The US TV airtime upfront buying season has given a shot in the arm to the advertising industry by hitting record levels. Reports claim that the final tally could exceed $9 billion in committed spend. Last year, the upfront season fetched $8.1 billion – also a record figure.
During upfront trading advertisers pre-book airtime slots in advance of the season’s start; advertisers benefit from lower prices by buying in this way. The current upfront is for the autumn television season.
The broadcast buying and selling frenzy kicked in with full force earlier this week and is thought to already be pretty much over. News reports claim that spend has hit $9.2 billion, up almost 14% on last year.
The cable upfronts will follow this week’s broadcast trading session. Analysts at Merrill Lynch predict that the niche-target cable networks will show double-digit growth in spend, whilst the more general entertainment networks will rise by mid-single-digits.
The broker says that its only concern about the record-breaking upfronts is that the current demand may offset future demand. Trading after the upfronts is known as the scatter market and works on a more ad hoc basis. If upfront spend is very high and a large proportion of airtime inventory is already committed, the scatter markets may be weaker.
