This year’s upfronts arrived at a pivotal moment for the TV industry. While the traditional model still dominates how CTV dollars are allocated, we’re entering a new era. Committing massive media budgets so far in advance has never felt riskier. The uncertainty ahead — particularly around the broader economy — makes the flexibility of scatter more appealing than ever.

As mounting pressure builds, many buyers are softening their upfront commitments and holding back more spend for scatter. This shift has begun to reshape the upfront dynamics, with brands making fewer firm commitments and placing greater emphasis on scatter strategies to stay agile and responsive throughout the year.

Reevaluating strategies amid uncertainty

Increasingly, marketers are seeking ways to combine the real-time optimization and flexibility of digital with the premium, brand-safe experience of traditional TV. We’re also seeing a larger industry trend: upper-funnel TV dollars are being held more accountable than ever. In times of economic pressure, brand spend must be tied to outcomes. It’s no longer enough to just buy reach. Those impressions need to perform.

And as consumers potentially rethink their subscription portfolios, hopping from platform to platform or dropping services altogether, advertisers need tools that allow them to follow the audience wherever they go. With TV by OpenX, advertisers can plan around audiences, not platforms, ensuring scalable reach across fragmented environments with fluid, data-backed strategies.

Biddable CTV: Built for the current moment

This uncertain environment has made it clear: advertisers and publishers need a reliable complement to traditional upfronts. Biddable CTV — which includes non-guaranteed 1-to-1 PMPs, multi-publisher PMPs, curated deals, and open market inventory — offers the flexibility needed for modern advertising.

As the first high-quality, transparent marketplace for programmatic premium inventory, TV by OpenX has established the foundation for the widespread adoption of biddable CTV by offering:

• Trusted environments that eliminate friction
• Flexible buying options for real-time strategy adjustments
• Data-driven targeting for more precise and effective impression delivery

Creating confidence in biddable

Before TV by OpenX launched in late 2023, many brands and agencies hesitated to embrace biddable CTV due to a mix of miscategorized devices, unclear content classifications, and indirect supply paths — making it hard to distinguish premium placements from lower-quality or misrepresented ones.

TV by OpenX directly tackled these challenges by removing all resellers and non-TV content from its CTV inventory. This ensures buyers are accessing only premium, properly classified TV inventory through direct, transparent supply paths — minimizing fraud, maximizing working media, and enabling more accurate measurement. At the same time, publishers receive a fairer share of spend, reinforcing the creation of high-quality content and restoring trust in the biddable CTV ecosystem.

A complement to upfronts, not a replacement

Biddable CTV doesn’t aim to replace upfronts, it complements them. In an uncertain market, biddable offers a flexible counterpart to long-term deals, empowering advertisers to be more responsive to economic forces and consumer sentiments. It also creates opportunities for high-quality, emerging brands that may be otherwise priced out of linear.

The future of TV demands equal parts transparency, data-driven optimization, and flexibility. As cultural moments unfold, economic conditions shift, and technologies like generative AI lower creative barriers, brands must move faster and smarter. 

Looking for a solution that offers real-time flexibility and more control over your premium CTV spend? TV by OpenX delivers a transparent, data-driven marketplace that helps you adapt quickly to changing conditions while driving performance and reach. Contact us today to get started.