Disney has set its 2026 upfront presentation for advertisers, which will return to New York City’s North Javits Center on May 12 at 4 p.m. ET.
Leading up to the upfront, Disney will also host its annual global tech and data showcase on Jan. 7, which offers a look at its adtech and global advertising platform, and a sports summit on March 24, which will focus on its portfolio across ESPN and ABC and live events.
“We remain focused on delivering results, driving innovation and building meaningful partnerships,” Disney Global Advertising president Rita Ferro said in a memo to partners. “Whether through our data-driven solutions, iconic storytelling, or commitment to performance, we’re here to help you achieve your business goals, every single day.”
In July, Disney closed its 2025 upfront negotiations, with increased sales in sports and streaming and overall volume consistent with the prior year. Streaming accounted for over 40% of total upfront volume, consistent with the prior year, while sports ad volume across linear and addressable hit nearly $4 billion.
Sports highlights included 69 multi-year deals, double-digit volume growth for “Monday Night Football” and college football and a double-digit percentage increase in volume for women’s sports such as the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament, WNBA and emerging engagement around sports, like softball and volleyball. The NBA also saw high single-digit volume growth, driven by the NBA Finals and “Inside the NBA.”
Elsewhere, the company saw strong demand for live events, with early bookings for the Oscars, CMA Awards and “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest.” The Oscars nearly doubled the number of units sold as part of the Upfront compared to last year.
Disney Advertising also continued to expand its base of independent agencies, which saw double-digit volume growth across sports and streaming. Categories that led the growth included financial services, consumer packaged goods, pharma and beverages.
Disney locking in its 2026 upfront plans comes after NBCUniversal revealed it would host its annual presentation at Radio City Music Hall on May 11.
NBCU’s presentation will spotlight the combined strength of the media giant and Versant, whose collective reach totals 286 million consumers. The companies struck an agreement to represent Versant though the next two upfront cycles earlier this year.
Telemundo will also make its return to the Tuesday evening slot on May 12, as it entertains clients at an exclusive experience in New York City ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
For the 2025-26 season, NBCU smashed records with a nearly 15% increase in ad commitments across its broadcast offerings, including news, sports and entertainment. It also touted its largest digital upfront and strongest sports upfront in history.
Peacock saw an over 20% year over year increase, representing nearly a third of the media giant’s total upfront commitments, while Versant saw a nearly 10% increase in clients investing in its brands.The company’s new 11-year media rights deal with NBA contributed to a 20% increase in new clients compared to the 2024-2025 season and a 45% year over year increase in volume. Over 25% of NBCUniversal’s NBA advertisers will be new to broadcast this year.
NBCUniversal has nearly sold out all of its ad inventory for the NBA’s 2025-26 season, with almost 170 partners investing in the property. Over 20% of NBCUniversal’s NBA advertisers are new to the company, with nearly 10% of new investments into the franchise at large from first-time brands. More than 70% of NBCU’s clients are investing across broadcast and streaming, while over 30% of overall NBA investment has gone solely towards digital inventory. Investments in linear exceeded initial expectations by more than 20%.
In addition to the NBA, the Milan Cortina Olympics, Super Bowl LX and the FIFA World Cup drove record volume, outpacing all three of the property’s combined previous benchmarks. Telemundo experienced its best upfront to date, already exceeding the revenue for the previous World Cup.
Bravo represented nearly 20% of the company’s entire entertainment demand across broadcast and cable, BravoCon attracted record-breaking interest across all key categories and prompted returning sponsors to commit larger investments to secure category exclusivity and elevate creative activations.
The company brought in nearly $1 billion in programmatic advertisements and saw record revenue growth across categories including retail, restaurants, auto, travel and financial services – with all of them growing by approximately 12%. NBCU also said nearly 60% of ad investments were being made against “advanced audiences.” It also generated 30% “net-new small-medium business (SMB) clients” during the upfront.
