• by Wayne Friedman , David Goetzl , June 7, 2013

CBS is near the finish line for its upfront deal-making, pulling in about the same dollar amount as last year with CPMs up in the 8% range, according to a person close to the negotiations. Barclays projected that CBS brought in $2.65 billion last year.

Among the Big Four networks, ABC continues to ask for CPM bumps in the 7% to 8% range, while Fox is nearly finished. NBC appears to be moving at a much slower pace, perhaps while pursuing broader deals across NBCU properties.

CBS secured flat volume, despite a ratings decline of about 3% by one measure. Still, it finished first in the 18-to-49 demo by a considerable amount. A CBS representative declined comment.

If CBS is a bellwether, then the market could struggle to the top last year as Barclays had projected. Albeit slightly, the firm projected an increase to $9.2 billion from $9.15 billion.

Flat volume might have been more of a troubling prospect to networks in past years, but now with carriage fees and sales to Netflix and Amazon growing, it may be less of a concern at large media companies.