streaming

The IAB Tech Lab is working on standardizing programmatic signals for new streaming TV ad formats, including pause ads. Meanwhile, many brands are eager to add pause ads to their repertoire.

As much as consumers complain about AI-generated content, advertising experts say AI still has an important place in video creation and production, including for ads. But using AI in content without turning off consumers is a tricky dance.

Walmart will buy Vibe.co, a self-serve video ad platform, in hopes of attracting more small and medium-sized advertisers to connected TV.

Amazon is making a splash at Cannes by touting recent Fire TV interface upgrades designed to help viewers find relevant content more easily, including when they are watching the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

The Trade Desk is muscling its way into the TV operating system business with its Ventura OS – but the real story isn’t the product itself. It’s what TTD’s ambitions reveal about conflicts of interest within the industry and the inherent mismatch between consumer and advertiser needs.

To squeeze the most juice out of their live sports campaigns, many marketers are adopting programmatic buying and marketing mix modeling, both of which are also drawing more advertisers to the digital live sports cornucopia.

Roku unveiled its new home screen, which includes new features designed to further personalize the home screen experience for each viewer.

At AdExchanger’s Programmatic AI conference, media experts discussed how the rise of AI-generated content is changing the industry’s understanding of “premium” content.

Upfront week is officially over. In case you missed any of the dog-and-pony shows — including Chappell Roan belting out “Pink Pony Club” during YouTube’s Broadcast — don’t worry; we’ve got you covered.

Another TV upfronts season is in the books. Please send your condolences to Senior Editor Alyssa Boyle and Associate Editor Victoria McNally as they reluctantly return to reality and their overstuffed inboxes.

TelevisaUnivision and Disney took over Day Two of upfronts week in New York City on Tuesday, and the throughline was data quality.

Warner Bros. Discovery used its upfront stage to announce two new ad measurement efforts, including that it’s joining a CAPI-focused initiative led by OpenAP.

AdExchanger Senior Editor Alyssa Boyle and Associate Editor Victoria McNally traversed the island of Manhattan on Monday to scope out upfront presentations by NBCUniversal, Fox and Amazon.

NBCU kicked off the 2026 upfront week with an original take on a not-so-original trend: ad performance. NBCU touted how it’s tapping into modern marketing hot topics, such as sports and AI, to drive ad performance.

Replacing TV upfront presentations with client dinners originated with Paramount in 2023. Roku followed suit last year under the leadership of Jay Askinasi, who appreciated the approach when he was on the buy side. This year, Roku hosted several client dinners with all of the major holding companies as well as independent agencies in April, each with about 70 people per dinner.

On Wednesday, Josh D’Amaro led his first earnings call as the new CEO of Disney. The company closed last quarter with $25.2 billion in revenue, a 7% year-over-year increase. Disney Entertainment advertising revenue rose 5% YOY, but ESPN ad revenue was down 2% YOY, although subscription and affiliate revenue was up 6%.

Paramount Skydance’s planned acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery is proceeding apace. It expects to finalize the deal by the end of Q3.

Nielsen announced a new outcomes-based measurement capability called Predictive Sales Lift. The feature is designed to help media buyers predict sales lift and incremental revenue for video ad campaigns they run via the company’s comprehensive measurement platform, Nielsen One Ads.

Platforms using talent to corroborate sales pitches is nothing new – the TV upfronts have always included publishers peacocking their talent to impress buyers. But YouTube arguably juggles an additional obligation to act in accordance with its self-imposed competitive differentiator: authenticity.

Paramount is merging the ad tech stacks behind Paramount+ and Pluto TV, releasing a new performance product, offering more control over ad placements and introducing dynamic ad insertion in live sports.

TelevisaUnivision is the latest TV publisher to join the self-serve trend that’s rising in popularity across connected TV advertising. Its streaming inventory is now available to buy through fullthrottle.ai’s self-serve platform. The collaboration includes an ad bidder designed to improve both targeting and measurement.

NBCU used this year’s Olympic Winter Games to lean further into programmatic buying for live sports at scale. NBCU also made Olympics inventory available through Comcast’s Universal Ads self-serve platform for the first time and used AI for creative review and campaign optimization in near real time.

Versant Media Group reported its first earnings as a publicly traded company. The portfolio of networks, which includes CNBC, MS NOW (formerly MSNBC), USA Network, E! and Fandango, was spun off from Comcast in January.

While the outcome of Paramount Skydance’s bid for Warner Bros. Discovery hangs in the balance, Paramount is laser-focused on driving streaming growth.

Netflix beat its revenue expectations for last year, ending 2025 with $42.5 billion in revenue, a 16% year-over-year jump. Of that, $1.5 billion came from advertising.

Netflix, which reported its Q2 earnings on Thursday, generated more than $11 billion in overall revenue last quarter, up 15.9% year-over-year.

Streaming is rapidly becoming a top performance channel for brands like NOBULL that are looking to drive outcomes up and down the funnel.

Disney had a good quarter, with revenue on the rise and streaming on the brain. Its DTC division, which houses its streaming business, is also growing and remains profitable.

Warner Bros. Discovery’s overall ad revenue dropped 7% last year. Its survival depends on its streaming service, Max, its lifeline in the intensifying streaming wars.

Like most brands advertising during the Super Bowl this year, Cetaphil tried to capture attention with a celebrity-focused commercial.