NBC finally wraps up upfront sales

Another one down, one to go.

NBC wrapped up its upfront sales this week, leaving ABC as the only broadcast network still negotiating with media buyers for advertising time for the upcoming season.

NBCUniversal released a statement Wednesday saying it has sold $6 billion in advertising for the coming season on both broadcast and cable.

NBCU has been selling its cable and broadcast inventory together the past few years, and this year it added digital video to the mix.

Some buyers find the cross-media packages useful but others dismiss them as a means to unload less desirable cable inventory by packaging it with sought-after broadcast inventory.

NBCU said digital video sales shot up 50 percent over last year. The network has a number of programs that do very well online, most notably top drama “The Blacklist,” which also posts strong DVR numbers.

Buyers say NBC CPM gains were between 4 and 5 percent.

That’s well below the 7.5 percent to 8 percent gains the network secured last year, which is no surprise.

Nearly every network saw CPM gains fall at a time when TV advertising is losing ground to digital.

But media buyers also said they were underwhelmed by NBC’s fall schedule, which relies heavily on aging hit “The Voice” and has a weak crop of new shows.

NBCU pushed buyers to make purchases based on data from new tools it says can make ad buying more efficient. This was one of the themes of the upfront, where broadcast networks promised better targeting for advertisers concerned they are overpaying to reach people outside their desired audience.

Overall, NBCU sales volume was up 2 percent over last year, including a 1 percent gain for broadcast when including primetime, late night and sports.

The CW, CBS and Fox wrapped up their negotiations last month.

ABC is the only network still negotiating, in an upfront that’s dragged on two weeks longer than last year so far.

The network is said to be holding out for slightly higher CPM increases than buyers are willing to give, in the same range that NBC received.

Tags: broadcast upfront, nbc upfront, nbcuniversal, upfront, upfront negotiations, upfront sales