It’s a ritual of late spring…the upfront TV marketplace.
Every year, the networks (and in recent years, major ad-supported cable channels) present their fall programming to major advertisers and ad agencies here in New York. They’re usually glitzy productions at major venues – this year at Radio City Music Hall, Lincoln Center, the Beacon Theater – with lots of star-power from the networks.
There’s a lot at stake. It’s a chance for advertisers to buy ad time at better rates than if they waited until later in the year, when prices could be anywhere from 10 to 40 percent higher in what’s called the scatter market.
During the upfront period, the networks usually sell as much as 90 percent of their prime time ad availability.
The numbers are big. The major networks rake in around $9 billion as advertisers rush to grab up ad time. When you add in the dozens of cable networks, from A+E to National Geographic Channel, the total take is close to $20 billion. And it’s almost always a sellers’ market, since the ad buyers don’t want to get locked out.
For major advertisers, TV still offers something other media can’t – a big audience seeing ad messages pretty much at the same time, or in “real time” as the network ad salespeople say. So even as the total TV audience continues to dip, ad rates appear to be going up again this year.
Marketers are paying more for less, but FOMO (fear of missing out) still drives the upfront market.
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