• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, June 2, 2016

With this year’s upfront, expectations are high -- or at least higher than in recent previous editions -- do look for TV sellers to use all tools possible to lift the pace. Even if those deals take a bit more time to strike.

TV networks will certainly try ramping up pricing (mid-to high single digit percentages) on the cost per thousand viewers, as well as selling more inventory to gain in overall volume (3% to 4%).

The Video Advertising Bureau now says the majority of national broadcast and cable TV networks anticipate making upfront deals based on Nielsen C7 data, according to a VAB member poll.

Industry estimates say moving to C7 from C3 can add 1% to 3% in revenue.

But when you ask media agency and marketing executives about the C3/C7 issue, as MediaPost did in late April at its Outfront Conference, it doesn’t seem to be marketers’/media executives’ main focus, as it did years ago.

Many TV advertisers want to dig deeper into what they believe is more meaningful data -- that being their consumer-centric proprietary first-party data, working alongside traditional TV data.

Networks such as NBC and Fox say they will make some of these deals available -- on a guaranteed basis -- just as they do C3, C7 and other deals.

For many, these data-driven deals can be much more detailed for individual TV advertisers than traditional ratings deal. All that means is more time spent on TV media planning -- which can run up against fast-moving TV upfront ad markets.

That said, media agencies typically have long-term battle plans on how they attack a fast-moving marketplace. Look for perhaps more modestly paced deal-making.

And then you need to ask about all those adjustments TV advertisers make after upfront “hold” commitments -- adding to/taking away of budgets before those holds go to order in late August, as well as negotiating usual percentage cancellation options of upfront buys for each quarterly period.

Then think about the future. Try and wonder when we’ll see a survey of TV network sales executives saying that the majority of upfront deals will be made using marketers’ CRM and other consumer purchase data.