Research — May 22, 2025
NewFronts: Tech, video platforms tout improved data, targeting, formats
As the content world continues to fragment, digital platforms are vying for bigger shares of the video ad market allocations, turning to AI to improve data collection, targeting and even messaging.
To pitch to advertisers, online video platforms such as Meta Platforms Inc., Google LLC and Snap Inc.; connected TV companies such as Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. and LG Electronics Inc.; along with a host of smaller players, gathered in New York in the week of May 5 at the 2025 NewFronts, organized for a 17th year by the Interactive Advertising Bureau Inc. (IAB). In its "2025 Digital Video Ad Spend & Strategy Report: Part One," IAB forecasts that ad spending against connected TV, social media and online outlets will all grow by double-digits, and together will surpass linear ad spending for the second straight year. Collectively, the three platforms could register a 13.5% increase to $72.4 billion in ad spend this year, up from $63.8 billion in 2024.
At NewFronts, Cintia Gabilan, IAB's senior vice president of Centers of Excellence & Industry Initiatives, said the proliferation of platforms is shaping what amounts to a new media landscape, where "the battle for consumer attention, to breakthrough the overwhelming amount of programming options, is only intensifying." At the same time, the old ways of gauging media are "colliding with new technologies, creative forces and consumer behaviors," Gabilan said.
Below is a summary of select presentations from the event:
Tooling for new formats
Several platforms tried to attract ad dollars by offering new ad formats.
Tubi is enabling studio advertisers to take over its homepage with Tubi Wrappers by highlighting their upcoming theatricals via animated backgrounds, trailers, high-visibility-branded user interface elements and calls to action. Fox Corp.'s free-ad-supported platform, which raised its profile by reaching 13.6 million viewers during FOX Sports' coverage of Super Bowl 2025, is rolling out carousel ads designed to help tech, auto and consumer packaged goods brands offer virtual showrooms and product showcases.
Working with Brightline, LG Ads is looking to buttress its connected TV product suite with more interactive TV ads as advertisers will utilize trivia and gaming capabilities. The formats will become available in the US and Canada in the third quarter, before rolling out in more international markets.
LG is also putting more weight behind its shoppable ad formats that include QR codes and cart-adding functionality to bring consumers through the purchase part of the funnel. The format is available in the US, and LG will soon make it available in the UK and Europe.
Samsung Ads also wants to trigger more through-the-screen sales. Launching later this year, Shopping Breaks will allow consumers to buy directly from their TV through creator-hosted, short-form content within Samsung TV Plus. The ad breaks will trumpet a clear call to purchase.
Snap showed off campaign performance tools, Smart Bidding and Smart Budget, to facilitate optimization. These tools enable advertisers to set cost-per-action budgets and shift spending behind the highest-performing ad sets within a campaign.
More creator creations
If the creator community is becoming this generation's video and messaging stars, then tech and content providers want to make sure they can raise engagement and demographic metrics for brands to better access this growing group and capitalize on their followings.
YouTube's creator partnership tool allows brands to search for creators, discover sponsored videos and dig for insight about the content's performance. Embedded within Google Ads, the hub can trigger videos where creators tagged or mentioned a specific brand. Subsequently, marketers can integrate the content into their Demand Gen and Video Reach campaigns while securing access to reporting on paid and organic engagement.
Moreover, YouTube is launching the Brand Connect API within its Brand Connect suite to facilitate brand connections with creators. The tool integrates YouTube creator analytics into custom tech stacks.
Meta, also with an eye toward matching partners for brands' next campaigns, is testing its Creator Marketplace API. It is deploying Instagram's Creator Marketplace to fashion creative ad content by ranking trends by relevance, such as "festival vibes" or "spring nails."
Giving it a contextual Wurl
While audience targeting can connect brands to the right consumers, their ads may not always be suitable for what they are watching on the screen at a particular moment.
Wurl LLC aspires to align key content moments with more relevant messaging. To get brands and viewers to the right moment, Wurl trades on BrandDiscovery, a generative AI-powered contextual intelligence platform that looks to match a scene's emotion with a more pertinent message in the ensuing ad break.
Tubi is also launching Tubi Moments, which uses tagging to help push brands' creative to appear in relevant content moments during a viewer's journey.
Wurl and Tubi Moments seem somewhat similar to what Walt Disney Co. Advertising Sales is tapping with Magic Words. Introduced in 2024, the ad tool allows the seller to surface key themes and emotions in real-time, unifying content and ad creativity.
"It's where context meets creativity," Adam Monaco, executive vice president of sales at Disney Advertising, said during a recent episode of S&P Global Market Intelligence's "MediaTalk" podcast.
RELATED PODCAST: In this episode of S&P Global's "MediaTalk," host Mike Reynolds spoke to Adam Monaco, executive vice president of sales at Disney Advertising, about his expectations for Disney's upfront season.
Sports scores
As content interests proliferate and fragment viewership, the communal interest in sports continues to attract large audiences for advertisers to reach in the linear realm. NewFronts players are also looking to tap into the sports zeitgeist.
Samsung TV Plus offers more than 50 sports channels, including new entries tied to showcasing minor league baseball action and access to select NHL Anaheim Ducks and Dallas Stars games through the Victory+ streamer.
The company is teaming with Spotify on a dedicated channel of video podcasts with The Ringer, which circles the worlds of pop culture and sports.
Google is also selling live game inventory in the NFL's out-of-market package, the Sunday Ticket. Google's YouTube is the rights holder. The Sunday Ticket spots, as well as avails within other sports, are available programmatically through Google's Display and Video 360 platform. The platform is deploying AI to allow advertisers to tap natural language to find curated inventory, including live sports.
Yahoo Inc., meanwhile, spotlighted an upcoming web series, "Network with Rich Kleiman," that will feature in-depth conversations with sports figures, while delving into the cross-section of athletics and culture. NBA star Kevin Durant is backing Kleiman's dedicated Boardroom TV, comprising original reporting and features, which will now have a hub on Yahoo Sports.
A dose of star power
Talent appearances have always been a hallmark of linear TV's upfronts and this year's NewFronts also saw its share of notables.
Yahoo looked to play to the hometown crowd, bringing out new New York Giants quarterback Russell Wilson and former New York Knicks and soon-to-be NBC Sports NBA studio analyst Carmelo Anthony as part of its pitch for "Network with Rich Kleiman."
Rapper-turned-actor and production mogul Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson appeared at LG Ad Solutions' Newfronts reception and presentation and talked up LG's 50Cent Action channel, which showcases action films and series, curated by Jackson himself.
Samsung Ads brought out a long-bearded David Letterman to hype his free ad-supported TV (FAST) channel on Samsung TV. Also at the Samsung event were the Jonas Brothers — Joe, Kevin and Nick — stumped for their upcoming "Jonas 20: Living the Dream Tour," which will make a stop at MetLife Stadium on Aug. 10 and Samsung TV. The Jonas' informed media buyers that behind-the-scenes and other interactions with the group can be sponsored.
| David Letterman at the Samsung NewFront. Source: Samsung |
"Wicked" star Cynthia Erivo concluded Snap's NewFronts presentation with renditions of John Lennon's "Imagine" and Nina Simone's "Feeling Good."
Merit Street Media finished its presentation with Dr. Phil McGraw. Merit TV, which launched in April 2024 and is going all in across mobile apps, FAST channels and on-demand outlets, draws from McGraw's 3,800 syndicated episodes. There is also "The News on Merit Street" and "Morning on Merit Street," live sports, debates and specials that aspire to bridge cultural divides.
Place-based plays
ReachTV is enhancing its ad measurement for its sports-oriented network, which, according to the company, reaches 50 million viewers/travelers monthly throughout terminals at 90 airports and 5,000 hotel rooms. Measuring the service within Nielsen Holdings PLC's Nielsen One Ads will allow for better evaluation of buys made across Reach's programming, which includes live games from the NFL, NBA, WNBA, as well as some college games, plus LIV Golf, NASCAR and Tennis Channel (US).
Future Today Inc., which reaches some 50 million US households by offering family-friendly and children's fare via FAST platforms, Fawesome and HappyKids, is integrating Chuck E. Cheese within HappyKids. Future Today will also launch the restaurant's initial on-demand apps and FAST channels. The companies are also working on devising the Chuck E. Cheese Media Network, an in-venue digital platform within the restaurant chain's locations in the US.
Also upcoming: Samsung is testing personalized ads that run on screens on its smart refrigerators.
This article was published by S&P Global Market Intelligence and not by S&P Global Ratings, which is a separately managed division of S&P Global.
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