Upfront 2015/16: CPMs Up; Volume Down 9.3%

The 2015-16 Upfront continued the trend toward greater buyer/seller parity. While volume this year was again down, CPMs were up, proving relative supply/demand equilibrium. Some nets made the active choice to withhold inventory; some dealt with ongoing ratings issues; some used proprietary data insights to drive demand; and some benefitted from high appeal content. Digital had minimum incremental impact. While our Upfront report may be viewed as a downer for the network business overall, very few networks are unhappy; there are some networks for whom the Upfront was good; and for a handful it was very good. There will be more disruption as agency reviews are completed and nets rebel against allowing special pricing agreements to travel from one agency to the next.

 

 

Jack Myers

Media Ecologist, Founder: MediaVillage and Advancing Diversity Hall of Honors Jack Myers is a media ecologist and founder of MediaVillage, the media and advertising community’s leading resource for market intelligence, education, business connection… read more