• by John Gaffney , June 6, 2002

CBS will see record-breaking upfront advertising revenue -- between $1.9 and $2 billion -- for the 2002-2003 season, the network announced today.

The Viacom division also claims it achieved the highest CPM increases of all the major networks.

More than 80 percent of CBS's primetime commercial inventory has been sold, marking the largest Upfront in its history. CBS execs says the success this year was helped by a strong 2001-2002 season, which placed CBS in a competitive position for the 18 –49 year old demo.

"The market was really solid, and we were one of the prime beneficiaries doing more business with more advertisers than ever before," said Joseph Abruzzese, President, Sales, CBS Television.

"With the improvement of our share in the young adult audience, we're very pleased to have achieved our goals of industry-leading CPM increases and a more substantial shift in advertising dollars than any of the other networks."