The year has gotten off to a clamorous start for corporate America (not to mention the rest of us), with epic stock market gyrations and President Trump’s chaotic tariff rollout ramping up the anxiety levels.

Taking the stage against that backdrop this week in New York, major media companies will respond by doing what they do best: tuning out the noise and putting on a show.

Monday marks the kickof to upfronts week, the annual ritual of programmers pitching ad buyers, although it has become a more concentrated affair for the cost-conscious industry. Calling it a “week” overstates things a bit, as this concentrated edition will see eight events in just three days.

NBCUniversal, Fox, Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery and TelevisaUnivision (with Paramount still eschewing the big stage) will face stiff competition in the form of Amazon, Netflix and YouTube. The three tech giants will all take part in the main upfronts week in person for the second straight year.

“There is definitely a lot of excitement, and that comes with tremendous pressure, as well,” Mark Marshall, Chairman of Global Advertising and Partnerships at NBCU, tells Deadline. “But I have no doubt we are ready – we have been preparing for this year for a long time.”

Donna Speciale, President of U.S. Advertising and Marketing at TelevisaUnivision, says the turmoil facing the ad business is nothing new. “In moments of uncertainty – which we’ve all gotten used to – advertisers are focusing on what drives real impact. No one’s stepping back from growth, especially when it comes to reaching audiences they can’t find anywhere else. Flexibility is also key right now.”

Disney is also prepping a sequel to last year’s starry bash, which saw the likes of Emma Stone, Ryan Reynolds and CEO Bob Iger grace the North Javits stage. Sales chief Rita Ferro declined to get specific, but she said, “You can expect a significant talent presence, which is fitting for our portfolio,” she said.

Movies, a big theme across the industry last year, are expected to once again play a central role in the week, highlighting the shift in movie consumption as the box office tries to battle back to pre-Covid levels. Ferro notes the important role features play on flagship streaming service Disney+.

Disney’s upfront, including the annual mini-roast of the industry by late-night host Jimmy Kimmel, will be preceded by an ESPN press event. The sports division’s chairman, Jimmy Pitaro, is expected to reveal the name and price of ESPN’s forthcoming stand-alone streaming outlet.

Sports rights will connect streaming with traditional media, with teases of NFL games expected throughout the upfront ahead of the league’s official 2025 schedule unveiling. YouTube is getting set to announce it will livestream a game from Brazil in September, according to multiple press reports in recent days. The continued health of live sports is perhaps the one leveling factor among the cohort of upfront sellers, as they are constituted quite differently in their general entertainment operations.

The NBA’s new contract will see WBD step aside and NBCU re-enter the scene for the first time in two-plus decades. Disney has re-upped, and Amazon now also has long-term rights. NBCU will extend its successful Sunday night NFL window with basketball, and Prime Video will do likewise with Thursdays.

“There’s some uncertainty and discussions around the economy,” Danielle Carney, Amazon’s Head of U.S. Video and Live Sports Sales, told Deadline in an interview. “It’s paramount that we’re helping [advertisers] drive performance. … Our ability to drive the scale and great IP like the NBA and the NFL and big tentpole moments like Black Friday and Christmas Day, and also use our strong [consumer] signals and tech and ad innovation, is really unmatched.”

Data aggregated in the Amazon marketing cloud, she added, “can very safely and cleanly help build out reporting to understand the customer’s journey and path, on and off Amazon.” That capability “is really unique,” she said. “You definitely cannot do this in sports other places. And so that’s why I call it the megaphone, Thursday Night Football, and the NBA will be as well.”

When Prime Video started running ads on all film and episodic titles last year, it was accused by rivals of undercutting the market with aggressively low pricing. “I won’t go into a pricing conversation,” Carney replied when asked about it by Deadline. “But I will tell you, it’s all about the value proposition. I think coming out of Year 1 [in 2023], we’ve delivered great value for our customers.”

Even though WBD is winding down its last year of NBA coverage after almost 40 years on Turner Sports, the company’s new co-heads of sales, Ryan Gould and Robert “Bobby” Voltaggio, are upbeat about their hand.

“Given the breadth and depth of our content portfolio and the interoperability of our leadership team,” Gould said in an interview, “we’re not intimidated by, like, ‘Oh my God, we have to fill so many hours of content. There will be content there.” In terms of keeping advertisers in the fold, he added, “we’re going into these [upfront] conversations pretty sober and practical. The NBA was a big revenue driver for us.” Even so, he added, “a high majority” of advertisers on NBA telecasts also spent money in other areas of the company.

WBD is also “reframing” its sports portfolio, with a number of lower-profile rights packages (college sports, pro tennis, etc.) bringing less expensive programming that nonetheless appeals to advertisers. “The strategy has changed,” Gould affirmed. Former Turner Sports chief David Levy “used to brag that he only bought the best sports. But the viewing habits were way different back then.” Digital outlet Bleacher Report, to that end, has been a key ingredient for WBD across various corporate iterations over the past decade and will play a role again in this upfront cycle.

In the sports realm, the NBCU upfront will extend the usual 12-month outlook well beyond that time horizon.

Marshall, who will kick off the week at Radio City Music Hall by touting what he calls a “supersized experience” for upfront buyers. Highlights include BravoCon; the debut of the NBA this fall; the Milan Olympics and the Super Bowl next February; the North America-hosted World Cup on Telemundo this summer; and then NBC’s 100th anniversary next November. “We are also preparing for the LA28 Olympic Games,” he said. “Those will be here before you know it and will bring the magic of the Olympics back to the United States for the first time in over a quarter century.”

In the ad sales game, it never hurts to have something to look forward to, even if it’s three years down the line.