• by Wayne Friedman , July 19, 2018

Disney-ABC Television has completed its upfront advertising deal-making for the 2018-2019 TV season, with high single-digit to low double-digit percentage price increases, according to media executives.

ABC witnessed low double-digit prices hikes across all dayparts when it comes to the cost per thousand viewers (CPM) --  comparable to other broadcast networks upfront ad results this year.  

Disney ad-supported kids channels and the young skewing Freeform networks posted high single-digit percentage gains in volume.

For all of Disney’s TV entertainment networks, revenue grew 5% to 7%, according to media estimates. Big TV upfront ad categories improvements came from pharmaceutical, consumer products, retail, technology and financial services.

Looking specifically at ABC, the rises would give the broadcast network upfront prime-time revenue of $1.90 billion to $2.25 billion. 

Perhaps the best Disney performer was ESPN -- Disney’s big sports cable brand -- which grabbed double-digit upfront volume gains and double-digit CPM growth.

Media executives also say digital spending on Disney networks was up 25% versus a year ago; it was up 20% in 2017 versus the previous year. Additionally, media executive say there was a 120% increase in addressable deals for Disney versus the upfront a year ago.

Disney executives were not available for comment.