Meanwhile, despite uncertainty around the platform, TikTok is still drawing interest from advertisers.

A second media buyer noted they expect a significant and meaningful shift of budgets to the YouTubes and TikToks of the world.

“Those conversations are happening, not across every brand, but definitely for some brands,” the second buyer said. “I would even throw streaming audio—like Spotify—into that mix, and places where different forms of content resonate, and where you can hopefully start to counter some of that fragmentation.”

The buyer said that measurement is starting to verify the performance of those platforms, and that is “giving brands pause” as they figure out what budgets need to shift there. 

However, the budget shift to tech companies isn’t happening everywhere.

The first buyer noted that YouTube has always been a large part of the strategy, depending on the audiences clients are seeking, so there isn’t necessarily a shift for their clients. After all, a balanced media mix is always important since each platform has different offerings, features unique user experiences, and requires different assets that can’t be easily moved from one medium to another.

Meanwhile, a third buyer said TikTok hasn’t provided a value proposition to get dollars moving its way. Additionally, YouTube isn’t a priority for their clients, and conversations around the platform are “more of a status quo thing” and “positioning” during upfront season.

“They’re coming out with more buzz than it really is,” the third buyer said. “Obviously, they do have an attractive offering, but I don’t really see that it’s changed a great deal.”

You can count on streaming and sports to drive the market (again)

There will always be conversations around the use of influencers and reaching audiences outside of traditional programming; however, buyers agreed on the main drivers of the upfront: streaming and sports.

Amazon flooded the market with supply with the launch of its Prime Video ads tier in 2024, which flipped upfront pricing on its head, leading to steep declines in streaming CPMs (cost per thousand viewers reached), and there’s no shortage of streaming inventory heading into this year’s upfront either.

“Obviously, they have a lot of supply—almost limitless supply—and they’re always looking for volume, which is the opposite of what the broadcast guys are doing,” the third buyer said of streamers.