Upfront Season Opens in a Bullish Mood: Networks focus on data, capturing over-the-top viewers

摘要

AS UPFRONT SEASON BEGINS, television advertising sales executives are bullish, pointing to a strong economy and a rising stock market. In the annual commercial-buying bazaar last year, advertisers committed about $18 billion to TV, and paid double-digit price increases to many of the top networks. But media buyers aren't expecting this year's market to be a rerun of last year with respect to pricing. Scatter dollars swamped the market in 2016, allowing some networks to garner double-digit increases in ad rates on a cost-per-thousand viewer basis.