'Sold-Out' Networks Still Adding To Upfront Numbers

The muddled television upfront marketplace was lagging last week, with cable still several weeks from the finish line, syndication barely started, and NBC, finally, just about done. But further confusing the already-convoluted picture of ad negotiations for next season’s inventory were reports from several broadcast network sources that certain media agencies were seeking and had committed to add-ons to the holds they had placed only a few weeks ago.

While tweaking upfront holds is not in itself unusual, what surprised many observers was the fact that agencies were returning to ABC, CBS and the WB to place more money down after those networks had proclaimed their upfront sales finished, while NBC was still in negotiations.