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12 minutes ago
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Disney Closes 2025 Upfront With Nearly $4 Billion in Sports Advertising
Streaming accounted for over 40% of the company's total upfront volume, which was consistent with the prior year Disney has closed its 2025-2026 Upfront negotiations, with increased sales in sports and streaming and overall volume consistent with the prior year. Streaming accounted for over 40% of total upfront volume, consistent with the prior year, while sports ad volume across linear and addressable hit nearly $4 billion. More from TheWrap Amazon Original Movies Physical Production Head Glenn Gainor Exits to Launch Hollywood Ventures Group Disney Closes 2025 Upfront With Nearly $4 Billion in Sports Advertising Versant Taps NBC Nightly News EP Meghan Rafferty as VP of News Standards Former NBC Cable President Tom Rogers Joins Versant as Senior Advisor Sports highlights included 69 multi-year deals, double-digit volume growth for 'Monday Night Football' and college football and a double-digit percentage increase in volume for women's sports such as the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament, WNBA, and emerging engagement around sports, like softball and volleyball. The NBA also saw high single-digit volume growth, driven by the NBA Finals and 'Inside the NBA.' Elsewhere, the company saw strong demand for live events, with early bookings for the Oscars, CMA Awards, and 'Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve with Ryan Seacrest.' The Oscars nearly doubled the number of units sold as part of the Upfront compared to last year. Disney Advertising continued to expand its base of independent agencies, which saw double-digit volume growth across sports and streaming. Categories that led the growth included financial services, consumer packaged goods, pharma and beverages. 'As the velocity of change in the advertising landscape continues to accelerate, this Upfront demonstrates the enduring power of storytelling, premium environments, and that the value of trusted relationships matter to marketers,' Disney global advertising president Rita Ferro said in a statement. 'Our strength in streaming and live events delivers results at scale, and we're shaping what's next for the entire industry.' Disney is the latest to close its upfront negotiations with growth and sports and streaming. Fox notably exceeded $2 billion in upfront revenue on core properties, excluding the World Cup, representing double-digit growth year-over-year. It also saw Tubi's volume of upfront ad dollars committed grow by 35% year-over-year. NBCUniversal saw a 15% increase in commitments across its broadcast offerings, including news, sports and entertainment, and touted its largest digital upfront and strongest sports upfront in history, though it offered no hard numbers. Peacock saw an over 20% year-over-year increase, representing nearly a third of the media giant's total upfront commitments. The company's new 11-year media rights deal with NBA contributed to a 20% increase in new clients compared to the 2024-2025 season and a 45% year-over-year increase in volume. Over 25% of NBCUniversal's NBA advertisers will be new to broadcast this year. Bravo represented nearly 20% of the company's entire entertainment demand across broadcast and cable and Versant saw a nearly 10% increase in clients investing in its brands. Meanwhile, Netflix executives told analysts during the company's second quarter earnings call that the 'vast majority' of its upfront deals with the major agencies have been completed. 'Those results have generally been in line or slightly better than our targets, and consistent with our goal to roughly double the ads business this year,' Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters said. The post Disney Closes 2025 Upfront With Nearly $4 Billion in Sports Advertising appeared first on TheWrap.
Yahoo
19 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Disney Says Upfront Volume Is Flat Despite Surge in Sports Ads
Walt Disney Co. says notable surges in advertising dollars committed to sports and streaming helped it match what it secured in last year's 'upfront' volume — but weren't enough to help it surpass that total. The parent of ABC, Disney+ and Hulu said overall 'upfront' volume was 'consistent with last year,' suggesting that TV companies are continuing to struggle to win greater advertising support even as Madison Avenue gravitates to the types of sports programming that Disney supplies through ESPN and its various platforms. More from Variety How to Watch Savannah Bananas Live Online Without Cable for Free Xander Zayas vs. Jorge Garcia Livestream: How to Watch Top Rank Boxing Event Online Box Office: 'Fantastic Four: First Steps' Clobbers $57 Million Opening Day - Second-Biggest of the Year In 2024, Disney said it was able to win a 5% uptick in overall ad commitments tied to the upfront, when TV companies try to sell the bulk of their advertising inventory ahead of the industry's next cycle of programming. 'As the velocity of change in the advertising landscape continues to accelerate, this Upfront demonstrates the enduring power of storytelling, premium environments, and that the value of trusted relationships matter to marketers,' said Rita Ferro, Disney's president of global advertising. 'Our strength in streaming and live events delivers results at scale, and we're shaping what's next for the entire industry.' Disney's upfront results come after both NBCUniversal and Fox Corp. said they were able to win increases in volume from advertisers, owing to a heavy sports schedule. NBCU likely took a good chunk of money that had previously been earmarked for NBA telecasts on Warner Bros. Discovery's TNT, owing to a transfer of rights that put the league's games on NBC, Peacock and Amazon. NBC and Amazon launched early efforts to win that money — as well as, for NBC, dollars tied to next year's Winter Olympics and Super Bowl. Disney, too, saw robust spending tied to sports. The company said it secured sports-ad commitments across linear and digital worth 'nearly $4 billion.' Advertising committed to NBA games, which Disney continues to hold rights for, grew in the high-single-digit percentage range, driven in particular by the NBA Finals and expectations for 'Inside the NBA,' the popular TNT studio show that to which ESPN has secured rights. Ad volume tied to 'Monday Night Football' and college-football telecasts grew in the double-digit-percentage range, Disney said. Women's sports saw ad commitments grow in a similar range. Streaming volume was also up, Disney said, and 'accounted for more than 40% of total upfront volume, consistent with last year's market. The company also saw commitments increase for live live events, and noted it had secured 'early bookings' for 'The Oscars,' 'CMA Awards,' and 'Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve with Ryan Seacrest.' The company indicated that it almost doubled the number of ad units sold in the upfront tied to its annual 'Oscars' telecast, for which Disney usually seeks between $1.7 million and $2.2 million for a 30-second to come… Best of Variety New Movies Out Now in Theaters: What to See This Week 'Harry Potter' TV Show Cast Guide: Who's Who in Hogwarts? Final Emmy Predictions: Talk Series and Scripted Variety - New Blood Looks to Tackle Late Night Staples Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
33 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Chris Paul calls return to Clippers a 'no-brainer' and doesn't know if this will be his last season
Chris Paul had options. Coming off a strong season for the San Antonio Spurs, entering an unrestricted free agent market where there might not have been a ton of cash to splash, but where there were a number of teams in need of a steady hand at the wheel of their offense, the future Hall of Famer reportedly drew interest from a handful of would-be suitors. Giannis Antetokounmpo's Bucks. Anthony Davis' (and, now, Cooper Flagg's) Mavericks. The Hornets, the home-state squad of a player born in Winston-Salem who starred at Wake Forest. The Suns, his old flame, the team he helped lead to the 2021 NBA Finals — the only title-round appearance of Paul's illustrious career. In the end, though, there was only ever really one option. 'It was a no-brainer. It was a no-brainer,' Paul said Monday at Intuit Dome in Inglewood, Calif. — the new home of the Los Angeles Clippers, the team for whom he starred from 2011 through 2017 and to whom he'll return next season — during a press conference reintroducing him to the franchise and its faithful. 'The easiest decision in this is sitting right up here,' he said, indicating his wife, children and mother, all seated in the front rows at his press conference. 'Right here. It's my family.' It's easy to forget, given how fast life moves in the world of the NBA, but Paul has now spent more time away from the Clippers than he spent with them. [Join or create a Yahoo Fantasy Football league for the 2025 NFL season] Paul's six seasons in L.A. featured plenty of individual and team success — five All-Star selections, five All-NBA nods, six All-Defensive Team berths, five 50-win seasons and three playoff series victories, more than the Clippers had totaled in the previous 35 years. But they were also marked by numerous brutally timed injuries, a historic ownership scandal and a persistent inability to advance past the second round of the postseason — a staggering amount of baggage that, come the summer of 2017, left Paul feeling like the time had come for a fresh start elsewhere. In the eight years since he secured his exit from L.A., Paul has accomplished plenty. He finally got out of Round 2, partnering with past-and-future teammate James Harden on an incredible Rockets team that pushed the Kevin Durant-era Warriors to the absolute limit (and might well have toppled Golden State if not for yet another brutally timed injury). When the Houston experiment ran its course, he briefly brought the basketball gospel to Oklahoma City, producing a completely unpredicted and extremely fun playoff berth while helping shepherd the development of a gifted but green young guard named Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Then came Phoenix, where he helped Devin Booker achieve superstardom, got Deandre Ayton a max contract, finally reached the Finals (before Giannis Antetokounmpo put an end to all that) and steered the Suns to a franchise-record 64 wins (before Luka Dončić put an end to all that). When new owner Mat Ishbia decided that trading for Bradley Beal gave Phoenix a better chance to win a title — which, you know, hindsight is 20/20 and all — Paul was on the move again, with one-year stops alongside Stephen Curry in Golden State and Victor Wembanyama in San Antonio. [Get more Clippers news: Clippers team feed] That's five stops in eight years — a prolonged sojourn for the greatest point guard of his generation, with his young family remaining in L.A. as he journeyed across the NBA landscape. And that, he decided this summer, was enough time away. 'This is one of those things I kind of manifested for a long time, sort of tried to speak it into existence,' Paul said Monday. 'But you just never know if it's really going to happen. Because I love to hoop. I love to play this game. But I love my family more than any of it.' And Clippers fans, it turns out, still have plenty of love for him. Whatever sour feelings might have attended his 2017 exit seem to have long since dissipated. As the fan reaction at Monday's reintroduction reminded us, and as Paul's reaction to it underscored, time has a way of healing all wounds — especially when the arc of that time bends back toward home: Amid the outpouring of love surrounding Paul's return, one question kept coming up: Just how much time do he and the Clippers have left? Paul signed a one-year contract for the veteran minimum. Could this season be his last? 'I don't know. I don't know that,' Paul told ESPN's Malika Andrews. 'I think throughout this season, at some point — guys that I know who've retired, and all this different type of stuff — you know, and you sort of figure it out yourself. It tells you. But I think more than anything, this season, I will definitely enjoy it. I don't take this for granted.' Paul struck a similar note in a conversation with Clippers play-by-play broadcaster Brian Sieman and in his news conference with reporters. He repeatedly emphasized the importance of remaining present, of trying to stay in the moment, and of approaching this coming season with excitement for the opportunity available to what could be an awfully good (if also awfully old) Clippers team without looking too far ahead. 'There's a lot of gratitude or whatnot to still get a chance to play at this age,' Paul said. 'But I've always believed in, keep stacking days. And that you just have to show up every single day. Every single day.' That approach — combined with all-time vision, touch and a legendarily maniacal competitive streak — has made Paul just the seventh player to last 21 years in the NBA, joining LeBron James, Vince Carter, Dirk Nowitzki, Kevin Garnett, Kevin Willis and Robert Parish. That type of longevity would represent a towering achievement for any player. For someone who barely stands 6 feet tall, though, it's nearly unthinkable — as is the fact that, if you weren't paying attention last season, Chris Paul is still good. Paul averaged 8.8 points per game on 42.7% shooting last season, taking just 4% of his field goal attempts inside the restricted area and using only 14% of San Antonio's offensive possessions when he was on the floor — all career lows. Even so, he remained a net positive offensive contributor by virtue of remaining one of the league's highest volume distributors, dishing 7.4 assists per game (seventh in the NBA) with an assist-to-turnover ratio better than every big-minute contributor besides Tyrese Haliburton and Tyus Jones, and continuing to drill shots from floater range (52%), midrange (47%) and 3-point land (38%) at elite rates. Long possessed of perhaps the league's most larcenous hands, Paul also made his presence felt on the defensive end, snagging steals on 2.2% of opponents' offensive possessions. His steal rate has topped 2% in all 20 of his NBA seasons, the most of any player in NBA history, one season ahead of a pair of similarly ageless ball-hawking point guards, John Stockton and Jason Kidd. The introduction of an all-time table-setter helped expedite the development of the ascendant Wembanyama, who struggled at times during his rookie season to find consistent service, but experienced no such concerns during Year 2 — at least, not when CP3 was on the case. Paul-to-Wembanyama produced 121 baskets last season, the 15th-highest total of any assist combo in the NBA, according to PBP Stats; in a possibly related story, Wembanyama made his first All-Star appearance, and had an awfully good case for an All-NBA selection before being diagnosed with a deep vein thrombosis in February that brought a premature end to his season. (He's been cleared for a full-steam-ahead return next season.) The Spurs, who were outscored by 3.9 points per 100 possessions over the course of last season, actually outscored their opponents by 6.8 points-per-100 in the minutes when Wembanyama and Paul shared the court. And while plenty of the credit for that belongs to the biggest guy on the floor, don't overlook the impact of the smallest guy on it: Spurs lineups featuring Wemby sans CP3 got their doors blown off by 12 points-per-100. Paul finished the 2024-25 season ranked somewhere between 10th and 25th among all point guards in win shares (total and per 48 minutes), estimated plus-minus, value over replacement player, player efficiency rating, estimated RAPTOR and xRAPM, among other metrics. He also ended the season healthy, playing all 82 games for the first time since 2014-15 … and, perhaps even more importantly, he ended things feeling like he hadn't ended things. Paul feels like he's still got something left in the tank, and the Clippers feel like he — alongside incumbent superstars Harden and Kawhi Leonard and new arrivals Beal, Brook Lopez and John Collins — can help them push the likes of SGA's champion Thunder, the newly Durant-ified Rockets and Nikola Jokić's Nuggets atop the perpetually crowded West. That created the opportunity for a homecoming eight years in the making. 'If I'm really honest, I wanted to get back and play here by any means necessary, right?' Paul said Monday. 'I didn't even care what the team looked like. I just wanted to be home, be here with the Clippers.'
