“We’re getting into the upfront (TV ad sales) time and what we hear all across the board is that this year probably will be a softer upfront market, for obvious reasons,” Chalozin says. “But, even more than that, many marketers understand the need for agility.<\/p>\n

“Agility means (buying in the) spot market or scattered marketing, in television terms. But, in digital terms, frankly, it means programmatic. We believe that programmatic as a share of connected television will increase significantly.”<\/p>\n

In other words, more marketers, facing unprecedented pressure, are going to be opportunistic about their ad buys.<\/p>\n

The upfront ad sales season is when programmers tout their upcoming content slates to secure upfront ad buy commitments.<\/p>\n

But securing advance bookings from brands in this environment could be more difficult than before, whilst many TV broadcasters are significantly discounting their ad rates in a bid to stop haemorrhaging under-pressure advertisers.<\/p>\n