Walt Disney Co. says notable surges in advertising dollars committed to sports and streaming helped it match what it secured in last year’s “upfront” volume — but weren’t enough to help it surpass that total.
The parent of ABC, Disney+ and Hulu said overall “upfront” volume was “consistent with last year,” suggesting that TV companies are continuing to struggle to win greater advertising support even as Madison Avenue gravitates to the types of sports programming that Disney supplies through ESPN and its various platforms.
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In 2024, Disney said it was able to win a 5% uptick in overall ad commitments tied to the upfront, when TV companies try to sell the bulk of their advertising inventory ahead of the industry’s next cycle of programming.
“As the velocity of change in the advertising landscape continues to accelerate, this Upfront demonstrates the enduring power of storytelling, premium environments, and that the value of trusted relationships matter to marketers,” said Rita Ferro, Disney’s president of global advertising. “Our strength in streaming and live events delivers results at scale, and we’re shaping what’s next for the entire industry.”
Disney’s upfront results come after both NBCUniversal and Fox Corp. said they were able to win increases in volume from advertisers, owing to heavy sports schedules. NBCU likely took a good chunk of money that had previously been earmarked for NBA telecasts on Warner Bros. Discovery’s TNT, owing to a transfer of rights that put the league’s games on NBC, Peacock and Amazon. NBC and Amazon launched early efforts to win that money — as well as, for NBC, dollars tied to next year’s Winter Olympics and Super Bowl. Fox benefitted from 2026 rights to telecast the World Cup.
Disney, too, saw robust spending tied to sports. The company said it secured sports-ad commitments across linear and digital worth “nearly $4 billion.” Advertising committed to NBA games, which Disney continues to hold rights for, grew in the high-single-digit percentage range, driven in particular by the NBA Finals and expectations for “Inside the NBA,” the popular TNT studio show that to which ESPN has secured rights. Ad volume tied to “Monday Night Football” and college-football telecasts grew in the double-digit-percentage range, Disney said. Women’s sports saw ad commitments grow in a similar range.
Streaming volume was also up, Disney said, and “accounted for more than 40% of total upfront volume, consistent with last year’s market.
The company also saw commitments increase for live live events, and noted it had secured “early bookings” for “The Oscars,” “CMA Awards,” and “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest.” The company indicated that it almost doubled the number of ad units sold in the upfront tied to its annual “Oscars” telecast, for which Disney usually seeks between $1.7 million and $2.2 million for a 30-second commercial.
More to come…
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