Michelle Monaghan, Leslie Bibb and Carrie Coon in “The White Lotus” on HBO.
Gracieuse: Fabio Lovino | Hbo
Media companies look at generalized economic uncertainty while their annual argument for advertisers and marketing specialists starts.
This week, the inherited entertainment giants, including Comcast Nbcuniversal, Fox Corp. And Discovery Warner Bros. The best presentations to the buyers of ads on the reasons for which they should engage money in their next slate of sports, entertainment and news. Netflix And Amazon The privileged video clutter the ground by holding their second annual setbacks. Paramount Global organized its presentations with advertisers and agencies last week.
This year, the challenges are raised as managing marketing directors of the brand of brands formulate emergency plans for a variety of results concerning prices, inflation, the feeling of consumers and other macroeconomic changes that could affect their expenses.
The evolving costs landscape is added to the existing opposite winds facing the media industry: paid television subscribers flee for streaming options. And although streaming has started to reach the profitability of certain companies, services must still prove to be as lucrative as the traditional bundle. Meanwhile, competition is rigid because the actors of the digital and social media capture the share of the lion of advertising dollars.
This will prove another year of fronts obscured by concerns according to pandemic and Hollywood strikes coche. Last year showed stabilization on an advertising market, and the leaders had previously declared that CNBC 2025 was to be another year of standardization.
Instead, the industry is preparing itself – and the leaders have refined their pitch at the moment.
“The media are becoming more complicated in the landscape defined by inflation, regulatory uncertainty, the change in marketing deadlines, and which serves as a backdrop for the season,” said John Halley, sales manager of Paramount. “In moments of uncertainty like this, there are very few places that offer the scope, brand safety and the impact of the paramount portfolio. This is an important point to do in a market like this.”
In interviews with the best advertising chiefs among inherited media companies, the leaders praised safe content and reliable metrics of the audience in order to demonstrate the importance of advertising during uncertain times. Many leaders have said that they had not yet seen a “material” perspective on advertising expenses, as had been feared.
The main categories during the wicks are live sports, they said. Live events, such as price discounts, and what is called “essential television” will also be an important factor in conversations.
“Sport has a live halo [TV] In general, “said Gina Redauto, executive vice-president of the advertising strategy at Nbcuniversal.
Although General Entertainment has lagged behind sports in the odds, programs like “The White Lotus” by Warner Bros. Discovery, which generated a stable audience and controlled cultural conversation on a weekly basis, stands out.
“I think everyone knows that no matter what's going on, they still have to sell, they must still move [product]”Said Rita Ferro, Disney President of Global Advertising.” They say: “We must always provide products and services to our customers, and we must do it in the best possible way.” It is understanding the parameters with which we deal with and what are these implications in terms of price. “
Make plans
The big brands that have in some cases have sat for years the television advertising frenzy around the biggest American sporting event – the Super Bowl – returns on Sunday and spends prices for record advertisements. It was a few bumpy years marked by a restraint and a political polarization of the pandemic era, but the American football championship offers an increasingly unrivaled TV to pass.
Olivier Douliery | AFP | Getty images
The concerns that the trade war of President Donald Trump could increase prices has not yet translated as a decline in advertising spending, media leaders at CNBC said. The quarterly reports for media companies have not yet reflected any reduction in expenses due to prices, although the reduction in linear TV bundle has increased finances.
WBD has not yet seen “no cutting of equipment” at its advertising volume, said Ryan Gould and Bobby Voltaggio, the presidents of the American advertising sales company.
“The feeling on the market is not really revealing of what we currently see. But you know, obviously, the future state of the impact is not yet known,” said Voltaggio.
Jeff Collins, president of fox ad sales, has echoed his peers: “Each client with whom we are talking about obviously has their scenario planning for different things that could happen. But I think that one of the important lessons they learned during the cotvid was not to react excessively to uncertainty.
“Obviously, you must have a plan, and they all have plans,” said Collins. “But until there is a kind of tangible impact on their business, we only saw anyone really looked back.”
Ferro de Disney said that his team had spent more time with advertising partners in recent months, discussing various scenarios in which prices could affect different categories and products. She added that the marketing chiefs with whom she spoke operated in what she called the “war rooms”.
Ferro told specific conversations with a mobile telephony company (which she refused to identify) which highlights the volatility of commercial policy: the telephone company on Friday in mid-April decided to place an order for around 1.5 million dollars in advertising for the month in the light of the price exposure. This weekend, the Trump administration exempted smartphones and other devices from the tariff scheme.
“So, Monday, this agreement that disappeared on Friday went to order,” said Ferro.
“It is literally in real time what is happening. I think there are a lot of scenarios that they are going through and it is very in real time,” said Ferro.
The Emarketer data company estimated that traditional television advertising expenses will decrease between $ 2.78 billion and $ 4.12 billion, depending on the severity of the pricing impact. However, streaming expenses in these annual discussions will be more stable, Emarketer expecting growth of $ 1 billion in this category. Media companies sell advertising for the two platforms together.
This gives advertisers to the above when negotiating prices, with the exception of sporting content. It is likely that companies that are more affected by the loss of paid television subscribers will be willing to reduce their prices, said Jonathan Gudai, CEO of Adomni, a digital advertising platform.
The advertising data company EDO said that there had already been a decline on the estimated advertising expenses in the retail and consumption sectors since Trump's announcement on prices.
At the same time, consumer concerns on prices that will soon be higher have resulted in higher advertising efficiency. For example, appliance brands have reduced estimated expenses by 30%, but consumer responsiveness to advertisements increased by 77%.
Media leaders – who have largely refused to discuss prices – all said that business data like EDO is essential in discussions with advertisers, which are increasingly sought after for tailor -made and targeted purchases rather than audience size.
“Advertisers say:” I want to buy a very specific audience. “This is why the results are so important,” said Kevin Krim, CEO of Edo. “You must have a very granular vision of what you are ready to pay.”
The upfronts are dead! Long live the ups!
The sales manager of Paramount ads, John Halley, speaks during an initial event.
Getty Images for Paramount
Are all of these factors in a recurring question for the advertising market: are annual increases still important?
“I have been in the business for about 30 years and the question of we still need the departure [presentations] presents itself every year, “said Fox's Collins.
This year's response for traditional media giants can be: more than ever.
“This is the last moment when you want to leave advertising because, you know, you have to try stronger, not in a way capitula,” said Krim d'Edo.
Krim has added the need for flexibility makes data in real time important: “You cannot use the model from last year.”
He also said that this could transmit advertising dollars to programmatic purchase, putting media companies on a “more level playground” with digital companies like Meta, Amazon and Google. Despite being giants in advertising space, these technological companies began to reveal the beginnings of cracks in their advertising activities.
Annual presentations could also lock the purchase for some of the favorite coherent categories.
The Nbcuniversal Reduto told CNBC that the locking of advertisements during the fronts gives “an opportunity for advertisers to guarantee that they have access to the things they really know stimulating sales”.
Earlier this year, Mark Marshall, president of NBCUNIVERIVERSAL global advertising and world partnerships, said in a letter that has mapped the next list of major sporting events in the company, including the Super Bowl, the Olympic Games and the World Cup, as proof of the usefulness of the Upfronts.
“I think that from the point of view of the advertiser, they always appreciate the possibility of locking the franchise positions they want to have, to locate them at desirable prices and have flexibility,” said Collins.
Disclosure: NBCUNIVERSAL DE COMCAST is the parent company of CNBC.