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...