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Sports programming remains a relatively bright spot, but entertainment companies heading into Upfront season will need to lean heavily on live events and proven franchises to secure commitments. Our take: Marketers who can stay agile, build contingency plans, and focus on value-based messaging are more likely to come out ahead.

Live engagement is at an all-time high, with 70% of viewers using multiple platforms while watching the game, according to a new Adtaxi survey. The most effective Super Bowl campaigns are no longer just a single ad鈥攖hey鈥檙e an entire conversation spanning digital, social, and streaming. Given that, it's no surprise omnichannel media is a leading investment priority for brand and agency marketers.

NBCU and Macy鈥檚 deal highlights live events as crucial opportunities: Advertisers reach massive audiences through events like the Macy鈥檚 Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Shoppable media helps brands monetize live events. Sports ad inventory growth creates new, niche opportunities for brands. 5 key stats on CTV: Growth normalizes, subscriptions reign, and ad spend evolves. Reallocation from linear TV is the No. 1 source for funding CTV ad spend increase. Note: The Rio 2016 Olympics took place between August 5-21, 2016.

Venu Sports is officially dead: Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, and Fox are scrapping the controversial sports streaming service to focus on existing products.

Sports streaming momentum keeps building: Roku and NBA team up on FAST channel as Peacock and Prime Video win more exclusive streaming deals.

DirecTV and Dish challenge the Disney-Fubo merger: Legal fight over Venu Sports launch highlights antitrust concerns in sports streaming.

Its WWE deal will bring another high-viewership, recurring, live streamed event to the service, and is likely to draw advertisers. Our take: The US launch of Netflix鈥檚 ad tech represents the streaming service鈥檚 ad business reaching maturity.

Oscars viewership falls 7% but improves across younger demographics: The ratings decline doesn鈥檛 necessarily mean that live events are a lost cause.

Nearly half of US adults who have made a purchase via shoppable commerce have done so on social media, according to our February 2024 survey conducted by Bizrate Insights. But budding partnerships between brands and streamers may shift more commerce toward connected TV (CTV) platforms, especially around live events. For example, Paramount piloted a shoppable experience during the CMT Music Awards, NBCUniversal launched a new shoppable ad format ahead of this Summer鈥檚 Olympics, and Amazon added shoppable ads to its Amazon Prime platform.

US sports betting is on the rise, with total sports betting handle projected to increase by 35.0% to $184.45 billion this year, according to our March 2023 forecast. Sports betting site FanDuel had a Super Bowl ad for the (sports) books last year, featuring a live field goal kick from former NFL player Rob Gronkowski. FanDuel will be back in 2024鈥檚 game, featuring Gronkowski making another attempt.

This includes intrinsic ads in racing or sports games, or more elaborate game collaborations in virtual worlds. Shoppable formats are coming. Roblox has introduced ads leading to branded immersive experiences, an early form of shoppable ads.

Record viewership for women鈥檚 sports is finally making brands take notice: A coalition of brands and sports leagues is pressuring networks to give women鈥檚 sports primetime slots.

Streamers have indicated that they鈥檙e willing to spend billions on sports rights, and yearly events like award shows have also increased asking prices in contract renegotiations, sometimes even abandoning long-time broadcast partners. Disney recently became the broadcast partner for the Grammys from 2027 onward after it paid 20% more than previous partner CBS, The Journal reported.

Brands are increasingly investing in sports and forging partnerships with leagues, as sports offers exceptional growth potential. Viewers frequently interact with sports content on their phones and tablets, and partnering with the UFC gives Meta access to a highly engaged audience.

This includes creating branded content, sponsoring premium sessions that offer ad-free listening in exchange for engagement, and partnering on exclusive live events. For example, Nike created a collection of playlists for runners under its Nike Run Club label, and FanDuel cohosted a Super Bowl Weekend VIP party featuring special performances.

Streamers will grow ad inventory through live events. Netflix is expanding its lineup of live events, from reality show reunions to sports championships, to attract more ad dollars. This November, Netflix will stream the boxing match between Mike Tyson and Jake Paul and starting in 2025, Netflix will be the home of the WWE鈥檚 weekly wrestling show 鈥淩aw.鈥�

There was a lawsuit related to sports rights and the now defunct attempt to create an app called Venue that was going to combine a bunch of sports. But also what has happened is that Hulu with Live TV's growth has almost flat-lined.

At the moment, sports and certain reality series are bolstering linear viewership, helping it remain a significant player despite its dwindling market share. But with competition for sports ad space surging, there are other channels marketers can mix into their budgets to reach those potentially older, lower-income consumers.

As college sports amateurism dies, marketers are increasingly working with student-athlete influencers.

And for some, isn't it also offsite, but on their own platforms, if you think about Amazon and Amazon Prime and all of their live stream sports where they're using their data from the ad network too and here too, it's like either they're the endemic brands that they're talking about in the prime video or, but that's another really seamless way of using the data, not disrupting the customer experience and