• by Wayne Friedman , June 10, 2008

ABC and Fox say they have completed their respective upfront activities, with ABC getting north of the $2.4 billion level--and according to media analysts, Fox boosting its upfront take to $1.9 billion.

CBS is also finished with its upfront activities, according to executives, touting a similar $2.4 billion and tying ABC.

ABC posted around $100 million more in prime time versus a year ago, and $125 million for all dayparts. Mike Shaw, president of advertising sales for ABC, notes that prime-time sports sales--such as college football, which runs on Saturday night--are not accounted for yet.

Shaw notes that ABC sold more commercials this upfront than last--80% to 85% of its overall advertising inventory, up from 77% to 82% a year ago. Estimates are that on average, ABC gained 9% hikes on the cost per thousand 18-49 viewers.

Where did the money come from?

Shaw says three surprising categories were automotive, retail, and pharmaceutical, all up in dollars versus a year ago. "Estimates were that they were going to be down," he notes.

In addition, advertisers made deals for dollars they were intending to spend on a quarter-by-quarter basis later in the season. "Some scatter market shifted in the upfront," he said.

Although some agencies pushed for other metrics this upfront, Shaw said "we only did C3. No engagement [deals]. No exact-minute ratings [deals]." That said, Shaw did push this upfront for C7 deals--commercial rating plus seven days of DVR playback. However, media agencies didn't bite.

Going forward into next year, he believes new metrics will figure into TV ad deals, as well as different price arrangements for various commercial pods positions. He also said commercial pod programming might be in play. "Much of this didn't happen because of the [disruption] of the writers' strike," he noted.

Shaw also said more money went into digital platforms. Plus, there was an increase in integrated marketing deals for upfront advertisers.

Like ABC, Fox--the leader among all networks in 18-49 viewers (as well as viewers overall)--did better this upfront, say industry analysts. The network got top-end 9% to 11% price gains on its programming.

In a press release, Fox did not go into many upfront details: "Fox has concluded our prime time upfront sales at volume and pricing levels consistent with the number one network."

Industry executives noted that Fox also added around $100 million from its take of $1.8 billion a year ago. (Fox only sells 15 hours of prime-time programming a week versus 22 hours of prime-time weekly programming for ABC, NBC and CBS.)

Last year, according to estimates, CBS was at $2.4 billion--which would put its growth at around $50 million or so, with 8% CPM increases. A CBS spokeswoman had no comment at press time.

The CW is also finished taking in $375 million, grabbing 7% to 8% increases. The CW is down from last year's $650 million, but it has only five nights--10 hours of programming time--to sell. This year, CW sold off five hours of its Sunday prime-time programming slots to producer/TV rights owner Media Rights Capital.