Fox Begins Writing Upfront Business

Some cable advertising also sold

By Jon Lafayette -- Broadcasting & Cable, 5/29/2013 2:39:44 PM

Fox, whose ratings fell dramatically during the past season, has begun selling commercials for next season, according to sources.

Fox is often the first broadcast network to sell its ads in the upfront market because it airs fewer hours than the older networks, and because its younger viewership is attractive to marketers like movie studios that need to grab the most in-demand time periods.

Pricing and volume so far for Fox could not be determined. Fox's sales fell slightly to $1.9 billion last year. Overall, analysts expect the broadcasters to do between 3% and 5% less business in the upfront than last year.

It was unclear if any of the other broadcast networks have begun writing business, but ad market participants said most of the agencies have registered with the networks, letting them know how much money they intend to spend, which is the first part of the negotiating process.

Some cable networks have done some business as well. Viacom, which often gets out early with low price increases in order to attract dollars, has done some business. Sources said that it's taking 3% price increases on a CPM basis, which is lower than the 6% price increases the major cable programmers are expecting.

Some mid-sized to small agencies have also done business with some other programmers, sources said.