The traditional upfronts TV and sales process is undergoing a transformation, driven by the surge in streaming inventory, but the core concept remains intact.
As linear TV dollars flow into the digital realm, negotiations are evolving to incorporate data, technology, and strategies to maintain the benefits of linear advertising in this evolving landscape.
“The big change is in the explosion of video inventory. How do we fit that into our negotiations, as we see dollars merge from linear television into this new video world?,” said Dani Benowitz, global chief negotiations officer, IPG Mediabrands, in this video interview with Beet.TV.
Customization is key
For Benowitz, the answer to navigating the increasingly complex video advertising marketplace lies, in part, in “curation.”
But Benowitz believes a curated approach can offer advertisers more transparency and control, key elements of the new approach.
“We refer to curation as customized aggregation where we can customize based on a whole different set of criteria, whether it’s genre, whether it’s data, whether it’s content, whether it’s vertical,” Benowitz said. “It allows us to be closer to the inventory.”
Streamlining the buying process
Curation is sometimes considered to add to the complexity of digital advertising. But Benowitz said it can actually do the opposite.
She said curation simplifies the buying process and offers more options, while maintaining attributes reminiscent of linear TV.
“In terms of fragmentation, I think what it allows us to do is actually capture fragmentation,” Benowitz said. “There’s so much complexity in the marketplace as it is that by us being able to curate what our buys look like, we can hone in on audiences or hone in on criteria on key KPIs that our clients want to actually tackle and avoid some of that fragmentation we’re seeing because of the breadth of choice out there.”
Collaboration is crucial
Although agencies may be leading the curation charge, Benowitz stressed the importance of an ecosystem approach. Success relies on all parts of the ecosystem playing their part.
This involves DSPs and SSPs, as well as publishers, the main owners of the inventory.
“I don’t think it’s one ownership,” she said. “I think it starts with the agencies and the buyers, but you need the whole system to make it happen … I would love to see more premium inventory available for curation.”
You’re watching Beet.TV coverage from Programmatic Activation Summit 2025, presented by FreeWheel. For more videos from this series, please viist this page .
