, platforms that can show the full impact of their media could have the edge.
“You want to give a client a complete picture, rather than going, Amazon did really well, but my sales were down 15%, so all I’ve done is shifted some sales to Amazon and lost out overall,” Mills says.