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Archives » TV Upfront

CBS Scatter Prices 25% Higher than Upfronts; CBS Network Posts Ad Gains for Q3

Published on November 05, 2009

CBS chief Les Moonves said scatter prices in Q4 were up 25% from prices the network pulled in the upfronts.

The network held back more inventory than usual during the upfronts, betting that scatter prices would show an improvement.

“There have been a number of advertising agencies that have said to us they are sorry their clients did not listen and buy more in the upfront,” Moonves said. “This...
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Upfront Update, 10-15-09:  Cable Volume Sinks 12% to $6.73 Billion

Published on October 14, 2009

Oct. 15: Total Cable Upfront down 12%
Cable’s upfront was down significantly, though it did not drop in total volume as much as broadcast did. The tally for cable was $6.73 billion, down 12% from last year, compared to broadcast’s 22% drop.

Last year, cable pulled $7.65 billion in the upfront. Reasons for the decline include reduced client budgets and mid-single-digit declines in CPMs. And,...
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Early Scatter Seems Strong; MediaVest Moves Millions out of Broadcast

Published on October 04, 2009

Media buyers and sellers are reporting an early jump in the scatter market, but the strong numbers may not continue in coming months.

Fourth-quarter spending is surging enough that some buyers are saying they plan to wait a month or more in the hopes of seeing pricing come down, according to Adweek. One head buyer at a top agency said, “Will it continue? I’m betting not.” The buyer pointed out...
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Viacom: Upfront CPMs down 5%

Published on September 16, 2009

Viacom’s upfront CPMs were down 5% from a year ago across all its networks, the company’s president and CEO, Philippe Dauman, said this week at the Goldman Sachs media conference in New York.

Dauman claims the company was tops in terms of performance of all cable groups, and that it was the first cable group to complete the upfront. He said he expects Viacom to see improved pricing in the...
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‘Glee’ Director’s Cut, ‘Tweet-peat’ Air This Week

Published on September 01, 2009

By the time the regular season of Fox’s new musical Glee begins on Sept. 9, Fox will have aired three different versions of the premiere in the hopes of maintaining strong pre-season buzz.

The premiere of Glee was shown back in the spring, airing after the finale of American Idol and pulling nearly 10 million viewers. Today, Fox will broadcast a director’s cut of the first episode, and on...
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Time Warner’s Profit Falls 34%, Results Better than Expected

Published on July 29, 2009

Time Warner’s Q2 profit fell 34% to $519 million, while revenue slipped 9% to $6.8 billion - but results were better than analysts had predicted. The company expects profit for full-year 2009 to be flat compared with 2008.

As with Viacom, which announced its earnings earlier this week, Time Warner’s rate of advertising decline was better than most expected, reports The New York Times.

Time...
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CBS Sees Signs of Improvement in Ad Market

Published on June 04, 2009

CBS Corp. is the latest media company to say signs of improvement have appeared in the ad market.

CBS Corp. CFO Fred Reynolds said, during the Merrill Lynch Global Telecommunications, Media and Technology Conference, that the ad market is no longer declining and showed signs of stabilization in mid-February, writes The Hollywood Reporter.

CBS’s pricing in the scatter market is up slightly -...
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GM Bankruptcy Filing Puts Pressure on Upfronts, Gives Buyers Bargaining Power

Published on June 02, 2009

General Motors typically spends about $300 million during the upfront season, and the company’s bankruptcy filing this week has likely caused broadcast and cable nets to brace for a potentially harmful impact.

GM was already planning to cut its upfront commitments, said a person close to GM, but now the decision on spending will be left to bankruptcy court, writes the Wall Street Journal. Now,...
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Leno’s Farewell Draws 8.8 Rating/20 Share

Published on June 01, 2009

Jay Leno said farewell to The Tonight Show with his last stint as host on Friday night. His final appearance averaged an 8.8 rating/20 share, Leno’s best Friday night in his 17 years as host.

While the numbers were good - it was the third best night for the show since a special tribute to Johnny Carson ran in 2005 - they will be nowhere near what Carson pulled when he made his farewells, writes...
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CBS’s ‘The Unit,’ Syndicated Game Shows Land on MyNetworkTV

Published on May 28, 2009

MyNetworkTV, the network which announced in February that it was shifting focus to a “programming service model” that will run a mix of first-run shows, films and big hits in syndication, announced its fall sked last week. The schedule will include a two-hour block of CBS’s canceled show The Unit, as well as its staple WWE Friday Night SmackDown.

Since MyNetworkTV acquired SmackDown from the...
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