This year’s drawn-out TV upfronts are nearly over.
More than three months since the major media companies held their annual upfronts presentations and kicked off deal-making with advertisers buying TV and streaming ad inventory in advance, negotiations are officially wrapping up. And it’s been anything but business as usual. With economic uncertainty affecting TV ad commitments, along with the continued effects of the writers’ and actors’ strikes on scripted programming production, negotiations have been slow-going compared to past years.
But most of the major players are done, or nearly done, with negotiations, and have reported that they were able to eke out deals that, while not record-breaking, at least matched prior years’ commitments. We broke down the details from all the major networks and platforms below:
Disney closed its upfront last week with revenue and volume commitments similar to last year’s. More than 40% of total ad spend commitments went toward streaming platforms including Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+.
Netflix also closed its first-ever upfront last week with “top-of-market pricing” from all of the major advertising holding companies, according to Adweek. The streamer said at the time that its ad-supported tier had cleared 10 million monthly active users, double the nearly 5 million it had in May.
Fox wrapped its upfront at the end of last month, reporting pricing and volume growth at both Fox Sports and Fox News Media, per Adweek. The company also said that its ad-supported streamer Tubi secured volume growth for the fourth year in a row.
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Paramount also closed its upfront in late July with low to mid-single digit increases in dollar commitments, CEO Bob Bakish told analysts last week. As with Disney and Fox, there was particular advertiser interest in live sports, including the upcoming NFL season and Super Bowl LVIII, which will air on CBS and Nickelodeon.
NBCUniversal, which was the first major publisher to wrap upfront talks in mid-July, secured dollar commitments that were roughly in line with 2022’s upfronts, the company announced. Sports commitments were up in the high single digits compared to a year prior, and digital sports commitments saw 50% growth driven by interest in sports on streamer Peacock.
- Overall, commitments for Peacock were up 30% year over year.
Warner Bros. Discovery hasn’t officially closed upfront talks as of Tuesday morning, but at the beginning of the month, CEO David Zaslav told investors that the company had “nearly completed the US upfront” and had secured volume increases and pricing that was “consistent” with last year.
The CW is also nearly done with its upfront, according to remarks made last week by Perry Sook, co-founder and CEO of the CW’s new-ish owner Nexstar. Volume in dollar commitments was “basically flat” compared to last year, and unit rates were up in the mid-single digits, Sook said.
CPMum: What most major companies have not disclosed are their CPMs, or cost per thousand impressions, that they secured during upfront talks. Past reporting has indicated that those likely fell in many areas—except for sports.
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