Branded entertainment deals will still be a part of the process for TV networks and stations, even as analysts continue to moan about the growing blur between "content" and marketing -- in all kinds of media. Still, for many ad executives, there are positives despite a general waning among viewership of reality TV, which has been a major area for branded entertainment in the last two decades.

The rash of media reviews set up by major advertisers around the same time as the upfront could throw a wrench in the works of some deals. Big-spending accounts including General Mills, Coca-Cola, L'Oreal, Unilever, Johnson & Johnson, and 21st Century Fox are in flux, making things more complex this season as incumbent media agencies look to make deals, and keep those accounts.