2026-27 upfront estimates and 2025 reported or estimated ad revenue · do not add a YouTube year to an upfront season
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THE UPFRONT
Prime-time commitments for the latest buying season. An upfront is a promise to spend, not a receipt for ads already run.
| Bucket | Amount | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Linear prime, total | $17.8 billion | −3.2% |
| Broadcast prime | $9.1 billion | −2.5% |
| Cable prime | $8.7 billion | −4.3% |
| Streaming | $13.2 billion | +18% |
Media Dynamics estimates, reported by Marketing Dive, Oct 2026. Since the 2023-24 upfronts, linear prime sales are down about $1.2 billion and streaming sales are up about $5 billion, on these estimates.
WHAT A 30 SECONDS COSTS
Average prime-time CPM for adult viewers. Cost per thousand, not the price of one spot on one show.
| Pipe | CPM | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Broadcast prime | $43.50 | −4.1% |
| Streaming | $27.25 | −7.6% |
| Cable prime | $19.35 | −6.8% |
Same Media Dynamics upfront read. A Sunday football unit and a cable-news unit are not this average. Show-level prices land here when a trade piece prints one.
YOUTUBE AGAINST THE STUDIOS
2025 ad revenue. YouTube is an estimate. The studio total is the same firm’s combined figure for four companies.
| Seller | 2025 ad revenue | Meter |
|---|---|---|
| YouTube | $40.4 billion | MoffettNathanson estimate |
| Disney, NBC, Paramount, WBD | $37.8 billion | Same firm, combined |
MoffettNathanson via The Hollywood Reporter and TechCrunch, March 2026. In 2024 the four studios were ahead, $41.8 billion to YouTube’s $36.1 billion. YouTube’s figure is before some partner payouts. Do not read it as cash that landed in one news division.
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Amazon is a different store
Amazon’s ad business is mostly retail search. A sponsored product on a shopping page is not a 30-second spot on a network.
Prime Video is the television slice. A 2025 MoffettNathanson projection put Prime Video ad revenue near $2.09 billion for that year, up 21 percent. That is a projection for one product, not Amazon’s ad company. It stays in its own row.
LINEAR IS STILL THE BIG PIPE
National linear versus ad-supported streaming, 2025 projections from the same research note. Older than the upfront table. Labeled so the years do not get mixed.
| Pipe | 2025 projection | Change |
|---|---|---|
| National linear TV | $25.1 billion | −9% |
| Broadcast networks | $11.8 billion | −9% |
| Cable networks | $13.3 billion | −8% |
| Ad-supported streaming, 11 platforms | $15.6 billion | +17% |
| Netflix ads | $2.06 billion | +116% |
| Prime Video ads | $2.09 billion | +21% |
MoffettNathanson projections reported by MediaPost, Oct 2025, for the 2025 year. Fox cable, including Fox News, was estimated up 7 percent to $1.5 billion in that note. Fox broadcast was estimated up 26 percent to $2.8 billion on sports. Disney’s cable group, ESPN included, was estimated up 8 percent to $4.34 billion.
Drug-company share of the television buy, the top advertised drugs, and the evening-news pill block are on the Pharma page.
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