NewFronts week is upon us, with some of the largest digital media companies coming together to highlight the new content, innovations, and marketing strategies that are changing the TV and video landscape.

To get to the core of the issues impacting the digital video industry, ADWEEK partnered once again with the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) for a roundtable with executives from this year’s NewFronts presenters, including Nielsen, Tubi, Samsung Ads, and New York Times Advertising. IAB CEO David Cohen also joined the conversation, which was moderated by ADWEEK editor in chief Ryan Joe.

From how AI is impacting advertising to the monumental growth in sports, here are the key topics changing the TV landscape as NewFronts week gets underway:

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1. Flexibility is key

Despite the uncertainty over the current economic climate and tariffs brought on by the Trump administration, a word that’s kept advertising negotiations afloat in the last few months and ahead of the upfront is flexibility.

Publishers, including NBCUniversal, have noted that it’s still too early to see an impact from the tariffs; however, when looking at strategies to help advertisers, having more flexible commitments isn’t a luxury—it’s a must.

“The flexibility that is coming in right now is much more from an investment perspective because of the uncertainty from the consumer perspective,” Michael Scott, vp, head of ad sales, revenue, and operations North America, Samsung Ads, said. “But we’re seeing flexibility in terms of creative messaging and the ability for us to swap out.”

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2. Go deeper on sports

Despite entertainment ratings being a fraction of what they have been in the past, sports continually prove to be a cheat code for viewership in a fragmented marketplace. For instance, this past February, Super Bowl 59 was reported to be the most-watched Super Bowl ever, with an average of 127.7 million viewers. Media buyers also told ADWEEK earlier this year that CPMs for sports would increase, regardless of macroeconomic uncertainty.

Among the properties creating buzz, Tusar Barik, svp of marketing at New York Times Advertising, said women’s sports and Formula 1 have been growing in demand, especially among female sports fans. Meanwhile, Tubi TV CRO Jeff Lucas emphasized that sports have attracted a lot of young consumers due to the combination of the value proposition and the medium being more tech-savvy.

“When we launched the NBA highlights, and the stuff that we did at The Athletic, we saw significant growth, particularly around youth,” Barik said, supporting Lucas’ point.

Local sports teams and franchises are also a unique opportunity that can get pushed to the side, according to Scott.

“The regional sports networks have been an incredibly challenging business—and way overpaid for rights,” Scott said, adding, “That’s created a vacuum and we’ve started to step in there.”

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3. Always keep the trifecta in mind: AI, commerce, and creators

Cohen pointed out that AI, commerce, and creators are the three areas that are currently the hottest in the market, with the latter two dominating the majority of the conversation.

When it comes to commerce, Scott said that social platforms like Instagram and TikTok have been “miraculous” when it comes to impulse purchases.

He pointed out how the Samsung Ads product and engineering teams have experimented with new ad formats for commerce like the Samsung GameBreaks, which launched earlier this year, and allow brands to engage audiences through interactive, high-performance ad experiences. The capability integrates fun-sized, interactive mini-games into Samsung TV Plus during commercial breaks.

Meanwhile, Cohen said that creators are just as important as every other part of the ecosystem for video production.

“I believe they are every bit as legitimate as a great and proper professional studio,” Cohen said.

Tubi has been heavily invested in creator content, according to Lucas, with the streamer even releasing a creator-led movie called Sidelined: The QB and Me, which starred Noah Beck, who has more than 40 million followers across his social platforms.

That following led to significant viewership.

“It did about 5.5 million viewers in five days. That’s under 500,000 the first day. Because of social amplification, it then spread to over a million,” Lucas said, adding that the success led to a sequel being greenlit, with Beck returning to star.

4. Make sure to measure up

Cross-platform and cross-publisher measurement is becoming more important than ever, especially as companies are looking to make their dollars go further amid any belt-tightening.

The power of social followings is also having an impact on measurement, with Ameneh Atai, Nielsen gm of audience measurement, saying that the company is “starting to measure creator content.”

According to Atai, the firm has partnerships with YouTube and TikTok and has been measuring shows like Amazon’s Beast Games, which was created by and stars YouTuber Jimmy “MrBeast” Donaldson.

“It’s still evolving, but how we measure Beast Games uses the same technology as streaming,” Atai said.

At the end of the day, Scott noted that there’s no difference between creators, original IP, or partnerships with existing content when it comes to viewership.

“Great content is great content,” Scott said. “Ultimately, viewers and users decide what they want.”