
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
09/11/2025
Dalet today announced a transformative leap forward for media operations: Agentic Artificial Intelligence (AI) that unifies the Dalet ecosystem under one natura...
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
18/09/2025
FOR-A America named Jo Aun as Senior Manager of Product Management and Engineering, reporting directly to Satoshi Kanemura, President and COO. In this new posit...
18/09/2025
MASV (massive.io), the fastest and most reliable large file transfer platform for media professionals and an IDC Innovator 2025 for Media & Entertainment*, toda...
18/09/2025
ThinkAnalytics, the global leader in video content discovery and persaonalization, today announced that Dish TV India, the leading content distribution company,...
18/09/2025
DirecTV continues to expand its women's sports offerings by adding Sports Fanatics' and Whoopi Goldberg's Free Ad-Supported Television (FAST) All Wo...
18/09/2025
WASHINGTON NextGen TV viewers are beginning to see what high dynamic range (HDR) brings to their football enjoyment with the launch of the sport's fall seas...
18/09/2025
WASHINGTON After issuing audit letters seeking Equal Employment Opportunity data from a randomly selected group of TV and radio stations in August, the Federal ...
18/09/2025
NEW YORK Warner Bros. Discovery and Nielsen have signed a new, long-term, multi-year deal that covers measurement for all Warner Bros. Discovery platforms acros...
18/09/2025
NEW YORK As part of its ongoing efforts to develop better measurement solutions, the Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement (CIMM) announced the launch of t...
18/09/2025
IRVING, Texas Following threats from the Federal Communications Commission and the announcement that the nations largest station group, Nexstar Media Group, wou...
18/09/2025
Individual phones could be tracked back to specific residential addresses
Sm...
18/09/2025
GeForce NOW is packing a monstrous punch this week. Dying Light: The Beast, the latest adrenaline fueled chapter in Techland's parkour meets survival horror...
18/09/2025
September 18 2025, 04:20 (PDT) Dolby Atmos arrives in Maruti Suzuki Victoris, e...
17/09/2025
Tech Focus: Audio Training, Part 2 - Manufacturers Offer Extensive Online Learni...
17/09/2025
Tech Focus: Audio Training, Part 1 - A1 Shortage Remains a Major-League Challeng...
17/09/2025
It was the ultimate convergence of pop culture and literary prestige: Last night, Dua Lipa brought her Service95 Book Club podcast to the stage for a special li...
17/09/2025
During August, streaming's share of TV viewing in Mexico showed an increase of 0.4% compared to the previous month, accounting for 25% of TV viewing.
Discl...
17/09/2025
CYPRESS, Calif. FOR-A America has named Jo Aun as senior manager of product engineering, a new role responsible for guiding the planning, development and rollou...
17/09/2025
PlayBox Neo, in partnership with CIS Group, a leading provider of media and broadcast technology solutions, has successfully deployed PlayBox Neo's Dual Cha...
17/09/2025
In a relationship that mirrors societal advances in sustainability, Brightline Lighting and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Headquarters have en...
17/09/2025
Clear-Com is proud to support the world-class productions of Alley Theatre, one of the oldest and largest nonprofit resident theatres in the United States. With...
17/09/2025
Arch Platform Technologies (www.archpt.io), a pioneer in automated, scalable cloud infrastructure for high-performance workflows, today announced a Strategic Co...
17/09/2025
Over 300 selected decision-makers from start-ups, corporates, and VC funds worldwide will gather for the third edition of the event, united by a single goal: to...
17/09/2025
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, is excited to announce that its flagship Vantage platform and its next-generation AI capabilities re...
17/09/2025
Mediagenix, a global leader in smart content solutions that profitably connect the right content to the right audience, proudly announces its three Best of Show...
17/09/2025
In a move to further establish a firm foothold across South East Asia, PlayBox Neo, the well-respected name in broadcast playout and channel branding, has appoi...
17/09/2025
Wisycom, a global leader in advanced wireless audio solutions, announced two major wireless solutions at IBC 2025 (Stand 8.D30). This includes the Portable RF-o...
17/09/2025
Six Berklee Alumni Win Emmy Awards The recipients were recognized for their contributions to acclaimed programs Severance, The Studio, The Penguin, SNL50: The...
17/09/2025
Applications Open for Berklee in Santo Domingo The weeklong contemporary music program will run January 5-10, 2026.
By
Colette Greenstein
September 17, 2025
...
17/09/2025
Ukrainian Students Find Creative Consonance' at Berklee Valencia Through ELIA's UAx Platform, six students from Kyiv joined Berklee Valencia for a week...
17/09/2025
Earlier this year Avid announced Kenna Hilburn as its new senior vice president of product. Recently Hilburn was promoted to Avids new Chief Product Officer, su...
17/09/2025
Transatlantic collaboration combines experience and agility to drive innovation in network design and delivery
Luxembourg, September 16, 2025 - SES, a leading ...
17/09/2025
NEW YORK Madhive has announced that the Fox Television Stations have joined its Live Sports Marketplace....
17/09/2025
SYRACUSE, N.Y. Sony Electronics has announced that it is partnering with the Newhouse School at Syracuse University to provide state-of-the-art equipment, hands...
17/09/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Roku has announced that the first smart projector using its Roku TV operating system, the Aurzen Roku TV Smart Projector D1R Cube, is now avail...
17/09/2025
Today's creators are equal parts entertainer, producer and gamer, juggling game commentary, scene changes, replay clips, chat moderation and technical troub...
17/09/2025
Wednesday 17 September 2025
UK artists capture icons of stage and screen, inclu...
17/09/2025
Jo Returns to FOR-A as Senior Manager of Product Management and Engineering...
17/09/2025
For the Moon Safari anniversary tour, AIR opened the doors to their backstage. Just a few hours before the Paris concert, DPA met with two key figures of the te...
17/09/2025
Auditions will be held in Dublin, Cork and Galway
The County Parade returns f...
16/09/2025
SVG All-Stars: Leigh Michaud, Manager, Remote Operations, ESPNThe UConn grad rose from ESPN's mailroom to become one of its most valuable ops leadersBy Bran...
16/09/2025
Live From IBC 2025: Friday's Latest From Halls 1-4, Outdoor Exhibits in Amst...
16/09/2025
Live From IBC 2025: Saturday's Latest From Halls 5-7 in Amsterdam By SVG Staff
Friday, September 12, 2025 - 17:00
Print This Story
The SVG Europe and ...
16/09/2025
Live From IBC 2025: Sunday's Latest From Halls 8-10 in Amsterdam By SVG Staff
Saturday, September 13, 2025 - 17:00
Print This Story
The SVG Europe and...
16/09/2025
Live From IBC 2025: Monday's Latest From Halls 11-14 in Amsterdam By SVG Staff
Sunday, September 14, 2025 - 17:00
Print This Story
The SVG Europe and ...
16/09/2025
Amazon Prime Video Picks Up Four Hours of Early-Round Masters Coverage in 2026 By Jason Dachman, Editorial Director, U.S.
Tuesday, September 16, 2025 - 10:15...
16/09/2025
VERSANT Inks Deal for League One Volleyball as Women's Sports Rights Slate G...
16/09/2025
ESPN VP, Corporate Communications, Katina Arnold Named SVP, Disney Advertising C...
16/09/2025
IBC 2025 in Review: SVG Europe's Full Collection of Video Interviews From th...