• by Wayne Friedman , June 15, 2007

NBC Universal is expecting good business this upfront--about $4 billion worth. During a call with Wall Street analysts, President-CEO Jeff Zucker said all of NBC U.'s expects to generate some $4 billion in upfront ad commitments across all of its network and cable assets, in all dayparts. That's "slightly more" than a year ago, he said.

One analyst who attended the meeting--Hal Vogel, CEO of Vogel Capital Management--said: "The upfront from the network point of view looks kind of flat, maybe slightly up." Better growth seems to be coming from Telemundo, its cable networks, and possibly from non-prime-time NBC dayparts.

Zucker estimated that the NBC network would book about $1.8 billion to $1.9 billion during the upfront, selling about 75% of its inventory--both on par with a year ago. He added that NBC prime time currently accounts for only 5% to 10% of the entire company's operating profit, now just pulling in $100 million per year.

On Wednesday, NBC Universal struck a nearly $1 billion upfront deal with Group M's group of media agencies across all dayparts for all its networks.

Media executives say NBC got 6% to 7% price increases on the cost-per-thousand viewers among 18-49 viewers on the NBC network, in what has become an upfront market that might have a bit more advertising dollars than at first realized.

Last year during the upfront, NBC as well as other networks suffered--barely eking out any pricing gains--mostly because NBC was already the highest-priced network in terms of cost-per-thousand 18-49 viewers, on top of network declining ratings. NBC posted just under $2 billion for its prime-time schedule during the upfront of a year ago, according to estimates.

Zucker told analysts the impact from NBC broadcast network's last-place audience ratings had already been factored into earnings. He added that the company's cable properties--USA Networks, Sci-Fi Channel and Bravo--are "the biggest and most important part of our portfolio."