At the Upfronts in New York, where the U.S. media industry sells next year’s TV attention to advertisers, the author saw a major shift in how television is being packaged and sold. In Radio City Music Hall, stars such as Tina Fey, Vin Diesel, John Hamm, Gordon Ramsay and NBC talent appeared on stage, while behind closed doors media executives focused on how artificial intelligence is changing ad buying.
For more than 20 years, the author has attended the event, where buyers and executives from the world’s biggest companies come to see the new slate of series, sports and technology. This year, the change was especially clear: traditional broadcasters still matter, but the real power has moved to streaming platforms, where data, personalization and commerce are reshaping the business. The U.S. prime-time TV ad market is estimated at $31 billion, and about 60% of those deals are typically signed during the Upfronts.
Disney presented Hulu, Disney+ and ESPN as one advertising ecosystem built around personalization and shoppable content. NBCUniversal centered its pitch on live events, including the NBA’s return to the network after 23 years, the Olympics, the Super Bowl and the World Cup, while Peacock was described as a data-driven ad platform. Fox emphasized turning passion into measurable performance, unveiling the AI-based Fox Fan OS and expanding Tubi. Amazon highlighted interactive video ads, shopping directly from the screen and AI Pause Ads, while Netflix introduced new AI-powered ad formats.
The deeper trend, the author wrote, is the rise of “Agentic AI,” systems that can identify audiences, manage budgets, optimize in real time and even make media decisions. Paramount also shifted toward smaller dinners and meetings in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles instead of one giant presentation. The author argues that television is not disappearing, it is changing form, and in the U.S. the battle is no longer just for what people watch, but for what happens after that.
The article then contrasts the U.S. with Israel, where streaming and digital TV ad models are still far less advanced and campaigns are often booked at the last minute. Even so, television remains extremely powerful in Israel, with broadcast reach, especially on Keshet 12, still delivering major impact. The first sign of change, the author says, is yes entering the advertising market, but for now traditional TV still leads, while performance-based buying and stricter measurement remain limited.
