Hulu's on top for upfront spending, but Netflix's ad play means next year may be different

For more insights and key statistics on the biggest trends in today's most disruptive industries, subscribe to our Chart of the Day newsletter.

Close to 8 in 10 branding professionals plan on allocating upfront spending to Hulu, per a survey from iSpot.tv. Peacock and YouTube TV are also major upfront spend magnets with 52% and 49% of branding professionals dishing ad dollars to those platforms, respectively.

Beyond the chart: The elephant in the ad spend room is Netflix, which has always run ad-free but plans to debut commercials as soon as Q4 of this year, the same way HBO Max did last year. Neither streaming platform is included in this survey, but in a shifting landscape, advertisers may allocate upfront dollars toward Netflix next year—if Netflix's advertising play feels promising for marketers.

More like this:

• Report: Ad Measurement 2022
• Article: Streaming service competition heats up amid inflation and economic volatility
• Article: Netflix ads could debut as soon as Q4