Advertisers Hungry for Super Bowl, NFL in Early TV Upfront Talks

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Even though the start of the next NFL season is still a few months off, advertising professionals are already eagerly anticipating it, as if they were gearing up to play a game themselves.

Interest for advertising slots during regular NFL season games and NBC’s 2026 Super Bowl LX broadcast is robust, as reported by three individuals privy to the situation. It appears that NBC is encountering higher-than-expected enthusiasm for ads costing roughly $7 million for a 30-second spot. This trend has emerged during preliminary talks related to the yearly “upfront” advertising market, where U.S. television companies aim to sell most of their commercial space in advance of their upcoming programming cycle.

Despite media giants like Amazon and Paramount Global recently concluding their major annual program presentations to advertisers, there’s still a growing trend towards sports. This is because TV sports are one of the few formats that still attract large, simultaneous audiences, which advertisers remain keen on securing. Companies such as Amazon, NBCUniversal, and Disney are particularly interested in capturing sponsors for their newly acquired NBA schedules under recently signed 11-year contracts with the league. Netflix, on the other hand, has been highlighting its upcoming NFL games to be aired on Christmas Day.

The scramble for football time occurs in what’s perceived as a challenging advertising market. Some media buyers anticipate that the amount of ad agreements for this year might be less than in 2024, and these representatives, who broker deals for numerous advertisers, suggest there is ongoing discussion about streaming ads that could prevent the market from heating up beyond its current slow simmer.

The strong passion for football, along with a moderate enthusiasm for other live sports, indicates the splitting or fragmentation of the television advertising market, much like its overall viewership. Previously, TV networks didn’t face such diverse market conditions for various types of commercial spots. Nowadays, executives note, there’s a thriving market for sports programming, a contracting market for traditional linear TV that has more demand than availability, and an expanding market for TV where advertisers are adopting a cautious ‘watch-and-see’ approach.

2025’s “upfront” advertising market has experienced its fair share of fluctuations, with uncertainty surrounding potential tariffs from the Trump administration dampening enthusiasm for purchasing TV commercial time. However, recent stock market rises have rekindled optimism that advertisers might be prompted to increase their spending due to a growing sense of necessity.

On both sides of the negotiation, executives indicate that advertisers are demanding ongoing “discounts” for ad placements on streaming platforms. The influx of Netflix and Amazon into the market has resulted in an excessive amount of streaming content, referred to as inventory, which has led to a decrease in CPM – the cost to reach 1,000 viewers – a crucial factor during the annual discussions between TV networks and Madison Avenue.

In 2020, the cost per thousand impressions (CPM) decreased for both broadcast and cable ads. Media Dynamics Inc., a market tracker, reported that CPMs for broadcast dropped to $43.35, representing a 5.6% decline, while those for cable fell to $20.60, marking a 6.8% decrease. Interestingly, the average CPM for a streaming ad decreased by 16.7%. This shift in streaming advertising costs somewhat countered the attempts of TV companies to boost their advertising revenues.

This year, sellers seem unwilling to lower CPM rates for streaming, aiming to squeeze out small increases and recover lost ground, as per sources privy to ongoing discussions. However, media buyers and advertisers might not feel compelled to act immediately due to an abundance of available inventory and the flexibility to buy ad time in the “scatter” market – a term referring to commercials being purchased nearer to the air date, which reduces pressure compared to traditional methods.

Television sellers appear more optimistic about conventional TV ad spots. Although traditional TV audiences are smaller, these industry leaders argue that there’s still higher demand for the available impressions. This market trend arises as more TV networks focus on sports events, live spectacles, and award shows that are typically watched when they air, rather than at viewer-chosen moments. Executives in buying and selling agree that CPMs (cost per thousand impressions) for linear cable and broadcast might increase slightly within the low-to-mid single-digit percentage range. However, CPMs for sports could rise by a higher, high-single-digit percentage range.

NBCUniversal could potentially gain profit from any enthusiasm for sports events. The corporation owns a vast collection of sports content that’s up for sale, such as slots in “Sunday Night Football” and the 2026 Super Bowl, advertising spaces connected to its NBA schedule, the Winter Olympics, and the FIFA World Cup tournament that will be broadcasted on NBCUniversal’s Telemundo Spanish-language channel.

Last year, the total commitments for primetime broadcast TV decreased by 3.5% in the upfront market, reaching $9.34 billion, as reported by Media Dynamics Inc. On the other hand, commitments for primetime on cable declined by 4.8%, amounting to $9.065 billion. However, a significant increase of 35.3% was observed in ad commitments for streaming video platforms, jumping from $8.2 billion to $11.1 billion in the latest market. For the first time in the industry, the amount committed to streaming video surpassed that allocated to both primetime broadcast and primetime cable advertising.

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2025-05-15 23:46