NEW YORK As a weary nation welcomed the respite of the long holiday weekend, TV advertising sales executives particularly looked forward to July 4th fireworks, pyrotechnics in short supply thus far in this year's upfront marketplace.
With the exception of the deal between NBC Universal and GroupM -- one that, as of press time, both sides continued to deny had actually closed -- little headway of note has been made.
Interpublic's Magna is also in advanced talks with NBC, although a substantive push for a deal isn't expected until later this week at the earliest.
"There was a lot of talk at the beginning of [last] week, but nothing of substance really got done," said one national TV buyer who, like nearly all executives reached for this story, spoke on the condition of anonymity. "If there was a sense that clients were nervous about getting their money down before the fourth, you wouldn't have guessed it from how slow it was all week."
While ABC, CBS and Fox wait on the beach to see what numbers NBC will draw with its prime-time lineup, cable and syndication haven't so much as put on their bathing suits. "Most of the guys who really matter will get budgets in by the end of next week," said one cable ad sales chief. "And by the week of the 13th, we should start having some serious back-and-forth about pricing."
As of Thursday, July 2, some small-scale cable upfront deals had been completed, and while none were comprehensive enough to suggest any prevailing trends, pricing was fairly consistent. One ad sales executive reported doing a deal at "a very low, single-digit negative," while another was said to have done business at a CPM down between 2 and 3 percentage points from last year's average.
As much as NBC appears to be further along in its upfront sojourn, the eccentricities inherent in the network's slate have added an extra layer of complication to its negotiations. Media buyers say they'll fight having to pay a prime-time CPM for The Jay Leno Show, which bows in its new 10 p.m. time slot Sept. 14. Per one national TV buyer, agencies will look to devise a "blended price" that values the 10 p.m. time slot at a lower rate than 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. NBC denied that it would sell Leno at a lower CPM, despite acknowledging that the show isn't likely to outdeliver rival dramas like CBS' CSI: Miami and The Mentalist.
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