How Big Tech Took Over the Upfronts

CEO Neal Mohan speaks onstage during the YouTube Brandcast event at Lincoln Center on May 13, 2026 in New York City. Noam Galai/Getty Images for YouTube

Shortly after Chappell Roan finished her set at YouTube’s upfront presentation in Lincoln Center’s David Geffen Hall on May 13, a couple thousand media buyers and advertisers exited the theater into a massive structure, built over the venue’s Josie Robertson Plaza, its iconic fountain sitting in the middle of the space.

Sipping a cocktail by the fountain, in between a 15-foot spread of sour candies and a buffet of small bites created by popular cooking creators, a veteran advertising executive quipped to The Hollywood Reporter that the television upfronts remain a relic of the “Mad Men-era.” A multi-day barrage of wining, dining and wowing meant to persuade brands to part ways with about $30 billion between linear TV and streaming video annually, per a tally from consulting firm Media Dynamics.

But while the upfronts were a creation of broadcast TV (ABC hosted the first one in 1962), 2026 was the year that Big Tech officially took over.

Paramount once again sat the week out, while companies like NBCUniversal, Fox Corp. and Warner Bros. Discovery leaned into their smaller ambitions.

“We don’t try to do everything, and we don’t pursue scale just for scale sake,” Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch told the crowd at the New York City Center. “Instead, we focus where it matters most, live sports, live news, bold entertainment and ad supported streaming.”

NBCU’s Mark Marshall at the Radio City Music Hall in New York City on Monday, May 11, 2026. Charles Sykes/NBCUniversal via Getty Images

Or as NBCUniversal ad sales chief Mark Marshall remarked on NBC’s upcoming 100th anniversary: “Legacy is not a word we shy away from. It’s our superpower.”

It was in many ways a recognition of the changing dynamics of media: Big Tech is king of the castle, and many of the legacy players are choosing to lean into their strengths rather than bulking up to compete.

Even the party scene reflected this new reality. Two of New York’s most venerated cultural institutions — the New York Public Library at Bryant Park and Lincoln Center on the Upper West Side — became the center of the two splashiest parties, thrown, of course, by tech companies (Amazon and YouTube, respectively). Both got some of the hottest talent of the week – Roan, Alex Cooper and Trevor Noah for YouTube; Oprah, Diplo and Michael B. Jordan for Amazon.

And Netflix persuaded Jennifer Lopez, Florence Pugh, Tina Fey and John Cena to come all the way to a film studio on the Hudson River, before wining and dining media buyers with burgers, booze and grain bowls in one of its empty soundstages.

The last decade has seen legacy media companies stagnate or shrink as tech giants like Apple, Amazon, Google and Netflix poured resources into entertainment and sports, gobbling up companies like MGM and stealing market share from traditional Hollywood players. The new reality finds those legacy players, with the single exception of Disney, playing defense as tech’s flywheel spins faster, and their pursuit of TV ad dollars becomes even more aggressive.

Legacy media companies have gotten smaller, with Fox shedding its entertainment assets to Disney, and NBCUniversal spinning out most of its cable TV assets into Versant. Warner Bros. Discovery is in the process of being sold to Paramount (in a deal backed by tech CEO Larry Ellison), with WBD’s upfront feeling much smaller than years past, a recognition that it will likely be its last time on the stage alone.

“Traditional media is still trying to preserve legacy economics while others are creating new ones,” said Laura Molen, a former president of ad sales for NBCUniversal, in a post on LinkedIn.

At his presentation, YouTube CEO Neal Mohan leaned into the democratic nature of his platform, contrasting it with the legacy giants. “For decades, the entertainment industry was built on a series of bets, programming shows based on formulas and focus groups and guessing what would make an audience show up. At YouTube, we didn’t wait for a focus group. We built a stage and empowered anyone with a story to find an audience.”

That bottom-up narrative is true, but it only tells half the story: YouTube can afford not to focus group because in many ways it already knows what people want. The company’s massive collections of individual data and market-lapping algorithms means the company didn’t need to program to tastes, never mind build an audience. It simply needs to create enough programming volume that its tech tools can locate one. With a slew of influencers, from Cooper to the sports juggernaut Jesser, the firm showed how it planned to do just that.

Amazon’s more traditional presentation on May 11 (Jordan took the stage with Lonnie Ali to chat about their new series, e.g.) still featured plenty of the whizbangery. The emergence on stage of Amazon executives to talk about the giant’s ad tools — or simply the references to how advertised products can be easily sold without leaving the platform — underscored just how different, non-televisual a pool the company is splashing in.

As Google’s Americas’ ad chief Sean Downey kept telling the crowd at the YouTube presentation, his firm’s tools could already determine “intent” — what show a viewer wanted to see or ad he wanted to engage with, often in real-time. The company’s scanning of searches and intimate knowledge of users’ video history (and, coming very soon, the full implementation of predictive AI tools) could help the tech giant understand what would make a consumer click before they even did. This is the end-point of what happens when you take the engagement-farming tools Silicon Valley has spent a decade refining and marry it to the world of fandom and compelling shows Hollywood has spent a century building: you don’t watch TV so much as it just lasers its way to us.”

Meanwhile, four years ago, Netflix did not have an advertising business at all. On Wednesday, it told media buyers that it has 250 million monthly active viewers and growing, with plans to more than double the number of countries it operates an ad tier in next year.

Amy Reinhard speaks onstage during the 2026 Netflix Upfront at Sunset Pier 94 Studios on May 13, 2026 in New York City. Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for Netflix

“If the last couple of years were about proving we’re a durable player, this year is about establishing ourselves as a more formidable one,” Netflix ads president Amy Reinhard told the crowd. “We’ve got cutting-edge tech, we’ve got great entertainment across shows, movies, podcasts and live events, and we’ve got the most engaged and attentive audience. We’ve proven we’re effective. We’re expanding ads to more places, and we’re ready to compete with anyone.”

Among the legacy media companies, only Disney tried to wow the crowds with the same scale and scope as the tech giants, ending its presentation with a set by Olivia Rodrigo, and on-stage appearances from the likes of Anne Hathaway and Robert Downey Jr. to Robert Irwin, Shaquille O’Neal and Rosario Dawson. Talent like Jimmy Kimmel, William H. Macy and the Savannah Bananas schmoozed with media buyers at the afterparty.

This tech momentum was one reason Disney tried so hard to make itself seem like a tech company itself given all the references to Disney+ and Hulu.

But at a YouTube creator and press event the night earlier — timed, unintentionally but still tellingly, opposite the Disney upfront — a buzzy gathering with a host of creators suggested just how much energy the Google unit really had.

Trevor Noah speaks onstage during the YouTube Brandcast event at Lincoln Center on May 13, 2026 in New York City. Noam Galai/Getty Images for YouTube

Newly minted YouTube poster-child Trevor Noah moderated a panel and mingled with the crowd, as some of its biggest names — There’s Alex Cooper! Here comes Cleo Abram! — moved easily around, talking to fellow creators and anyone who wanted to chat them up. For those who has spent years milling through up fronts, the scene hit hard. Broadcast stars have long been trotted out at these events to put the shine on their shows with parties, as they did at Disney this year. But the feel was often stilted, constructed, like bringing a museum mannequin to Sunday brunch. These creators were just regular folks not that long ago, and they seemed to think nothing of standing around with any sub-5 million-follower plebes.

The platform is in a war to retain this talent, of course. But it is with TikTok and Instagram, not NBC and MTV. Those places moved too slowly and constrictedly. Noah pushed back when asked by THR if he felt freer than in his basic-cable legacy world he occupied at The Daily Show host not that long ago. “I wouldn’t say that, because it’s not like I didn’t feel free before. But that was a train track and this is a road,” he said.

Perhaps the best signal for how tech platforms have taken over the TV-ad world can be seen with ad sales executives from traditional entertainment companies tripping over themselves to tout their advanced data, their new agentic ad buying tools, and other advanced ad tech.

“Are they behind? They sort of have a different role in the space,” one senior level source on the buy side tells THR of the legacy media companies. “I don’t know that they’re ever going to catch up to an Amazon or a Google.

“Someone like a Disney for example, they’re really trying to test agentic buying. I know NBC is as well, but their ecosystems look different than, let’s say, the YouTube ecosystem, or the Google ecosystem or the Amazon ecosystem, which are more advanced in that they already have products that are using AI,” the source adds, calling Google Performance Max (PMax) the “ultimate” AI-powered advertising tool, with Amazon in the same ballpark. “They have these entire ecosystems that are built on automation and constant updating, because you’re looking at sales data, and they can do creative, crazy things.”

U.S. ad chief Tanner Elton speaks onstage during the Amazon Upfront at Beacon Theatre on May 11, 2026 in New York City. Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Amazon

In truth, a certain amount of cynicism has taken hold, as the tech giants get bigger and bigger and dominate market share and now, upfront week as well.

It’s why one of the biggest laughs from Jimmy Kimmel’s annual upfront roast took aim at the advertising business itself.

“It’s all powered by AI. Agentic AI,” Kimmel quipped. “Now, for those of you who are fortunate enough to not know what that means, agentic AI is a group of autonomous systems capable of planning, making decisions and executing multi-step tasks to achieve specific goals with limited human supervision. And that is a fancy way of saying: You are all fucked. They’re going to use LLM’s and API’s to F-U up the A-S-S.”

Kimmel’s line got a big laugh. But after a week of Big Tech dominance, it may not be such a joke.

Upfronts Buzz-o-Meter

What hit and what didn’t at the annual media buyer pitch frenzy.

Best Atmosphere

Diplo performs onstage during the Amazon Upfront at Beacon Theatre on May 11, 2026 in New York City. Roy Rochlin/Getty Images for Amazon

When Steve Aoki (2025) and Diplo (2026) DJ your upfront, the message sent is that it’s time to party. And that’s before Kacey Musgraves performed a couple of songs. The message received is probably more like, “Amazon has way too much money,” but we’ll pick up what you’re putting down. To loosen up the atmosphere, Amazon had open bars on all levels of the Beacon Theatre during its presentation. We can — and did — drink to that. The first guest on the stage? None other than Oprah.

Kimmel’s DGAF Tour

Jimmy Kimmel Randy Holmes/Disney/Getty Images

The ABC late night host’s annual upfront roast was particularly spicy this year (“I cost our company a lot of money this year, billions. It is very possible that no employee in the history of any company has cost their employer more than hiring me 24 years ago”), and he even drew some double takes by working the room at the after-party, snapping selfies with well-wishing media buyers.

Thanks for the Brevities

Johnny Knoxville repped Fear Factor at Fox’s upfront.

In Hamlet, Polonius tells us (well, he tells the King and Queen, really) that “brevity is the soul of wit.” For the busy upfronts week, it was the merciful brevity of Netflix’s, Fox’s and Warner Bros. Discovery’s individual presentations that saved our souls. Each claimed they’d go just an hour, and some came closer than others. But God Bless you, everyone, for trying.

Actual, Genuine Emotions… at an Upfront?!

Olivia Rodrigo performing during Disney’s presentation. Getty Images

Disney ended its upfront with a set from superstar Olivia Rodrigo… who in turn brought Jimmy Kimmel’s 11 year-old daughter Jane on stage, a sweet and genuine moment of joy in a week filled with fake enthusiasm and excitement.

Party of the Season

Sunny Hostin, Ana Navarro, Joy Behar, Whoopi Goldberg, Sara Haines and Alyssa Farrah Griffin attend the 2026 Disney Upfront at Jacob Javits Center on May 12, 2026 in New York City. Arturo Holmes/Getty Images

Amazon’s takeover of the New York Public Library’s Schwartzman building was overcrowded. So was YouTube’s takeover of the plaza at Lincoln Center. Netflix’s sound stage reception was roomy but dim (it was a choice to light the whole place in red). Give Disney the win for their cavernous reception at the Javits Center, with photo ops, plenty of food stations, and even a beer garden next to uprights where attendees could compete in head to head ball tosses.

Most Novel Venue

Julie Foudy, Michelle Akers, Mia Hamm, Elle Duncan, Brandi Chastain, Carla Overbeck, and Joy Fawcett speak onstage during the 2026 Netflix Upfront at Sunset Pier 94 Studios on May 13, 2026. Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for Netflix

Netlflix took over two sound stages at Sunset Pier 94 Studios on the Hudson River (yes, it used to be a ship pier) for its presentation, effectively creating the most appropriate “vibe” of any upfront, compared to the theaters utilized by NBCUniversal, Warner Bros. Discovery, Fox, Amazon and YouTube, or the cavernous and impersonal Jacob Javits Center used by Disney.

The P.I.s Have It

David Boreanaz in ‘The Rockford Files’ pilot episode. Mark Hill/NBC

None of the teaser trailers shown at the upfronts drew massive reactions, but two of the best were for private eye shows on NBC — a reboot of The Rockford Files starring David Boreanaz (and a vintage Pontiac Firebird) and a comedy called Sunset P.I., starring Jake Johnson and created by to Brooklyn Nine-Nine alums.

4 Fast, 4 Furious?

Vin Diesel and Paul Walker in 2001’s ‘The Fast and the Furious.’ Universal/Getty Images

Vin Diesel told the NBCUniversal upfront attendees that Peacock was “launching four shows” set in the Fast and Furious world … but the press release that followed mentioned just one project in development. (Later in the week reports came that, in fact, others were in the works too.)

YouTube’s Circa 2003 Slate

Alex Cooper at YouTube’s TV Upfront, Brandcast on May 13, 2026 in New York, New York. John Nacion/Variety via Getty Images)

YouTube did something it had never done before: It presented a slate of shows from top creators, urging brands to buy in. But for the world’s dominant video platform, the slate was, while high-quality, comparable to what someone would expect at the Discovery upfront circa the mid-aughts. Creators have come a long way, but there is still room to grow.

CEO No-Shows

Josh D’Amaro Photo by Ricardo Moreira/Getty Images for Disney

Credit to Disney’s Josh D’Amaro, who gamely handled the receiving line at Disney’s upfront after presenting on stage. Lachlan Murdoch was front and center for Fox too. And there was Ted Sarandos, who worked the room at the Netflix reception. But Andy Jassy? Nowhere to be seen at Amazon. David Zaslav did not appear on stage or at the post-upfront lunch hosted by WBD. And while Neal Mohan presented at YouTube, he spent the after-party in a VIP area away from the masses.

That’s it?

(L-R) Bobby Voltaggio and Ryan Gould speak onstage during the Warner Bros. Discovery Upfront 2026 at The Theater at Madison Square Garden on May 13, 2026 in New York City. Mike Coppola/Getty Images

Warner Bros. Discovery certainly raised some eyebrows among media buyers by using the grand finale of its upfront to debut a trailer for… Stuart Fails to Save the Universe, the HBO Max spinoff of The Big Bang Theory. For a company with more franchises than any other studio than Disney, it was certainly a choice. — Alex Weprin, Rick Porter, Tony Maglio