Advertising Upfront Robust

[MediaSavant]

File this under "understanding the ad market better". I know many of you send letters to advertisers. Some may not be aware that there are two ad buying markets--the upfront and scatter. The largest portion of advertising is bought upfront at one time of year. This year's upfront market started on Monday. What is being bought covers fourth quarter 2003 through third quarter 2004.

Thus, when you are sending a letter to an advertiser in April, the actual decision to make that buy the network may have happened nearly a year before--particularly if it's to a major company.

Here's an article on how this year's marketplace is going so far. Generally, Primetime Broadcast gets bought first. Cable comes later.

>>Upfront fast and furious; sales could reach $9 bil
May 22, 2003 (Hollywood Reporter)
By Andrew Grossman

NEW YORK -- The upfront ad sales market has begun with business coming in much heavier than expected, broadcast network executives said, leading to predictions of mid-double-digit rate increases when the season is completed.

With negotiations still intense, no ad sales executive wished to talk about breaking market, but even media buyers conceded that the amount of money in the marketplace this year was larger than expected -- though most observers had predicted a strong upfront for the networks.

Sources familiar with the upfront's progress predicted that the total upfront dollar volume will likely approach $9 billion, though they stressed it was too early to gauge exactly how much the networks will gain in CPM (cost per thousand homes) increases.

Sources said that all-night negotiating sessions Tuesday night culminated a strong day of buying, with CPM increases averaging around 14%-15% -- and higher at the WB Network -- and that it was possible a substantial amount of the dealing could be done by the holiday weekend. As usual, the WB, NBC and Fox were said to have led the buying parade, with CBS holding back until Wednesday to start making deals.

"We will generate significantly more revenue in the upfront than at any time in the network's history," Fox Television Entertainment Group chairman Sandy Grushow said Wednesday in a conference call with reporters regarding the May sweep, adding that "volume (is) increasing over 20%."

The market "has moved very, very quickly," Grushow said. "There seems to be a tremendous amount of money in the marketplace," reflecting advertisers' "continuing belief in the power of broadcast TV."

"It's beyond any of our highest expectations," ABC Entertainment Television Group chairman Lloyd Braun said of the upfront marketplace. But he told reporters during a sweep conference call that he had "promised (ABC ad sales chief) Mike Shaw" he wouldn't discuss upfront matters in detail.

Sources said the WB has been nailing CPM increases upwards of 20%.

Media buyers noted that in the early days of the upfront, the networks have a huge advantage because as the sellers, they have an information edge over advertisers.

"The networks are sitting there, they have a very good fix on money flowing into the market; the advertiser only knows what he reads in the trade press," said one buyer, who expected CBS to come in with high CPM increases partly because of its lower starting base and partly because of its large viewership.

"There's a halo over their head," the buyer said of CBS, adding hastily that all of the networks seem to be thriving.

Buyers said the networks started by asking for 20% rate increases, and agencies are still holding out hope of limiting final CPM increases to the low double-digits, though network sources pointed out that rates generally rise as the upfront proceeds and the supply of available spots dwindles.

There were also suggestions that the market was so robust that the networks might sell a greater proportion of their inventory in the upfront market than a year ago, when they sold about 80%-85% of their inventory in the spring, leaving the rest for the so-called "scatter" market. At first, many observers expected the networks to hold more time back after they received rate increases of 30% or more in this year's scatter market.

A big beneficiary of the strong market is bound to be cable networks, especially niche services where advertisers can home in on their target audience. They become a cheaper alternative to the broadcast networks.

"Cable becomes more important," a buyer said. "There are a lot more niche networks out there, and cable prices them less than over-the-air. (Agencies) use that as leverage. That's the way they control inflation. By giving more to cable, it helps make their numbers better."

Advertisers can also keep costs down by buying several platforms with a network, including cable. ESPN/ABC Sports sells the two networks together, but advertisers have also discussed multiplatform deals with other networks. A network source said few deals have actually been done, however.

Strong categories so far have been entertainment, retail, packaged goods, pharmaceuticals and fast food.

Cynthia Littleton in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

[B Sharp]

MS- can you give a little advice on how to focus our letter writing?

I think I get how the purchasing works from your note, and that there's a short time frame to get the word out, but how do we focus the letter content to get the best impact?

Those of us collecting the advertiser info have posted some suggestions for how to shift the letter content to focus more on the future, and we've picked some specific 'big names' that we think are both listening, and are regularly advertising on FS. (Here) http://www.watchfarscape.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=9905

But we want to make every letter count...

[MediaSavant]

Originally posted by B Sharp
MS- can you give a little advice on how to focus our letter writing?

{rewritten and edited after more thought}
I thought of a lame response and wrote it, but then I realized that I don't know the answer to a crucial question. That question is, "what do you want from the advertisers? What do you want them to do exactly?"

Anyway, the cable market has begun...

Cable upfront rivals broadcast pace
May 23, 2003 (Hollywood Reporter)
By Andrew Wallenstein

NEW YORK -- Hot on the heels of the broadcast networks, the cable upfront advertising sales market kicked into high gear this week with record speed, industry veterans said.

As broadcasters sold off the last of their upfront inventory, cable groups with top-tier networks, including Turner Broadcasting, Universal Television and Discovery Networks, reported signing off on substantial volume earlier than ever before -- some even concurrently with the likes of NBC and CBS. Cable ad sales divisions typically begin negotiating about a week afterward.

"Advertisers are seeing value in top-tier cable, and that is what is causing dollars to flow directly after broadcast into that segment of the business," said Jeff Lucas, president of ad sales at Universal, which owns USA Network and Sci Fi Channel.

David Levy, president of entertainment sales at Turner, said he was closing deals with major buying firms that were still negotiating with broadcast networks. "We've moved concurrently with broadcast budgets," he said. "This is very rare for any cable network to move simultaneously."

Turner reported selling as much as 40% of its upfront inventory. Universal reported between 60%-70%, while Discovery expects to be 50% done by the end of business today.

Bruce Lefkowitz, executive vp advertising at Fox Cable Networks Group, cautioned that hype always overshadows reality once the upfront breaks. "Any cable network that will tell you that they are more than 25% done, which is two deals, is greatly overstating," he said, adding that FX has closed one deal with a major agency and is actively negotiating with two more.

Lefkowitz did, however, express amazement at cable's performance so far. "The alacrity is surprising and unprecedented in my 15 years in the cable business," he allowed.

The early activity was good news for the cable sector, whose biggest players emphasized the broadcasters' dwindling market share in countless upfront presentations to advertisers. But few expect cable to match the cost-per-thousand increases broadcasters are reportedly enjoying, with estimates running as high as 20%.

"Cable is going to be up because all boats rise with the tide, but they will not be up to the same degree as the networks," said Ray Warren, managing director at OMD USA.

One sales chief at a major cable network who wished to remain anonymous chastised the cable community for not holding out for higher prices.

"I don't understand why they did it," the seller said. "It would have been the perfect year for top-tier cable to wait it out and get equivalent increases with the broadcasters."

Cable estimates of CPM increases vary from the high-single to low-double-digits. Overall, the industry is expected to easily clear $5 billion in sales, up from last year's $4.6 billion haul.

However, no one expects cable to finish its upfront sales as quickly as the broadcasters, primarily because there is so much more inventory spread over as many as 60 different networks. Most observers believe cable's upfront activity will be completed by June.

"The network sales were panicked," said Joe Abruzzese, president of ad sales at Discovery and formerly chief of CBS' ad division. "Cable will move at a much more orderly pace, which is good for massaging the deals that you want."

Discovery-owned TLC has been singled out as a particularly hot property on the strength of its hit series "Trading Spaces." Discovery is packaging its various other networks with TLC.

While such general-entertainment nets as TBS and USA are doing brisk business, niche networks have barely begun selling, with the exception of strong brands like MTV and HGTV. However, targeted channels have a better shot at matching the kind of CPM increases broadcasters commanded over time, according to Steve Gigliotti, executive vp ad sales and emerging media at Scripps Networks, which owns HGTV.

"In terms of invitations to early conversations, we're seeing five times more than last year," he said. "I feel truly blessed."

Sounding a contrary viewpoint to cable's early excitement is Aaron Cohen, executive vp and director of broadcast at Horizon Media. "A couple of deals have been made, but by no means is there a flood of cable activity at the present time," he said. "And frankly, the next market that is going to move much more rapidly is syndication."

In contrast to broadcasters, most cable networks will still likely hold significant inventory for the scatter market, which proved profitable last year. "I'm going to put my base down and get out and wait for the scatter business because I don't see any reason to oversell my inventory in the marketplace," Gigliotti said.

[MediaSavant]

$9 Billion in Commercials
By STUART ELLIOTT


Never mind Ruben and Clay. Madison Avenue agencies are voting, with a record amount of client dollars, for their own American idol: broadcast network television.

The agencies, on behalf of the marketers they represent, are agreeing to spend more than $9 billion to buy commercial time on the broadcast networks ahead of the 2003-4 prime-time season. Last spring, agencies committed $8.1 billion. The bargaining process, known as the upfront market, was more frenetic than usual and wound up a "runaway sellers' market," in the words of one tired participant.

"It's like being back in college and pulling those all-nighters," said another participant, Mike Shaw, president for sales and marketing at the ABC Television division of ABC.

The strength of the upfront market for broadcast television is reflected in many deals being made at rates 15 to 23 percent higher than those last spring, in what is known as cost per thousand viewers. That strength is already being mirrored in the negotiations to buy commercial time on cable networks; those negotiations typically begin after the broadcasters complete their sales.

As the demand for television goes, usually, so goes the general advertising economy. That the broadcast upfront moved so fast, at prices higher than had been forecast even a couple of weeks ago, could prefigure an improved climate for agencies, media companies and advertisers after one of the most daunting periods for them in decades.

"There's an expectation of a more robust economy in '04, and people wanted to get their money down," said Jon Nesvig, president for sales at Fox Broadcasting, part of the News Corporation.

"We all knew it was going to be big," he added. "It just turned out to be bigger than we'd thought."

The dickering began in earnest Tuesday evening and proceeded almost nonstop through yesterday morning, pausing only for meal breaks heavy on fare from the greasy-food menu of Midtown Manhattan — barbecue, pizza and Chinese takeout most prominently — and for huddling in conference rooms Wednesday night to watch the "American Idol" finale on Fox.

"That had to help us with a lot of the 20-somethings" at the agencies, Mr. Nesvig said, laughing. "We said, `Hey, you want to be there next year?' " The reference was to the next edition of "Idol," which begins in January.

"There were several people at the agencies who spent the night on the sofa," said Karen Soots, national media manager for one big advertiser involved in the upfront bazaar, the Red Lobster division of Darden Restaurants.

Restaurants, particularly fast-food chains, were among the marketers agreeing to make commitments, subject to change after the fall season gets under way, to spend more in 2003-4 than they did in 2002-3. Other categories that Mr. Nesvig and executives at other networks identified as fueling the increased demand for commercial time included beverages, especially soft drinks; entertainment, for theatrical films and films on DVD's; pharmaceuticals, for prescription drugs sold directly to consumers; packaged goods; retailing; and telecommunications.

Automobiles, a source of heavy spending in previous upfront markets, was described as flat to down slightly.

Mostly, though, the gains were "across the board," said Leslie Moonves, chairman and chief executive at CBS, part of Viacom. "I have no bad news here." CBS and its smaller sibling, UPN, are somewhat behind the pace of the other broadcasters, and are expected to complete their deals by today.


• NBC, owned by General Electric, led the broadcast parade with estimated sales of $3 billion, compared with about $2.7 billion last spring. That would be the first time a network reached $3 billion in an upfront market. NBC's sales include some spots packaged as part of purchases of time during the 2004 Summer Olympics.

"When exciting shows come to the broadcast networks, they aggregate huge audiences," said Randy Falco, group president for the NBC Television Network division of NBC, "and if you want to sell product, you have to reach huge audiences."

CBS was second again, as it was last spring, selling an estimated $2.2 billion worth of spots, compared with $1.9 billion. Mr. Moonves said demand was robust for returning series like "C.S.I.: Miami" as well as new series like "Two and a Half Men," a sitcom with Charlie Sheen and Jon Cryer, and "Cold Case," a drama about an investigator of unsolved murders that he described jocularly as "Jessica Fletcher meets `C.S.I.' "

ABC, part of Walt Disney, eked out a gain from last spring, according to estimates, selling $1.65 billion to $1.7 billion, compared with $1.5 billion. ABC has struggled to regain momentum after many reality series the network scheduled for 2002-3 fell short in the ratings.

"We've gotten the message out that we're going heavier with comedies" and other scripted programs for 2003-4, Mr. Shaw said, "and that resonated."

"I think people are betting there's a little upside here," he added.

ABC's total does not reflect sales of commercial time for "Monday Night Football" and other prime-time sports coverage, handled separately from the upfront.

Fox, basking in the success of reality fare like "American Idol" and "Joe Millionaire," along with scripted series like "24" and "That 70's Show," sold an estimated $1.6 billion, perhaps even a tad higher, compared with $1.3 billion last spring.

"Our schedule was well received," Mr. Nesvig said, "and what helped us gain in volume was that it's a more balanced schedule, with more shows for female viewers, which helped draw more packaged goods."

One such new series is "The O.C.," a serialized drama with a young, attractive cast that, Mr. Nesvig said, "puts us back in the `Melrose Place'-type business that advertisers would like us to be in."

Another strong performance was turned in by WB, owned by AOL Time Warner and the Tribune Company. WB sold an estimated $700 million to $750 million, compared with $575 million last spring. During presentations of its 2003-4 schedule last week, WB executives stressed the preponderance of scripted series they planned, and that paid off, said Jed Petrick, president and chief operating officer at WB. The increases in cost per thousand viewers, upward of 20 percent, are the highest for any of the six networks.

"Advertising is an investment, not an expense," Mr. Petrick said, and marketers are reluctant to invest in "objectionable material" like unsavory reality shows. New scripted series that appealed to buyers included the sitcom "Like Family," the variety-comedy show "Steve Harvey's Big Time" and the romantic drama "Tarzan and Jane," he added, along with returning favorites like "Charmed," "Everwood," "Gilmore Girls" and "7th Heaven."

Finally, UPN, as noted, is not finished, so estimates for its sales are less precise than for other networks, ranging from $250 million to $275 million. Last spring's tally was about $225 million.

All six networks have sold or are selling in the upfront market about the same percentage of available commercial time, estimated at 80 to 85 percent. The remaining time will be sold during the 2003-4 season in what is known as the scatter market.

[MediaSavant]

From Cable World

NEWS: Cable Able to Cash In

By nearly all accounts, the broadcast nets had their best year ever. Now it's cable's turn, and indications are that the little medium that could is now the big medium that will. Stay tuned!

By Shirley Brady


It was fast and frenzied, but by Friday advertisers had committed to spending at least $9 billion for the 2003-'04 broadcast prime-time season--with estimates ranging from $9.2 billion on the low end to $9.8 billion by those who included prime-time sports and Academy Awards ads sold by ABC.

Broadcast network deals last week were reportedly inked at rates up to 25% higher than last year. The week's tally far outstripped anyone's expectations going into the upfront, even surprising self-proclaimed bull and veteran media-watcher Jack Myers, who headlined his upfront report on Friday: "Wow!!!"

Marketers' urgency to lock in fourth quarter and 2004 schedules also gave an unexpected boost to cable, with concurrent deals being written for top-tier cable networks last week, instead of after broadcast and syndication deals were locked in.

Ad sales chiefs at USA, Turner and Discovery confirmed they had inked deals by Friday--as did Lifetime, which was being watched closely given its recent ratings slide.

Fox Cable, including FX, saw double-digit increases for the deals it struck last week, with its cable properties pacing 50% to 60% over last year's upfront.

MTV struck and continued to work on deals last week, according to spokesperson Jeanine Smart. "We are closing select deals with major agencies," she said on Friday. "We are seeing substantial growth across all of our properties, and our CPMs are in double digits."

The action now moves to the rest of cable this week, with ongoing discussions expected to turn into contracts at Court TV, E! Networks, Hallmark Channel, Game Show Network and cable networks owned by Scripps, Rainbow and Viacom, according to ad sales executives at those networks. A&E, whose executives were not available for comment on Friday, will be closely watched this week, with no deals from last week to build momentum for this week's cable-oriented phase of the upfront.

Although cable network ad sales is a year-round business, the broadcast upfront was particularly favorable for USA, Turner and Discovery, which all inked more than half of their deals by press time and expect to continue closing deals this week.

Lifetime EVP of ad sales Lynn Picard--who was pitching a second night of original programming on weekends and product placement opportunities on new shows such as Merge--was playing the upfront close to her vest on Friday. She declined to give percentages, although confirmed she wrote business last week and expected to start the holiday weekend with a substantial amount of her upfront deals done.

"We are writing business and moving along at a fast pace," Picard said on Friday. "We are right on strategy with what we wanted to accomplish, so I'm very pleased. The money's definitely there, and the top tier of cable networks is really active. I think that's how the future is, with tiers. Advertisers and agencies are recognizing there is a lot of value in some of the top-tier programming, such as our original stuff and Turner's and USA's originals and big theatricals, so it probably makes sense that they wanted to secure that kind of programming. I don't know if they're positioning it back to the clients that it's like broadcast, but that could very well be."

If agencies are positioning top-tier cable nets as comparable value to broadcast in terms of efficiency and reach, that's in no small part due to Turner's Millennium III report that made the pre-upfront rounds at the agencies. "With the agencies looking at cable concurrently with the broadcast upfront, it suggests to me that the message we were going out with for the last month and a half concerning Millennium III and the substitutability between us and broadcast really paid off," said David Levy, president of Turner Entertainment Sales and Marketing.

Last week's early big-ticket cable deals are "going to set the market, when it's all said and done," he added. With more than half of available time on TNT and TBS sold by Friday, Levy added that major categories--including pharmaceutical, automotive, movies, home entertainment and particularly DVDs--were up by at least 10%, with all 2002 sponsorships now renewed, along with special promotions.

"Volume is up across multiple categories, at least 10% and in many cases a lot more," he said. "I thought there might be one or two, but there have been multiple categories that have increases, which makes sense with a $9 billion-plus upfront."

USA was on track to sell more than two-thirds of its upfront inventory by the weekend. "We've created more value for this upfront with hosted nights on Thursdays, which we've never done before on USA, and a hosted Saturday afternoon movie," said Jeff Lucas, president of ad sales at Universal Television Group. "We do deals that include cross-platform product placement in our theme parks. At Universal, we produce many of the TV shows that air on the networks, and we work with the producers of those shows."

Lucas attributed the buzz for USA and Sci Fi last week, which are sold in a package with sister network Trio, to better-than-ever original programming at both networks.

"On the Sci Fi side we put on Taken, which averaged a 4.1 over ten nights--that's not cume, it's average, which is amazing from a network that when we sold the [2002] upfront and sold Taken, was doing a .6," Lucas said. "At USA, we put on Dead Zone, which was the highest premiere in basic cable ever, and we put on Monk, which was the highest-rated drama in its first season, higher than [FX's] The Shield, and was then repurposed by ABC. So we fulfilled our promise, we put on quality programming. People took a gamble, they went with us, they had a good year and we had a great year. Now this upfront's here and we're selling what we put on the air last year and what we're putting more on the air of this year, which is quality, original programming."

USA has just aired its final Eco-Challenge, a sports franchise from Survivor producer Mark Burnett that was a magnet for product placement. But Lucas said a new show conceived by Universal Studio's in-house production arm Reveille, run by former William Morris agent Ben Silverman, generated heavy buzz among buyers last week interested in product-placement opportunities on USA. Lucas has been pitching advertisers interested in the hot home makeover challenge category with Silverman's concept Dream House (working title). "It involves four houses on a cul-de-sac, and four families compete room by room to overcome different challenges in order to put each room together, and it will run over an eight to ten week period," Lucas commented late last week. "They get judged by experts on-site, and the winner gets to keep the house. So if you win a certain challenge Home Depot comes in and does the next room for you while you sit in the hot tub, and all the other families get pissed off. Ben only came up with this two weeks ago, so we weren't able to present it before the upfront, but we're now close to signing Home Depot."

Discovery Networks ad sales president Joe Abruzzese, who last year joined Discovery from CBS, was also surprised by the size of last week's broadcast upfront.

"I didn't realize that the network business would get that far sold out, and now they're even more sold out than they were last year, which is pretty incredible," the ad sales veteran commented on Friday. "A lot of it appears to be scatter money moving forward, some of it's organic growth, and some of it's speculation. With that said, the growth that I'm seeing in the cable budgets is outpacing the network budgets. What we're seeing in the cable budgets are anywhere from 30% to 40% more dollars, whereas the network piece is probably 10% up, which is still incredible. So it looks like cable is still getting more volume increase. I think maybe only a few [cable] networks will come close to the broadcast network CPM increases, but cable doesn't need to because our ratings are going up."

Having gone from pitching a handful of shows on CBS in a two-hour upfront to pitching shows across 13 Discovery networks, including BBC America, Abruzzese has been busy preaching the value of cable to the buying community.

"People watch cable networks, but on [broadcast] networks, they watch shows," he said. "They watch Animal Planet or TLC or Discovery, and typically watch the whole schedule. On networks they'll watch Everybody Loves Raymond, then they switch to Law and Order, then they watch 60 Minutes, or they watch West Wing. But we have to prove that association is better with advertisers than just watching shows."

But with double-digit CPM increases at TLC, where the growing Trading Spaces franchise continues to be the category leader for makeover shows, and across his other networks, Abruzzese observed that preaching cable's virtues in the walkup to last week was like "hand-to-hand combat. Every single day you go through this with a client: You tell them what's good about cable and ask, 'Why are you spending so much money on broadcast? Why are you paying those ridiculous increases?' All the stuff I used to say, I'm saying in reverse now, but it's actually just a different point of view."

Abruzzese added that it's too early to predict what the impact of last week's upfront bonanza would be on the scatter market. "What happens when the economy turns around and new money shows up, and the networks are 98% sold out? Cable is the next-best alternative, in some cases a better alternative, and it's certainly more efficient. Then our volume goes up again. So I'm very happy where we are right now."

[Twich]

I believe that we want advertisers to know that we are here..and that Farscape can be a profitable enterprise for them to be involved with. At least that's my take on it. It's the reason I thought of the reverse boycott. Showing advertisers that their dollars spent during Farscape are well spent..and we mean business about our show.

Or did I add too many thoughts in there?

[CosmicTheorist]

Lucas attributed the buzz for USA and Sci Fi last week, which are sold in a package with sister network Trio, to better-than-ever original programming at both networks.
USA and Skiffy are a package for this upfront market. I am curious; does anyone know what the "buzz" about USA and Skiffy was last week? From this article it sounds like a mixture of "good vibes" from last year's original programming like Dead Zone and Taken (2 of the 3 shows actually mentioned by Mr. Lucas; the other was Monk) and anticipation for the upcoming USA series "Dream Home".

What is the "buzz" about Skiffy? Mr. Lucas is bragging about "quality, original programming" but mentioned only "Taken" for Skiffy. Isn't there "buzz" about Stargate and the upcoming Battlestar Galactica miniseries? There can't be "buzz" about Tremors and Scare Tactics since they both seem to be failing in the ratings. So what is the "quality, original programming" on the Skiffy side that is generating this "buzz"? Anyone? Anyone?

;)

[MediaSavant]

From Media Week:

Upfront Sprints to Another Record

John Consoli and Megan Larson

MAY 26, 2003 -

The broadcast networks took in boatloads of upfront dollars last week in a supercharged marketplace that brought in more money, based on bigger rate increases, than even the most optimistic network sales executive had predicted. When the smoke clears, it appears the six broadcast networks will have taken in a total of nearly $9.5 billion in prime-time ad dollars, a 14 percent surge over last year's record take, with cost-per-thousand (CPM) rate increases ranging from 15 percent to 22 percent.

Of the extra $1.25-$1.3 billion that advertisers put down in this upfront, about $450 million was shifted out of scatter buys from this past season, while ad-budget increases and network rate hikes accounted for the balance, media buyers and network executives said.

The market was so strong that most networks had to turn money away -- some $600 million in total -- leading anxious media buyers to quickly start up business with major cable networks far earlier than expected.

Turner Broadcasting and Discovery Networks both expected to be about 35 percent to 40 percent sold out of their upfront inventory by last Friday, while Universal Television Group's USA Network and Sci Fi Channel were expected to be as much as 65 percent sold.

Most of the broadcast nets sold out in mere hours, holding back an average of 15 percent of their inventory to be sold during the next season in scatter. The mid- and high-double-digit CPM increases helped the networks take in more dollars while still allowing them to hold back some inventory.

"If the broadcast networks had wanted to write $10 billion of upfront business, they probably could have," said one weary buyer, who requested anonymity. "When there is that much money around, the buyers don't have a lot of options. There really wasn't much negotiation going on. Our goal was to get as much money down at each network as we could."

The strong marketplace was not restricted to prime time, as early morning earned CPM increases as high as 14 percent; late night, 15 percent; the usually soft daytime, up to 12 percent; and evening news, 14 percent.

"There was no rhyme or reason to how this went down," the same buyer said. "We had very little leverage. A lot of it was take it or leave it."

NBC kicked off the marketplace, but unlike last year -- when it cut early deals at mid-single-digit CPM increases -- the network closed its early deals this year in the high teens. The WB, with its limited prime-time inventory (it programs 15 hours per week to the Big Three's 22, while UPN programs 10 and Fox 15) and strong ratings increases this season in younger demos, sold out quickly, with cpm bumps as high as 22 percent. Fox then opened for business -- selling its hit variety show American Idol in the upfront for the first time -- and landed cpm gains of 16 percent.

ABC also sold at cpm hikes in the mid-teens, and network sales president Mike Shaw noted that ABC took in about $150 million more than in last year's upfront without having to sell any Monday Night Football inventory, as it did last year. "Overall, sports sales make up about six weeks of our prime-time inventory, but that will be sold by sports sales and was not included in our total," Shaw said. He added that prime-time sports sales would add another $600 million to ABC's total.

CBS and UPN were the last two networks to open for business, with CBS also selling out in hours at cpm gains as high as 18 percent. Even UPN, coming off a poor ratings performance this season (except for its solid Monday-night ethnic comedy block), took in more upfront ad dollars than last year. Some of the gain can be attributed to UPN's taking over ad sales for WWE Smackdown!

Randy Falco, group president, NBC Television Network, which became the first network to crack the $3 billion mark in prime-time upfront sales, called the strong upfront "a vote for network television" and a "vote of confidence for all the broadcast networks." About $100 million of NBC's take came from selling prime-time spots in coverage of the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece.

As buyers realized that the networks were not going to be able to take all their clients' ad dollars, they turned immediately to cable. Most cable sales executives, who thought they would be playing golf all last week while the broadcast networks raked in the dough, found their phones ringing with proposed deals.

"The agencies were pushing for these cable deals," said another buyer. "The thinking was we had all this client money left and felt if we got it down early in cable we could get some better deals before the cable market got overheated."

"Business is good," said Jeff Lucas, Universal Television Group president of ad sales, who oversees negotiations for USA, Sci Fi and its emerging sibling networks. "Advertisers see us more than ever as a quality alternative to broadcast, with good original programming and more efficient cpms."

Some cable network executives said their cpm increases had reached low double-digit levels, but one major cable buyer disputed that. "Cable is seeing increased budgets just like the broadcast networks, but there will be no double-digit price increases," the buyer said. "There is just too much competition. They may be seeing more money because they are more efficient, and our clients wanted to be more efficient from the beginning."

As reported in Mediaweek last month, strong competition for market share within many of national television's major ad categories drove more money into the marketplace in this upfront. Advertisers simply were not willing to let their competitors gain more of a presence on the broadcast networks, where they can reach a mass audience with immediacy.

Network sales executives said that movies, retailers, pharmaceuticals and packaged goods categories all hiked their outlays in the upfront. Domestic auto advertiser spending was flat, but the foreign automakers continued to pour dollars into prime time and other dayparts.

Cable saw strength from the same categories, an indication that residual broadcast money was indeed trickling down. David Levy, Turner president of entertainment ad sales and marketing, said upfront volume was up about 10 percent in foreign autos and pharmaceuticals.

Like last year, the cable market was moving in tiers, with the broad entertainment networks moving first. Lifetime, Fox Cable and MTV Networks were also doing business last week.

At an average 85 percent sellout rate, the broadcast networks believe they have enough inventory left over to handle any ratings shortfalls next season and to still be active in the scatter market. "We sold at a level where we will absolutely be able to be active in scatter next season," ABC's Shaw said.

While broadcast and cable got the early upfront dollars, syndication also began to move early last Friday. While the syndication marketplace overall is not expected to be very strong, individual shows, particularly top off-network sitcoms like Friends, were expected to bring in double-digit cpm hikes.