Disney ad exec talks NBA ad sales strategies, nearing 90% playoff sell-through

➤ Disney is essentially sold out of ad inventory for the upcoming National Basketball Association Inc. regular season.

➤ One-third of Disney's 218 NBA advertisers have also taken positions within the award-winning studio show, "Inside the NBA," which tips its rookie run on ESPN Inc. and ABC this year.

➤ While the WNBA Enterprises LLC and its players association look to ink a new labor agreement, Disney Ad Sales has sold about 90% of its league inventory for the 2026 season.

As part of the NBA's new 11-year rights deal that split the league's national media rights between three primary holders, Walt Disney Co. retained the so-called "A" package. Under this deal, Disney is set to pay the NBA about $2.6 billion annually to broadcast approximately 80 games per season on ESPN (US) and ABC (US) This agreement includes coverage of one NBA Conference Final per season and The Finals every year, with Disney also obtaining international and digital rights, bolstering the ESPN Unlimited streaming service.

Ahead of ESPN's opening week coverage — including a pair of doubleheaders on ESPN on Oct. 22 and Oct. 23 — S&P Global Market Intelligence spoke to Jim Minnich, senior vice president of revenue & yield management at Disney Advertising. Minnich discusses where the company stands with advertisers for the upcoming NBA season. An edited transcript of the conversation follows.

S&P Global Market Intelligence: You have the "A" package. I know it was a strong upfront for Disney, relative to your sports properties and streaming. I'm assuming that carried over into NBA sales?

Jim Minnich, senior vice president of revenue & yield management at Disney Advertising Source: Walt Disney

Jim Minnich: Appreciate you referencing the "A" package. We still have the biggest moments in the NBA and we're set up very well this season. We have five games on Christmas, the playoffs and the NBA Finals on ABC. We're essentially sold out of the regular season and are in the mid-80% to the low-90% for the playoffs

Including, The Finals?

Yes.

Is that your preference? To have some playoff inventory on hold, to perhaps capitalize on matchups. Or would you like to be sold out and move on to the next properties?

We like where we sit. It's an optimal position to have some leftover scatter inventory. Some advertisers can't commit long term, while others shift their budgets. It's good to have a little left over for the scatter market.

We also have strength with "Inside the NBA," the crown jewel of studio programming for pro sports, to go along with the crown jewel of college sports, "College Game Day."

"Inside the NBA" is an attractive property to clients?

There are about 70 advertisers tied to "Inside the NBA" already. That's about one-third of our base of NBA game advertisers that have extended into "Inside the NBA." It's been huge.

We have 218 NBA advertisers, 37 of which are new. Categories like grocery are showing major growth. We're up high double, triple digits with categories like pharmaceuticals, telecom, footwear and auto year over year. It speaks to the idea that the NBA drives mass scale and cultural connections. The league is also spread out across large and small markets, with each team having at least two or three top players. These are some of the top athletes in the world, not just the US.

[Editor's note: The following are some of the sponsorship deals Disney Ad Sales has in place for its coverage of the 2025-26 NBA season: State Farm is the returning presenting sponsor for both the ESPN regular season and Christmas Day coverage, while Wingstop Inc. is back as the title sponsor for Saturday prime time games and the first round of the playoffs. Other sponsorship incumbents include Hyundai Motor Co., which drives the halftime presenting position all season; and Michelob Ultra, which remains the NBA courtside presenter for both the regular season and playoffs. Kia is the overtime and Postseason Halftime sponsor, while Popeye's joins as a Sunday Showcase sponsor. Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. will entitle the company's Conference Semifinal coverage.]

Did you get delayed with selling "Inside the NBA"? The schedules for the regular season and playoffs weren't announced until a few weeks ago.

We had a good idea about the frequency. Some details didn't come until post-upfront. But we were able to get the conversations started with incumbent advertisers and "Inside the NBA" sponsors. We've been able to get more deals done and have almost sold out our "Inside the NBA" sponsorships and inventory as well.

What percentage of your NBA ad deals came through the upfront?

I'd say 80% to 85% are written from long-term deals.

This season, it's a new contract, but advertisers extended over from the previous one?

Our footprint has been a little bit upgraded. We lost a few regular-season windows, but we still have the playoffs and Finals and added "Inside the NBA." We love our hand and where we sit with as we get into the third week of October. NBA and NHL are underway, along with the NFL, which is up double digits, and college football, which is on a record-breaking [viewership] pace for us. The NBA really heats up with the premier windows on Christmas and into January and February as college and pro football wind down. We get to see the contenders separate from the pretenders at that time, ahead of the playoffs.

The WNBA season just ended. Congratulations to the Las Vegas Aces and A'ja Wilson. She was outstanding. But the CBA expires on Oct. 31 and there has been some contentious back and forth among top players and Commissioner Cathy Engelbert. Did that impact your WNBA sales?

A'ja Wilson may be the best player of all time. Don't want to get in trouble and impact [labor] negotiations by sharing specific numbers, but the 2025 season was beyond our wildest dreams in revenue. We're almost 90% sold for next year. Now, it's a smaller footprint than the NBA. But between the WNBA and women's college basketball, those sports were in the most demand, besides the NFL, during the upfront. We also had strong demand with college football and the NBA, but women's sports are so hot.

Is there a lot of client overlap among those buying NBA and WNBA game inventory?

There are advertisers that buy across our full year, all our sports, across seasons. That's the majority — I would say about two-thirds of our base. The other third is more sport-specific.

You guys remained with the NBA, retaining the top package. But Turner Sports Inc. is out of NBA game coverage after 35 years. NBCUniversal Media LLC's NBC Sports is back for the first time since 2002. And it's the rookie season for Amazon.com Inc.'s Prime Video with the league. Was it a different NBA ad market?

It was slightly different. And the upfront was somewhat protracted because of a couple factors, including the Nielsen Big Data + Panel measurement. But for us, we still have the crown jewels with The Finals and now "Inside the NBA." It's good to have competition, too. As NBC gets back in and Prime Video enters years two, three and four, the market could be different again. We've all seen what Amazon has done with "Thursday Night Football." Competition is good for us, the leagues and advertisers.

So, let's go back to the grocery category. What are we talking about? Door Dash or Whole Foods?

You're going to see some midmarket grocery chains like Shaw's Supermarkets Inc. — not just tech company-delivery services. Our midmarket strategy, which we introduced a couple of years ago, is starting to take hold. You're going to see some midmarket companies making national buys on NBA games, or running ads in certain markets.

Any categories that surprised you? Any new categories that really took hold?

Groceries were up 589%, but I'm not that surprised because it was coming off a small base. Somewhat surprised by auto, which is up double-digits, after having been up and down the past few years. It's a key category for sports. "Inside the NBA" has been a difference maker for the auto category, especially with having more weight for the playoffs. That helps.