TV networks eager to stay in the advertising game during a critical sales season can rely only on sports.

Madison Avenue is rushing to gain spots in NFL games, the Super Bowl and other big matches and tournaments, according to four executives with knowledge of this year’s annual “upfront” marketplace, during which TV companies try to sell the bulk of their commercials ahead of their next cycle of new programs in the fall. But advertisers are holding back on nearly everything else.

“Sports continues to be where the up money is,” says one media-buying executive. “Are the broadcasters being very aggressive in sports? Absolutely. Are they getting what they want? No, but they’re still getting more than what we were hoping to give them. And basically, after sports, there’s no rush for any of it.”

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The executives with knowledge of the market suggest NBCUniversal, Fox and Disney may have written the most business so far with media buying agencies, with Paramount also having done some deals. Warner Bros. Discovery, these executives say, is meeting with some challenges in the wake of its loss of NBA rights for next season and its heavy reliance on cable networks, which have become less desirable for advertisers in comparison with streaming and broadcast TV. A person familiar with Warner’s recent negotiations says they have been “productive.” Meanwhile, Netflix and Amazon have backed away from what two buyers say were unrealistic financial terms they brandished in last year’s haggle.

These executives also indicate that advertisers have tackled most of the available inventory in NBC’s 2026 broadcast of Super Bowl LX. NBC had been seeking as much as $7 million for a 30-second ad in talks earlier this year, with a push to get advertisers to commit additional money to other parts of its media portfolio. One media buyer suggests demand for the Super Bowl is so high that NBC may want to approach the NFL to allow additional commercial time in the event, as Fox has done in the past. This buyer said NBC in early June approached all advertisers that had asked to reserve time in the Big Game and told them they had to commit to orders immediately or else the ads would be earmarked for a growing list of waiting sponsors. Another buyer indicates NBC has told some agencies that it is “out of sale” for Super Bowl ad berths.

Spokespersons for Fox, Disney, NBCUniversal, Netflix, Warner Bros. Discovery and Amazon declined to comment on the pace of their companies’ upfront sales. Paramount did not respond to a query seeking comment.

“The networks that have sports are better positioned to have more volume, and close deals sooner than others,” says another media buying executive familiar with recent negotiations.

Sports have always shown up as a big ticket in the advertising world, but in the streaming era, professional and amateur games of all kinds have become even more desirable. Advertisers still crave ways of getting their messages and promotions in front of large crowds, rather than cobbling together a broad set of consumer impressions via individual viewing sessions — a significant part of streaming activity. People will still watch a MLB game or college football match live, as it happens, while they are more willing to catch up with a favorite drama or comedy at times of their own choosing.

The surge behind sports comes amid worries that recent economic trends, particularly the effects of the Trump administration’s interest in tariffs, might disrupt upfront sales. There is a sense among buyers that the overall upfront market may be down, with advertisers holding money back to use later in the year. Even so, networks that have a large sports portfolio feel they have some wind at their back, and buyers indicate that sports may soak up whatever funds are available for the upfront, with less remaining for other types of programming.

Indeed, buyers and sellers seem to be at an impasse when it comes to straight streaming inventory. At the heart of the debate, according to executives, is continued pressure from advertisers to “rollback” the rates they seek for streaming ads. Advertisers last year were able to force double-digit percentage cuts in a CPM, a measure of how much it costs for an ad to reach 1,000 viewers — a metric that is central in these discussions between media companies and advertisers. In 2025, however, sales chiefs are trying to resist such demands.

“What I’ve been hearing from them a lot is, ‘don’t expect the same discount you got last year,’” says one of the buying executives. Still, this buyer says, “there’s more supply than demand. I do anticipate ‘rollbacks,’ but maybe not as severe as last year’s.” Many TV companies are using their sports offerings to get buyers to agree to less onerous terms.

Executives on both sides of the table say the media companies are seeing CPM increases in the high-single-digit percentage range for sports ads and in the low-single-digit percentage range for commercials tied to traditional linear broadcast. Some of the uptick in linear CPMs isn’t driven by a robust market, but by the fact that the networks have less traditional entertainment to sell and smaller audiences projected to watch what remains. NBC, for example, is expected to devote two nights of its broadcast schedule to NBA telecasts starting in 2025.

TV networks favor the upfront market because it allows them to build support for their programs well ahead of their debut. Still, the advertising bazaar has been tougher to navigate in recent years as more people gravitate to streaming video and other means of accessing their favorite programs, movies, news and sports events.

Ad commitments for the most recent cycle of primetime broadcast TV fell 3.5% in 2024’s upfront market, to $9.34 billion, according to Media Dynamics Inc., while commitments for primetime on cable tumbled 4.8%, to $9.065 billion. Meanwhile, ad commitments to streaming video hubs rose a noticeable 35.3%, hiking to $11.1 billion from $8.2 billion in the previous market. The amount committed to streaming video for the most recent TV season was greater than that devoted to primetime broadcast or primetime cable — a first for the industry.