Media Buying Briefing: In this year’s upfront, sports is playing offense, defense and referee

Sports dominated all the upfront conversations and even some of the prior week’s NewFronts. With all the presentations done and confetti swept up, the time for negotiations begins now. Netflix, YouTube and Amazon are said by more than one buyer Digiday spoke with to be asking for massive dollar volume increases. No one is expecting a quick resolution because the more than $20 billion in marketer dollars passing through media agency hands is going to move slowly for those publishers and media companies that don’t offer flexibility in pricing and in cancellation options in exchange for long-term commitments. The growing presence and importance of the major streamers also has the potential to pull some dollars away from the traditional sellers — despite the latter offering their own streaming options. The world is shifting in front of our eyes, obviously, between the new platforms — the incumbents versus the challengers, said Paul Woolmington, CEO of DSP Worldwide. The time for negotiating is now, and it’s possible some business may get done sooner than later.

Source: Digiday.com  |  Read full article