National TV Upfront Rises For First Time In 3 Years
National TV advrtising sales upfront deals look to rise, on average, by 10% in the cost per thousand viewers with total dollar volume growing mid-single-digit percentages — the first time there has been overall growth in three years.
Though the upfront process has yet to be completed, media consulting company Media Dynamics says national TV networks are looking at a 4.5% rise, or $800 million, to land at $18.61 billion — $9.86 billion for cable networks and $8.75 billion for the broadcast networks.
It is the first time the upfront TV market has seen a gain in dollars since the 2013-2014 upfront selling period.
In the two previous years, the upfront market witnessed declining dollar volumes of 3.0% for the 2015-2016 TV season and 4.4% in the 2014-2015 TV season. Upfront dollar volume for the coming season is back to near levels seen for the 2012-2013 TV year, when estimates totaled $18.67 billion.
CPMs, the cost per thousand viewers, has climbed around 10% so far, according to Media Dynamics estimates — to an broadcast network average of $47 for perime time adult 18-49 viewers, compared to $43 for the current season.
Cable’s network CPMs are estimated to be $31 for next season versus $29 for 2015-2016.
Much of traditional TV networks rise in upfront dollars this year has to do with advertisers concerns over digital media in terms of “visibility” of commercials — including ad blocking technology. Ed Papazian, president of Media Dynamics, says this has slowed some digital media buying.
