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The erosion of ad dollars earmarked for traditional TV has gone from alarming to dire.
Advertisers cut their “upfront” spending on broadcast TV by approximately 5.3%, according to an analysis of the annual sales market
by Media Dynamics Inc., a consultancy that tracks ad spending. Spending on cable TV fell even more, with marketers cutting outlays by 7.7%. In 2025,the spending decline for ad commitments for broadcast fell by just 2.5%,while ad commitments for cable were off by 4.3%. The estimates would mark the fourth consecutive year in which advertising money committed to broadcast and cable fell during the annual sales haggle.
TV’s losses are growing as more advertisers rush to put money down where consumers are gravitating to most: sports and streaming.
The volume of ad commitments put toward streaming rose a whopping 30%, according to Media Dynamics, up to nearly $33.8 billion, compared with nearly $31 billion in 2025. Broadcast commitments in 2026, meanwhile, fell to $8.63 billion, compared with $9.1 billion last year. Cable commitments fell to nearly $8 billion in 2026, compared with nearly $8.7 billion in 2025.
Thanks to streaming gains, the overall market rose 9.1%, Media Dynamics says, to about $33.8 billion, compared with nearly $31 billion last year. Advertisers again committed a greater amount of money to streaming than they did to either broadcast or cable primetime, for the third consecutive year.
The numbers show just how dependent media companies both traditional and new-tech have become on video delivered via broadband connection. During the “upfront,” U.S. media companies try to sell the bulk of their commercial time tied to their next cycle of programming. Broadcast TV had long won the lion’s share of ad dollars, and, to be sure, some broadcast events, including NFL games and big special events, continue to win the biggest sums. But streaming is clearly connecting with Madison Avenue in away that undermines the sector’s traditional ways of making money.
Most media companies so far have claimed victory in the upfront, but without offering too much detail.
Fox Corp. was able to nab a double-digit percentage increase in the volume of advertising tied to both Tubi and Fox News Channel, and “record” volume for sports and news, according to a person familiar with the matter. Amazon said it was able to sustain“year-over-year growth from new and existing advertisers,” but did not quantify whether any increases in volume were robust or less so. Paramount Skydance said last week it won “double-digit percentage” gains in upfront volume. Disney last week said the volume of ad commitments to its properties rose by a double-digit percentage over last year, with sports volume up in the “low teens.”
Netflix on Monday said that it “nearly doubled our ad commitments this year, in line with expectations,” without specifying figures.
While streaming will keep revenue flowing, the media companies appear to have lost some leverage in negotiations.
The cost of reaching 1,000 viewers, a key metric in these annual negotiations that is known as a CPM, is under clear pressure, according to Media Dynamics.
CPMs fell across the board, at broadcast, cable and streaming. Broadcast CPMs fell 4.2%, to $41.65 from $43.50. Cable CPMS dropped 8.5%, to $17.70 from $19.35. Streaming CPMs fell 4.9%, to $25.90 from $27.75, according to Media Dynamics.
TV still has big bright spots. Disney said last week it had sold all of its advertising tied to its 2027 telecast of Super Bowl LXI, one of the earliest examples of sell-out of the Big Game occurring in recent memory.
