TV Networks Gain In 'Upfront' Ad Deals

TV NETWORKS GAIN IN 'UPFRONT' AD DEALS
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Suzanne Vranica suzanne.vranica@wsj.com]
In television's upfront advertising market, which usually occurs between mid-May and early June, TV networks sell about three-quarters of their prime-time ad inventory for the coming fall season. For the past couple of years the major broadcast networks' overall upfront take has fallen slightly, to about $9 billion last year, due to advertisers shifting money out of television into Web ads and delaying their TV ad purchases until later in the year. Several of the major TV networks are winning significant price increases this year, reflecting stronger early demand for ad time than in the past couple of years. Apparently, some advertisers are moving money typically reserved for ad purchases later in the year -- in the so-called scatter ad market -- for ad time bought close to the airdate, and putting it into the upfront. The reason: Scatter prices in 2006 and early 2007 rose higher than upfront prices for the first time in several years because of the decision by some advertisers to do their ad deals later in the year.
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