Since Advertising Age first reported May 20th that "The TV Upfront Is Off And Running" with early deals breaking on ABC, the marketplace reportedly has picked up momentum according to five major trade publications and financial news outlets including Advertising Age, Mediaweek, Reuters, Television Week, and The Wall Street Journal, which quote anonymous sources claiming ABC is nearly wrapped up with deals that fetched healthy CPM gains, and with CBS well underway with comparable CPM gains.

While no network sources have been on the record about the deal-making, ABC is expected to hold a press briefing this week to give its official account. According to a report by Reuters on Monday, ABC "could book nearly $2 billion," upfront about $1.6 billion last year.

None of the other news reports to date have speculated on upfront sales volume, but most of projected that NBC - the previous upfront market leader - would experience cuts in its upfront sales volume.

The coverage has also been sparse on which Madison Avenue players have been most active, though early reports had OMD moving the first with a deal on ABC. On Monday, Mediaweek reported that OMD and Zenith Media were "most aggressive," with Starcom and MediaVest "in the middle of the pack and Magna and Group M sitting back longer."

Mediaweek also reported that the cable and syndication upfront markets were at a "virtual standstill," with Madison Avenue focused on closing deals with the broadcast networks. If so, that would signal a reversal of market strategies from last year when the cable network market moved first and when more than half a billion dollars worth of budgets moved to cable.

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