Media giants lean on sports as Hollywood strikes still loom over content slates

Media
giants
relied
on
sports
last
year
when
they
had
to
woo
advertisers
during
the
Upfronts
meeting
week
at
a
time
when
a
Hollywood
strike
and
cost
cutting
bit
into
their
content
and
star
power.

This
year,
while
stars
once
again
graced
the
stages
following
the
end
of
the
strikes,
the
presentations
still
leaned
more
on
sports
than
scripted
shows.

The

hangover
from
last
year’s
work
pause
meant
some
media
companies
had
fewer
series
and
movies
to
highlight
during
their
presentations.

Cost
cutting
from
companies
including


Disney
and


Warner
Bros.
Discovery
didn’t
help
matters.

Live
sports
remained
the
darling
of
the
Upfront
meetings,
as
it
still
beckons
the
biggest
audiences,
and,
therefore,
the
most
advertising
dollars.

“I
think
[the
companies]
benefited
in
terms
of
earnings
during
the
strike.
And
I
think
there
was
hesitance
to
ramp
up
because
of
all
the
issues
of
trying
to
understand
how
content
expenditure
was
really
driving
return,”
said
Tom
Rogers, Oorbit
Gaming
and
Entertainment
executive
chairman
and
former
NBC
Cable
president.

“There
used
to
be
this
kind
of
automatic,
where
you
put
out
a
certain
amount
of
programs
for
the
new
season
and
it
was
relatively
formulaic
without
much
sense
of
being
able
to
understand
how
content
drove
profitability,”
he
added.

He
noted
two
key
issues
for
the
traditional
media
companies:
the
decline
of
traditional
TV
and
the
increasing
fees
companies
have
to
pay
to
air
live
sports.

“If
you’re
going
to
maintain
a
reduced
level
of
content
spending,
by
definition,
that
means
your
entertainment
programming
has
to
be
reduced,”
Rogers
said.

Disney
played
up
trailers
for
the
upcoming
Disney+
series
“Agatha
All
Along”
and
“Daredevil:
Born
Again,”
but
for
its
cable
network
FX,
only
highlighted
the
next
season
of
the
popular
series
“The
Bear,”
which
also
streams
on
Hulu.
The
company
also
announced
the
“Golden
Bachelorette,”
the
next
installment
in
the
popular
reality
series
on
broadcast
network
ABC.

Warner
Bros.
Discovery
put
series
like
“House
of
the
Dragon”
and
“And
Just
Like
That”
—
both
spinoffs
of
HBO
series
—
front
and
center.

“A
strong
content
slate
—
be
it
sports
or
entertainment
—
is
only
one
piece
of
the
puzzle,
however,”
said
Amy
Leifer,
chief
advertising
sales
officer
at
DIRECTV
Advertising.
“With
the
explosive
growth
of
[ad-supported
streaming],
the
modern
TV
experience
is
as
dependent
on
content
as
it
is
on
the
ads
that
support
it.”

Some
films
played
a
big
role
in
the
Upfronts,
especially
after
streaming
services
like
NBCUniversal’s
Peacock
got

a
boost
from
blockbusters
like
“Oppenheimer”
recently.

Comcast’s
NBCUniversal
focused
on
the
upcoming
musical
film
“Wicked,”
and
the
renewal
of
some
Peacock
original
series.

The
summer
movie
box-office
season,
which
runs
from
the
first
weekend
in
May
though
Labor
Day,
is
expected
to
shrink
around
$800
million
this
year
as
the
season
brings
a
limited
and
unsteady
stream
of
blockbuster
films.
It
follows
a
second
quarter
that
lagged
nearly
50%
behind
ticket
sales
seen
during
the
same
period
last
year.

The
movie
calendar
is
expected
to
ramp
up
in
the
fourth
quarter,
with
major
titles
like
Warner
Bros.’
“Joker:
Folie
a
Deux,”
Paramount’s
“Gladiator
II,”
Disney
Animation’s
“Moana
2”
and
Universal’s
“Wicked”
arriving
in
cinemas.
Calendar
2025
and
2026
are
slated
to
have
a
significant
boost
in
titles,
including
features
from
major
franchises
like
Marvel,
Star
Wars,
Batman,
Super
Mario
Bros.
and
rollover
tickets
from
a
third
Avatar
film.

Meanwhile,
tech
giants
like
Netflix
and


Amazon
Prime
Video
that

recently
added
cheaper,
ad-supported
tiers
to
their
streaming
platforms

entered
Upfronts
week
in
full
force,
showcasing
not
only
sports
but
also
upcoming
films
and
series.

Amazon,
which
now
owns
MGM
Studios,
noted
the
renewals
and
upcoming
seasons
of
original
series
such
as
“Mr.
and
Mrs.
Smith,”
“The
Boys,”
and
“The
Summer
I
Turned
Pretty.”
Actor
Jake
Gyllenhaal
announced
a
sequel
to
“Roadhouse,”
and
Will
Ferrell
and
Reese
Witherspoon
discussed
their
film,
“You’re
Cordially
Invited.”

Netflix,
meanwhile,
announced
the
sequel
to
Adam
Sandler’s
“Happy
Gilmore,”
as
well
as
a
slate
of
other
series.

The
NFL
once
again
reigned
supreme
at
most
Upfront
presentations
this
year.

Tentpole
sports
programming
from
the
Summer
Olympics
to
the
NBA
—
which
beckon
the
biggest
TV
and
streaming
audiences,
and
vast
amounts
of
advertising
dollars
—
were
also
key
parts
of
the
presentations.

“We
often
hear
from
top
clients
that
the
significance
of
upfront
buying
has
diminished
outside
of
securing
placements
in
live
sports,”
said
Mike
Dupree,
chief
revenue
officer
at
Teads,
a
global
premium
publishing
platform.

“Access
to
quality
content
in
an
on-demand
world
has
reduced
the
scarcity
that
historically
drove
the
upfront
model.
Live
sports
seems
to
be
the
last
bastion,
as
proven
through
rights
renegotiations.”

NBCUniversal
dedicated
much
of
its
presentation
on
the

upcoming
Summer
Olympics
in
Paris.
The
NFL
played
a
role
in
all
presentations,
including
for
the
newcomer
to
the
ad-supported
streaming
landscape,


Netflix.
It
made
perhaps
the
biggest
sports
splash
during
Upfronts
week,
when
it
was
announced
hours
before
its
presentation
that
it
reached

a
deal
to
air
NFL
games
on
Christmas
Day
over
the
next
three
years.

Amazon
showcased
Thursday
Night
Football,
its
second
Black
Friday
game,
and
an

upcoming
wild
card
playoff
game
in
January
—
the
first
ever
for
Prime.

“This
year,
we
saw
media
giants
banking
on
big
bets
like
“Wicked,”
the
Olympics,
and
sports
superstars
like
Jason
Kelce
to
generate
buzz,”
said
Tim
Hurd,
vice
president
of
media
activation
at
digital
marketing
agency
Goodway
Group.
“There
was
a
lot
of
excitement
around
the
evolving
live
sports
landscape
and
leveraging
college
sports,
NFL
games,
and
the
Olympics
as
an
omni-platform
experience.”

Kelce,
who
recently
retired
from
the
NFL
after
13
years
with
the
Philadelphia
Eagles,
appeared
at
Disney’s
upfront
to
announce
he
would
be
a
commentator
for
ESPN
beginning
this
season.
His
appearance
made
headlines
—
as
he
and
brother
Travis
Kelce
are
prone
to
doing
—
when
he
picked
up
“Abbott
Elementary”
star
and
creator
Quinta
Brunson
during
the
event.

—
Sarah
Whitten
contributed
to
this
article.

Disclosure:
Comcast
is
the
parent
company
of
NBCUniversal
and
CNBC.