Legacy media spins age as its advantage

Zoom in: Legacy media companies are seeking to differentiate themselves from digital competitors increasingly vying for TV ad dollars.

• "Legacy is not a word we shy away from. It's our superpower," NBCUniversal chair of global advertising and partnerships Mark Marshall said during Monday's presentation, which celebrated the company's 100th anniversary.
• "It takes seconds to serve an ad, but it takes decades of trust and expertise to actually move [audiences]. No algorithm can do that," John Kozack, president of U.S. advertising sales and marketing at TelevisaUnivision, said during its Tuesday presentation.

Between the lines: The presentations emphasized a "flywheel" strategy around legacy channels, new tech platforms and products.

• NBCUniversal spoke of extending "Saturday Night Live" through Peacock, social video and international expansion, and launching new spinoffs and experiences around franchises like "Fast & Furious."
• Speaking ahead of Warner Bros. Discovery's presentation, U.S. ad sales chief Ryan Gould told Axios, "We'll continue to celebrate the flywheel and essentially how we can weave brand into the fabric of the content experience, not just from an advertising perspective — experiential licensing, consumer products."

Sports remained central to nearly every pitch. Marshall said live events can create "lightning in a bottle" moments for advertisers, pointing to year-round sports programming spanning the NFL, NBA, MLB and the upcoming World Cup on Telemundo.

• "This week, you're going to hear a lot about the value of live sports and ad-supported streaming. At Fox, that's not a new story. It's what we've been delivering successfully for years," Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch said during the company's presentation on Monday.

Reality check: Amazon's acquisition of MGM has turned the tech giant into a legacy media holder.

• "We work backwards from the customer, delivering series and films across genres that people love, backed by a century of iconic IP from Amazon MGM Studios," head of film, streaming and theatrical Courtenay Valenti said during a Monday presentation.
• Amid record levels of regulatory scrutiny against Big Tech in streaming, Amazon positioned itself as a steward of Hollywood traditions. Valenti pointed to the theatrical success of "Project Hail Mary" and "The Sheep Detectives."
• "Some movies are so immersive, audiences want a communal experience in theaters. Supported by big marketing and social campaigns, theatrical films generate momentum, so that when they arrive exclusively on Prime Video, we have enthusiastic viewers ready to watch," Valenti said.

Zoom out: This year's Upfronts was spaced out from the NewFronts as a way to help buyers differentiate between the opportunities of legacy media and platforms. But those two worlds continue to converge.

• Traditional TV companies are aggressively chasing younger audiences through short-form video, including microdramas, and creator partnerships.

• Fox highlighted Tubi's reach with Gen Z viewers and its creator-led programming. Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay spoke of Fox Creator Studios on "developing new IP, some new formats."
• TelevisaUnivision touted its growing micro formats that it launched last year and announced a partnership with MrBeast for a creator event around the Concacaf Gold Cup.

The big picture: Media companies last year were forced to navigate the uncertainty tied to a pending combination of two of Madison Avenue's major ad buyers. Now, that dynamic has flipped.

• Against the backdrop of a pending merger with Paramount Skydance, WBD plans to focus on its IP.
• "The IP that we have still is not changing, and it's going to be available to all our clients," WBD's other top U.S. ad sales executive Robert Voltaggio told Axios. "I don't feel like clients should feel like anything should really change for them in this cycle."
• This was the first year NBCUniversal presented to advertisers following the spin-out of its cable networks into a new, publicly traded firm called Versant. As its sales team is still selling ads on behalf of Versant, anchors from CNBC and "Morning Joe" took the stage.
• Amid an ongoing dispute with the Federal Communications Commission, Disney will have Jimmy Kimmel deliver his annual "roast" during its presentation.

What to watch: As traditional media competes with AI slop flooding the internet, companies are embracing AI behind the scenes to improve ad buying and audience targeting.

• Fox promoted an AI-powered Fox Fan OS and said it runs AI inference against every second of its raw video in real time to identify topics, talent, mood and audience behavior.
• NBCUniversal also highlighted contextual live targeting tools to help advertisers place ads against specific moments within live programming.