A few years ago, Paramount Global ditched its annual upfront show at New York’s Carnegie Hall, opting to hold smaller, more intimate presentations in Chelsea, with more room to talk to the media buyers and CMOs to understand what they were looking for during the breaks.

“There is plenty of opportunity for conversation, and there’s a lot to talk about, right?” says John Halley, president of advertising for Paramount.

This year, with tariff-driven uncertainty and fretting over a possible recession, Halley says that the format switch is made for a moment like this.

“The time for discourse has never been more needed,” Halley says in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. “There are a couple of advantages to our upfront format. The fact that it is a conversation, it’s not bombastic. We are able to engage with these partners and hear from them directly in a very constructive way that can help inform the way that we engage them going forward. It’s a better user interface that is better suited for this kind of time.”

When discussing the marketplace, Halley repeats a word that everyone in the advertising and media world has been using over the past month: “Uncertainty.”

“The themes that we are hearing fairly consistently do revolve around uncertainty,” he says. “Advertisers, brands, agency partners, are in a landscape that’s defined by tariff fluctuations and inflation, regulatory uncertainty, shifting go-to-market timelines. That is a lot to navigate as we come to this current upfront period.”

But that uncertainty is not undercutting Paramount’s ambitions. Halley says he believes the company is in a position to steal back ad dollars that have been allocated to social platforms like TikTok and Meta as it continues rolling out more automated CTV ad options.

“We hear all the time that the the social media investments have have become over-allocated,” Halley says. “People start to see the impact that CTV investment can have on their business across all horizons, short-term, medium-term and long-term, there you see, you’re going to see more money come back into premium video.”

So, what does Paramount plan to do to stand out in an increasingly crowded streaming space?

“The messaging around measurable impact becomes very, very important,” Halley says. “So in these times of uncertainty, there’s sort of a growing reliance on dashboard and engagement metrics, understanding audience fidelity and a need for as a publisher, you to deliver the tools that help them understand the value of of those media investments.”

On the consumer side, the company intends to lean into tentpole events and core franchises.

“We are specialists in creating culturally defining moments, and not just moments, but entire universes. Yellowstone, Survivor, these franchises like The Daily Show and South Park, it’s not just about reach, it’s about depth and engagement,” he says.

“There’s a clear focus on sports and tentpoles, which deliver cultural experiences, premium entertainment formats, but as you know, advertisers are scrutinizing every dollar, and they’re demanding measurable impact, and the impetus is on us to to provide that,” he adds. “You know it, we know it. This is an environment where you’ve got to be able to prove what you’re saying.”