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Look Out: Advertisers Will Cancel Upfront Orders As Economy Weakens, Analyst Says

By DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor | Thursday June 23, 2011 @ 12:53pm PDTTags: Broadcast Upfront Market, Cable Upfront, Discovery Communications, Green Lantern, Harry Potter, Netflix, Scripps Networks, Time Warner, TV Upfront Market, Viacom

Never mind the strong upfront ad sales for broadcast and cable networks. The slowing economy is “finally starting to impact marketers’ budgets,” UBS Investment Research analyst John Janedis said in a report today as he downgraded his investment recommendations for Discovery Communications and Time Warner and lowered his stock-price targets for Scripps Networks and Viacom. He says the cheering from upfront sales will be short-lived: Broadcasters sold $9.3 billion in inventory, up about 6% from last year, while he expects cable networks to record about $9.2 billion in orders, up about 15% from last year. But advertisers will cancel a lot of those orders later this year. The scatter market “has finally started to slow, which could impact results as early as” the third quarter, he says. Janedis also is concerned about the declining ratings at broadcast networks and says that “cable is also at risk of losing a portion of its audience to other platforms” including online services such as Netflix. The fears about slowing ad sales led him to change his view of Discovery and Time Warner to “neutral” from “buy.” Time Warner has an additional problem in film. With the soft start to Green Lantern, “the success of (Time Warner’s) superhero strategy in a post-Harry Potter world is not a foregone conclusion,” Janedis says.

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CBS Starts To Make Upfront Deals At 14%-15% CPM Increases

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Friday June 3, 2011 @ 9:13am PDTTags: Advertising Sales, Broadcast Upfront Market, CBS, Leslie Moonves
Nellie Andreeva

With Fox done with its upfront selling, attention shifted to CBS, which finished No. 1 to Fox in the 18-49 demo and No. 1 in viewers last season. The network had been the most aggressive this upfront season, … Read More »

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CBS’ Les Moonves Says Fox’s Upfront ‘Game’ Sold Broadcasters Short

By DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor | Thursday June 2, 2011 @ 9:55am PDTTags: ABC, Broadcast Upfront Market, CBS, Fox, Les Moonves, Olympics TV Rights, TV Upfront Market

CBS chief Les Moonves pretty much accused Fox this morning of spoiling the advertising upfront season for the broadcast networks by failing to hold out for higher prices. CBS is angling for increases of about 18% vs last year in the price advertisers pay to reach … Read More »

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Upfronts: It’s All About Ads & The Economy

By DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor | Monday May 16, 2011 @ 8:58am PDTTags: Advertising Upfront Market, Broadcast Upfront Market, Network TV Advertising, TV Advertising, TV Upfront Market, Upfront Presentations

Just about everyone says that the 2011 upfront ad sales season that kicks off this week will be a record-setter. Barclays Capital analyst Anthony DiClemente expects advertisers to commit about $9.2 billion for prime time spots at ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC … Read More »

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UPFRONTS UP! Car, Cellular, Banking Want Primetime: May Be Strongest Since 2003

By DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor | Wednesday April 13, 2011 @ 1:26pm PDTTags: Advertising, Advertising Upfront Market, Broadcast Upfront Market, ESPN, NBC, TV Upfront Market, Upfront

Cable channels are already making upfront presentations to advertisers, and those sales efforts will accelerate on Thursday when Discovery Communications introduces its fall shows. According to new forecasts out this week which do not take into account the deepening NFL labor strife, cable channel sales could hit $9 billion during the coming 2011 upfronts, up 11.5% over last year. As for broadcast, Miller Tabak analyst David Joyce projects a 14.9% increase to nearly $9.9 billion for the Big Four networks’ primetime schedule unveiling next month. Media services firm Zenith Optimedia also said this week that it expects double-digit gains in cable and broadcast sales. Car, cell phone, and banking service companies – eager to take advantage of the thawing economy – could make this upfront ad-sales season one of the strongest since 2003. Auto companies normally account for about a quarter of TV ad sales but were in a deep slump during the economic crisis giving the TV honchos fits. Now they’ll likely drive the market once more. They’re introducing 65 new models this year vs. 60 in 2010, and only 40 in 2009. Read More »

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CBS Corp. Chief Expects Double-Digit Ad Gains At Upfront

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Monday March 7, 2011 @ 10:40am PSTTags: Broadcast Upfront Market, CBS Advertising, CBS Les Moonves, Les Moonves, TV, TV Upfront Market, Two and a Half Men, Viacom CBS Ad Revenue
Nellie Andreeva

Deflecting any questions about the future of CBS’ top comedy Two and a Half Men, CBS Corp. CEO Leslie Moonves today talked about the upcoming upfront market and his bullish projections for CBS. Speaking at a Deutsche Bank investor conference in Florida, Moonves predicted ad rate increases of … Read More »

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