Upfronts ‘25: The Year Frequency Intelligence Gets Picked First for Gym Class
Flowers are blooming, birds are singing, temperatures are rising, and the scent of TV dollars is in the air: the Upfronts and Newfronts are here.
But as advertisers prepare for negotiations in a tightening economy, one thing is clear: efficiency is no longer a nice-to-have – it’s a must. Buying from a publisher that siloes data and grades its own homework? Building your media plans solely on low CPMs? Both are a fast track to wasted dollars, redundant supply, and invalid traffic. Even in pursuit of “premium” inventory, buyers can't afford to lock-up millions in guaranteed deals without frequency control – the risk of ad fatigue and brand damage is too high.
The overarching problem here isn’t new. Marketers need holistic, universal frequency intelligence across platforms, publishers and channels. We live in a digital age with billions of data points at our fingertips. It is time to weaponize that intelligence before charging into the deal room.
Before committing dollars, marketers need a tech stack that delivers three critical capabilities:
- Granular publisher overlap analysis to identify incremental reach and media plan redundancies.
- Holistic, cross-publisher frequency measurement to understand how repeated exposures affect performance.
- The ability to act on these insights in real time.
For Innovid clients, the good news is – you’re already covered on all three.
Measure to Understand the Problem
At the core of any effective marketing tech stack is an independent, media-unbiased TV measurement partner that can analyze across every device, platform, and publisher. Innovid’s independence is foundational: we don’t buy, sell, or arbitrage media. And our MRC-accredited, privacy-compliant footprint spans billions of daily video impressions.
As an ad server, Innovid’s straight-from-the-source digital footprint combines with linear spot logs, ACR datasets, identity partnerships, and certifications with all premium TV publishers to form the industry’s largest TV footprint.
All of this lays the foundation for InnovidXP – our unified measurement platform that provides marketers with:
- A single source of truth to “connect the dots” across linear, CTV, OTT, and digital video. Actionable reach & frequency insights with publisher overlap analysis allow SPO of media strategies in favor of the most cost-efficient sources of incremental (household [if it fits]) reach.
- Actionable attributed outcomes insights at the most granular level to inform the top-performing creatives and targeting tactics as well as to validate ROAS.
Armed with this data, marketers can walk into deal negotiations with leverage to reduce overlap, improve efficiency, and cut better rates.
Optimize for Real-Time Results
Understanding a frequency problem is one thing. Acting on it is another. Innovid is the only partner in the space that can effectively do both.
Through Innovid Harmony Frequency, marketers can apply universal, cross-buy frequency signals to adjust household ad delivery mid-flight. They can:
- Cap frequency for overexposed households.
- Increase frequency for underexposed households.
- Or do both – dynamically – to hit the optimal frequency per household to maximize conversion.
The result? Less waste, better outcomes.
It’s Not Theory – It's Working
We’ve already seen tangible impact across verticals:
- Davis Elen Advertising optimized reach efficiency for McDonald’s and Toyota, finding incremental reach, unlocking significant cost savings, and improving campaign impact.
- A leading U.S. telco (in partnership with YahooDSP) cut waste and better coordinated cross-platform delivery, creating a more streamlined, consumer-friendly experience.
- A national auto brand in Q125 saw a 32% reduction of monthly ad waste, reallocating more than half a million dollars toward incremental impressions that drove reach.
Why This Matters Right Now
Innovations like dynamic creative and interactivity are powerful tools for driving engagement and performance.
But, as budgets face greater scrutiny, the smartest thing marketers can do is to start by first solving for the basics: wasted spend, redundant supply impressions, and missed audiences. As linear TV bows to digital streaming, data has become the new currency – data with which to plan smarter and invest wiser – keeping both brand and bottom line protected.
Frequency management isn’t just a tactical fix – it’s a strategic unlocking of: smarter creative, better CPMs, faster reach, stronger performance. But more than that, heading into the heart of the Upfront/Newfront season, a true, holistic frequency management tech stack is an insurance policy against redundant guaranteed buys. Don't go to the table without it.
