CNBC | Monday, May 13, 2024 
Media companies look to woo advertisers as spending shifts to digital

Media giants are making their annual pitches to advertisers this week against the backdrop of significant disruption in the industry. The Hollywood writers and actors strikes are over, meaning Upfronts will likely be star-studded once again, major cost cutting is largely in the rear view mirror and streaming has fully embraced advertising models. Still, this year’s Upfronts presentations come in the midst of further tumult for the industry. “It does feel like this is a moment, a moment in terms of what the next year, two years will bring,” Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav said during the company’s earnings call last week. “I said a while back that this is a generational disruption.” Here’s what will likely be topics of discussion during Upfronts week, whether it’s on stage, in the audience or in private. – Advertising rebound? That depends – Media companies just finished reporting quarterly earnings, which showed traditional TV is still lagging behind streaming and digital when it comes to ad revenue. Traditional TV ad buying during Upfronts is expected to increase about 1% to $18.79 billion this year, according to data from eMarketer. This is an improvement from last year when it was down about 4% to $18.64 billion. Meanwhile, digital advertising spend during the Upfronts and Newfronts — which take place a few weeks ahead of the traditional media events — is expected to increase nearly 32% to $16.45 billion this year, according to eMarketer. There was a general…Read more