Media Companies Present Upfronts in New York as They Adjust Programming Portfolios

Media companies are presenting their programming slates to advertisers in New York City this week even as corporate consolidation and shifting sports rights reshape their portfolios. , Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, Amazon's Prime Video and Google's YouTube will hold upfront presentations in New York City this week, CNBC reported.

Paramount Skydance completed its series of intimate presentations with agencies and marketers in recent weeks. Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery are set to merge. NBCUniversal split off its portfolio of cable networks into the newly formed Versant.

Fox sold its entertainment assets to Disney in 2019. Warner Bros. Discovery recently lost its NBA media rights package. Its pitch to advertisers will be focused on premium content from HBO as well as unscripted programming from its TV networks that drive social media conversations.

Disney owns rights to the NFL and will host the Super Bowl in February. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell is set to attend Disney's upfront presentation this week. NBCUniversal will highlight its Sunday night programming which includes NFL, NBA and MLB.

Sports and news make up the majority of Fox's portfolio. Jeff Collins is president of advertising sales, marketing and brand partnerships at Fox. "If anything the last several years has taught us that how large you are is not nearly as significant as the composition of the portfolio you have," Collins said, according to CNBC.

Executives described advertiser sentiment as positive despite global economic and geopolitical uncertainty. "Overall, advertiser sentiment has remained very positive," Jeff Collins said. " Collins added that any pullback in ad spending during Covid had been premature.

"I don't think you're seeing that anymore," he said. None of the advertising heads that CNBC spoke with noted cancellations or major pullbacks in spending. At most, advertisers are seeking flexibility in terms.

Jay Askinasi is chief revenue officer at Paramount. "To me, that means more of our media has to work harder and be accountable to brands so that when they do look at what's working in the face of uncertainty we're showing up at the top of that list," Askinasi said. Mark Marshall is chairman of global advertising and partnerships at NBCUniversal.

"Something that definitely happened this year is this focus on live and how well it's done across everything," Marshall said, referencing both linear and streaming. The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade has been pulling bigger and bigger audiences. This coming year there are fewer tentpole sporting events because there is no World Cup or Olympics.

U.S. advertising sales at NBCUniversal. "Moving forward into this year we don't have the World Cup or the Olympics, although we do still have the NFL," Gould said. Gould emphasized the need to capture advertising dollars shifting away from the absent global events.

"In our conversations with clients, and in our strategy, it's really what are the unique, premium, high-valued areas within our portfolio where we can capture some of that share and some of those dollars," he said. " He added that the industry is actively working to replace budgets that had gone to the Olympics and the World Cup.

"I think as an industry we're doing a lot of work to really replace some of those budgets that went to the Olympics and the World Cup," Gould said.