NBCUniversal said it completed its upfront sales and recorded commitments for nearly $6 billion in revenue across its portfolio of broadcast, cable and digital outlets.
NBCU said volume across its portfolio was up 2% from last year.
“The market responded favorably to the innovative ways we are reaching and targeting our audiences,” NBCU said in a statement. “Additionally, we saw our digital video business grow 50% in this upfront, which we believe reflects the growing importance of multiplatform partnerships driven by premium video content.”
With NBCU and others selling more of their advertising inventory as part of a portfolio, it is harder to compare the performance of their broadcast networks and cable networks to previous years and to competitors.
This upfront is generally expected to finish down across the board. But sources familiar with the situation say NBC broadcast sales—including primetime, late nights and sports—were up 1%. Pricing for broadcast prime was up 5%, the sources said.
NBCU’s pitch included a heavy dose of data products designed to target TV ads more efficiently.
The CW, CBS and Fox have said their upfront sales have largely concluded. ABC is still in negotiations, working to get price increases in the 5% range.
(Photo via Ervins Strauhmanis's Flickr. Image taken on Sept. 19, 2014 and used per Creative Commons 2.0 license. The photo was cropped to fit 3x4 aspect ratio.)
