NBCU Posts Strong Overall Upfront Volume
- by Wayne Friedman , July 26, 2018
NBCUniversal has completed its upfront deal-making -- the last major TV group to do so -- with a 5% increase in revenue total for all its TV networks, according to media executives close to the company.
Looking specifically at the NBC Television Network, its prime-time volume grew 7% to an estimated $2.8 billion in dollar volume for the 2018-2019 TV season.
NBC’s prime-time cost per thousand viewer (CPM) prices climbed 11% to 13%, similar to current price hikes of other major broadcast networks. A year ago, NBC posted high single-digit percentage gains.
Strong upfront advertising came from financial services, pharmaceutical insurance, movie studios and technology.
Revenue for NFL programming grew as well, with its CPMs up 7%. Analyzing just its cable networks -- entertainment, news and other sports -- NBCU posted high single-digit percentage CPM hikes.
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Spanish-language network Telemundo rose 3% year-over-year due to high demand for the World Cup and an overall boost from $16 million in new business.
NBC witnessed its biggest growth on its digital platforms -- up 25% in revenue, with digital video rising 30%.
NBCU’s says “CFlight” guarantees, which look to expand those guarantees beyond C3 or C7 measures, were accepted by virtually all media agencies. CFlight deals were attached to NBCU’s broadcast and sports programming.
CFlight guarantees audiences across all screens for the entire length of an advertiser’s campaign. C3 and C7 metrics are Nielsen-measured average minute ratings plus three or seven days of time-shifting viewing.
Audience Studio -- which includes its date-based audience targeting platform, programmatic and addressable advertising efforts -- doubled its amount of clients year over year.
Over 150 national brands are now using NBCU’s data-based TV Audience Targeting Platform unit, growing to 10 different advertising categories, up from four a year ago. Programmatically, there were 500 brands purchasing advertising time on NBCU’s digital full episode player.
An NBCU representative declined to comment about TV upfront activities.
As we will be reporting to "TV Dimensions" subscribers shortly, the 2018-19 primetime TV upfront was a very positive one for the broadcast TV networks and many cable channels. While this does not mean that all of "linear TV's issues have been magically solved and it's clear sailing from now on, it certainly debunks some of the gloom and doom nonsense coming from various financial analysts and others with vested interests---at least for the near term. Stay tuned.
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