Cable Upfront Grew 5% to $9.8 Billion

Though growth slowed, cable upfront surpassed broadcast

By Jon Lafayette -- Broadcasting & Cable, 9/17/2012 12:00:00 AM

Cable networks took in $9.797 billion in advertising commitments during the 2012-13 upfront, according to new figures from the Cabletelevision Advertising Bureau.

The $9.8 billion is a record and represents a 5% increase from the prior year. Over the past three years, advertisers have increased their upfront spending on cable by 46%.


Though growth slowed, the cable upfront surpassed the broadcast upfront. Sales volume for the English-language broadcasters was flat to down. David Bank of RBC Capital Markets estimates that CBS, Fox, ABC, NBC and the CW took in $9 billion, down 2% from the year before.

"Being in constant touch with agencies and advertisers we are told that cable brands are being relied on to play an every larger and leading role for U.S. advertisers in driving their consumer sales," CAB CEO Sean Cunningham said in a statement.

Cunningham said advertisers cited three reasons for their increasing investment in cable advertising. One is the strength of consumer connections to cable content brands, the second is the high quality of original programming content on cable, and third is "the fact that network cable brands have grown audiences to a lead position in every form of video advertising screen.

The CAB also said that during the upfront cable did more multi-platform deals than ever before.