NBCU Cable Clinches Record Upfront Haul

There are a few stray deals to wrap before a final 2011-12 tally may be formulated, but for all intents and purposes, the upfront marketplace is closed for business.

All told, the national cable networks hauled in as much as $9.45 billion in total upfront commitments, surpassing broadcast’s $9.2 billion and marking the first time cable beat out the Big Five. While the usual suspects put up some terrific numbers -- Discovery Communications, Viacom’s MTV Networks, Time Warner’s Turner Entertainment, and News Corp.’s FX Networks all boasted at least one property that increased volume by as much as 20 percent -- it appears that NBC Universal’s cable nets enjoyed the biggest year-over-year increases. “The clients are voting with their dollars,” said Dave Cassaro, president of cable advertising sales, NBCU Cable. “For our overall portfolio of cable networks, we saw huge volume increases, over 25 percent. And demand for USA Network and Bravo generated some of the highest price increases in the marketplace.”