WHY THIS MATTERS: Cable networks see data and lower ad loads as ways to compete in the upcoming upfront market.
As another upfront approaches, Donna Speciale, Turner's president for ad sales, is happy to hear that more programmers are picking up on themes that she's been pitching for years.
Turner was an early adopter when it came to using data to help clients target likely buyers of their products across its portfolio of networks.
It was also among the leader in talking about improving the TV consumer's experience by cutting back on commercials, first on truTV, then on original programs on TNT and TBS.
Both of those topics are likely to be big talking points during upfront discussions, if not big business drivers during negotiations with media buyers.
Already this year, Fox and NBCUniversal have made big announcements about their plans to cut commercials. Fox, which someday hopes to get down to two minutes of commercials per hour, is planning to have its Sunday shows feature commercials only in special two-spot pods. NBCU promises to cut the ad load in original primetime programming on its networks by 10%, with 20% fewer commercials during each break.
At this point, Speciale isn't exactly saying I told you so. But she does see the industry moving in the direction in which she has already tried to set up shop.
The TV Experience Matters
With regard to the NBCU and Fox announcements, Speciale said she's pleased.
I feel like finally maybe everybody in the marketplace is now realizing that the experience is obviously really important, there's a lot of choices that our viewers have, whether it's Hulu, Amazon, Netflix, all of our properties, she said. Now, I feel like everybody's realizing that in order for us to really fix this and fine-tune it, we all kind of have to do this together.
Improving the experience goes hand-in-hand with adding data to the ad-sales mix.
It's all connected, she said. It wasn't one without the other. You need every piece that we have been building and all of our capabilities.
A dash of creativity is required, as well, in commercials and branded content. We need better storytelling for the experience of the entire show, Speciale said. I think it will lift all boats.
Will Turner's boat be lifted a little higher because Speciale was a little ahead of the pack?
Turner has definitely been benefiting, she said. We've been getting our fair share across all of our networks.
What I see happening at some point in the marketplace is, and this has been happening for a while, marketers have been wanting to align to fewer partners, Speciale added. We have been leading in the marketplace and marketers want to go with partners who are going to take them to that next evolution of what our business is.
After possibly being ahead of the game, the future is here for Turner, Speciale said. And marketers can't wait any longer either. We've been seeing a lot more marketers coming into the audience space. Open AP has definitely helped that.
Open AP was set up to help advance audience buying by standardizing how clients define their target markets and by providing post-campaign analyses that show the effectiveness of data-driven campaigns.
A year after it was set up as a consortium among Turner, 21st Century Fox and Viacom, Open AP still has only three members heading into the upfront.
I'm hoping that prior to the upfront there will be some more announcements, Speciale said. Stay tuned.
Last spring's Open AP announcement came before the project was fully ready to go. But it was a tough secret to keep and it needed to get out for the marketers to realize we were very serious, Speciale said.
In the meantime, the Turner ad sales president pointed out that clients who have tried data-driven, audience-based campaigns have come back for more and increased their spending. We've increased every single year, Speciale said. Same advertisers, bigger budgets. More advertisers have come into the network and are doing it. It's been great.
Turner said clients who do audience buying are spending 25% of their total budget on audiences. The return on investment is big, an average of $5.66 for every dollar spent, representing a 122% increase over the ROI delivered by standard demo deals.
But a lot of other marketers haven't taken the leap into data and audience buying.
It's hard, Speciale said. It's not easy. It's a little complicated. And there's a lot of training, which is what we've been focusing on.
Internally, many clients have procurement people who need to compare next year's plan with the current plan. If there's no history on data-driven advertising, it is hard to get it approved.
You only need to do it once. Once you do it, they you have history. Then you can start comparing it. And don't forget: Everybody has renewed. So, for everybody who has been dipping their toe in, it's not even experimental anymore. Now they're using it.
Data helps TV compete against digital and TV has to press its advantages at a time when Facebook and Google are being questioned by advertisers.
During its upfront, Turner will again focus on the concept of fans.
What is true is that our fans want this content no matter where it is, no matter what screen it's on, Speciale said. And I think everybody knows that. So if you're watching Conan, and you want to watch it online, you watch it online. If you're seeing clips on YouTube, you're seeing clips on YouTube. It's happening. The behavior of the viewer and the consumer is definitely on all screens. We just all have to figure out, especially for media companies how do I get paid for it?
Searching For a Metric
They can't get paid on it based on Nielsen ratings. We should
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
02/05/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
01/05/2026
January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...
06/04/2026
Michigan legends bring a new voice to the broadcast as TNT Sports and CBS Sports...
06/04/2026
From high school sports all the way up to the major leagues, building high-quali...
06/04/2026
Quickplay, an AI company for the media and entertainment industry, has been accepted into the Advanced tier of the TwelveLabs Ecosystem Partner Program. Quickpl...
06/04/2026
Grass Valley has announced the Future Playmakers Program, a global initiative to...
06/04/2026
El l der de operaciones impulsa la producci n en estudio mientras encuentra insp...
06/04/2026
The ops leader helps lead the charge in studio for the Spanish-language broadcas...
06/04/2026
Behind The Mic provides a roundup of recent news regarding on-air talent, includ...
06/04/2026
The National Hockey League (NHL), in partnership with Verizon and the New Jersey Devils, today announced the opening of the NHL Innovation Lab powered by Verizo...
06/04/2026
Rock League, a new professional curling league, has announced that ESPN+ will stream its inaugural 2026 season for fans in the United States. The first Rock Lea...
06/04/2026
Advanced Systems Group has announced the appointment of Andrea (Andy) Cummis as Vice President of Systems Design and Engineering. In this role, she will lead de...
06/04/2026
Backed by Bolt Ventures, the venture brings Bryson DeChambeau, Grant Horvat, and...
06/04/2026
With this environment we can start that collaboration even earlier because we ca...
06/04/2026
Like the immortal lives of vampires, some stories never really end. That's t...
06/04/2026
As podcasting continues to evolve, growth increasingly means building beyond aud...
06/04/2026
Multiband dynamics plug-in enhanced
California-based developer FSK Audio have released a significant update for their innovative multiband dynamics processo...
06/04/2026
Share official & user-created full-rig presets
IK Multimedia's latest TONEX update makes it possible for users of the popular amp and effects modelling ...
06/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
06/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
06/04/2026
Dalet Showcases Dalia Agentic AI and End-to-End Media Workflows at NAB Show 2026
Brie Clayton April 6, 2026
0 Comments
Dalet, a leading technology and...
06/04/2026
OpenDrives Shows Off Sports Expertise in Sports Business Hub located in NAB Show...
06/04/2026
Proton to Demonstrate 3D Application at NAB 2026
Brie Clayton April 6, 2026
0 Comments
Yet further creative potential unleashed through innovation in ...
06/04/2026
Autoscript Highlights Voice-Driven Prompting and PTZ Solutions at NAB 2026
Brie Clayton April 6, 2026
0 Comments
Experience Autoscript Voice, PTZ prom...
06/04/2026
Mediaproxy Highlights Significant Enhancements to its LogServer suite at NAB Sho...
06/04/2026
Back to All News
Netflix Expands Kids Entertainment Lineup With Playground App ...
05/04/2026
Tackles all reported bugs!
SoundBridge have just announced the launch of a new update that introduces a couple of minor changes to their remote collaboratio...
04/04/2026
The University of Arizona's Men's Basketball team has only loss twice th...
04/04/2026
1080p HDR arrives, a new generation of storytelling tools takes center stage, an...
04/04/2026
Michigan legends bring a new voice to the broadcast as TNT Sports and CBS Sports...
04/04/2026
Faster, cleaner and more intuitive than ever
The control software for Flock Audio's digitally controlled patchbay systems has just been treated to an up...
04/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/04/2026
DHD Introduces AI-Based Audio Noise Reduction to XD3 IP Core
Brie Clayton April 3, 2026
0 Comments
The accompanying image shows the rear panel of the ...
04/04/2026
Macnica Redefines ST 2110 Flexibility with Two Speeds on One Card
Brie Clayton April 3, 2026
0 Comments
New for NAB Show 2026, MEP100 SmartNIC now sup...
04/04/2026
Unified Media Workflows for Story-Centric Production
Brie Clayton April 3, 2026
0 Comments
Framelight X unifies field capture, editing and publishing ...
03/04/2026
Michigan's Fab Five will reunite for an alternate presentation of the Mich...
03/04/2026
Avid will exhibit at NAB Show 2026 (April 18-22, Booth N2226, Las Vegas Convention Center), demonstrating its Content Core platform and new AI-driven workflow c...
03/04/2026
Mark Roberts Motion Control (MRMC) has announced the appointment of Nick Barthee as Chief Operating Officer.
The announcement follows MRMC's transition fro...
03/04/2026
Interra Systems has announced that Elite Media Technologies has selected its BATON file-based QC solution for media workflows. Elite Media Technologies speciali...
03/04/2026
Ateme has announced that Moldtelecom has deployed Ateme technologies across its streaming workflow, covering encoding, delivery, operations, and analytics.
Mol...
03/04/2026
Grass Valley will demonstrate Framelight X, its content management platform, at NAB Show 2026. The platform connects capture, ingest, editing, and publishing in...
03/04/2026
Encompass Digital Media and Techex have announced a cloud-native Master Control ...
03/04/2026
Live Vertical Video automatically track the action on the court via AI technology and delivers a fully optimized, 9 16 live feed for viewers...
03/04/2026
As the Illini make their first trip to college basketball's biggest stage si...
WHY THIS MATTERS: Cable networks see data and lower ad loads as ways to compete in the upcoming upfront market.
